A is for April...n...A-Z

 

Welcome to the  Blogging from A-Z Challenge 2025, this is my 12th year participating...All this month I am attempting to write about aspects of Indian textiles, a quick but captivating dive into the saree specifically, a garment worn by Indians for five millennia. Indian textiles have a history that is amazingly rich and long and wide and I absolutely adore them. 

Come with me into the colourful, complex and utterly fascinating world of yarn and thread, of skills and techniques of dyeing and printing and embroidery, of sumptuous finished fabrics that not only make a fashion statement, but also constitute our cultural identity and a political symbol. 

A is for Ajrakh

The origins of Ajrakh textiles go back at least five millennia to the Harappa/Indus Valley Civilisation. A bust of a 'Priest-King' excavated in Mohenjo-Daro shows a garment draped over his shoulder, with a trefoil pattern and remnants of a red dye, resembling Ajrakh. 

Source

Ajrakh is produced in India in the Kutch region of Gujarat in the extreme Western edges of the country. It is also produced by the Sindhi community of Pakistan. Both communities make these hand block printed textiles in the same age old processes and natural dyes used for thousands of years. Ajrakh fabrics are characterised by their vibrant colours and typically geometric and/or floral motifs. 

It is a 16 step process from the blank fabric to finished Ajrakh. Watch this video to see how lovingly and laboriously the fabric is made:

So, that's Ajrakh. A is also for Aanchal, which is the end of a saree draped over the shoulder and left free. It is usually decorated in ornate patterns, markedly different from the body of the saree.

The Anchal - is mostly different
from  the body of the saree
to make it stand out

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Did you know that the handloom textile sector employs over 3 million people in India? It has been the largest employment sector in the rural areas after agriculture traditionally, though in recent years the children of weaving families have tended to migrate away from the family occupations. Think of the whole process - the cultivation of  fibres, the spinning, the weaving of fabrics, the post production treatments, the ancillaries - the dyes, the blocks, the shuttles, the packaging etc - it is a vast, intricate and fascinating ecosystem.

Thank you for reading. And happy A-Zing to you if you are participating in the challenge. 

A-Z Challenge 2025