Inspiration

Phulkari has small amount of embroidery on them will floral and geometrical motifs that are prominent.  The motifs in simple phulkari drapes and elaborate bagh pieces comprise of compositions that include not only flowers and geometrical designs but also other symbols and items that are part of everyday life of the women who embroider these pieces. A name was given to a particular kind of embroidered bagh.

THE BAGH TEXTILE

The Bagh is a specific type of Phulkari work. Phulkari literally means ‘flower work’ that is embroidered onto cloth in the style prevalent in that region. Phulkaris  contain embroidered floral, geometric and angular motifs, scattered throughout the rough hand-woven khaddar base cloth.  When the embroidery blankets the base cloth completely in a way such that the background cannot be seen at all or is seen only minimally, the shawl is given a special name : a ‘Bagh’  (meaning : garden). In a Phulkari, the embroidery is sparse and the base cloth is always visible but in a Bagh it is not. Baghs are finer pieces and rarer works of art.

An example of Bagh in which the base cloth is not visible at all:

Thread by thread, each Phulkari motif was created in a geometric grid, which was a peculiar technique for coming up with a curvilinear final output. Long and short darn stitch was put to clever use for creating horizontal, vertical and diagonal thread work, inspired by routine of the artists, flowers, and animals. The motifs and designs on the Phulkari are veritable garden of floral patterns and are so colorful that they seem to have earned the name of Bagh. 

The designs have been enlarged to encompass birds, animals, human figures, the sun, moon, the objects of everyday use and everything found on the earth. Then, there is  a special bagh design called dhoop-chhaon (sun-shade), which is extremely popular in the state.

1. GEOMETRICAL MOTIFS 

 For making Bagh, geometrical motifs were used such as triangles, squares and vertical and horizontal lines with changing directions and the darn stitch with various color combinations. The subject matter of Phulkari  comprised of flowers, animals and human forms and many other things made with geometrical patterns as shown in figure 1.

                                                                           

                                                           PHULKARI AND BAGH

2. THE VEGETABLE , FRUITS AND FLORAL MOTIFS

Nature provides many motifs for creating art. As the name Phulkari suggests ‘growing flower’, many floral motifs were created by women from their own imagination as shown in fig. 2. Genda (marigold), Surajmukhi (sun flower), Motia (jasmine) and Kol (lotus flower) were commonly used for Phulkari and Bagh.    Sometimes, the field of phulkari was embroidered with small patterns called “Butian”. Among the different fruits, santaran (orange), anar (pomegranate), nakh (pear), bhut (muskmelon), mango slice, and chhuare (dried dates) were used as motifs for a Phulkari. Among the vegetables, women used replicas of karela (bitterguard), gobhi (cauliflower), mirchi (Chili) and dhaniya (coriander). 

                                                        FLORAL MOTIFS 

3. THE BIRDS AND THE ANIMALS MOTIFS

Bird and animal motifs were also on Phulkari. In a “sainchi phulkari”, human forms, animals and birds were used as shown in fig. 3. The most common animal motifs are the cow, buffalo, goat, camel, horse, elephant, snake, fish, tortoise, pig, rabbit, frog, cat, rat, donkey, squirrel and lion. Among the bird motifs, the peacock, 

parrot, sparrow, crow, owl, hen, and pigeon were the most popular. 

                                   Animal and Birds motifs of Phulkari and bagh 

4. JEWELERY MOTIFS

Women of Punjab often used jewelry articles as motifs for embroidering Phulkari as shown in fig. 4. They used items like the necklace, Kangan, Karanphool and Jhumka, different types of earrings, guluband different types of bracelets, nose rings, Tikka, Shingar Patti, Phools, and Rani Har with a pendant. All these articles were embroidered in a yellow colored thread to show they were made of gold.

                                                      Jewelry motifs of phulkari and bagh 

Other Phulkari motifs were taken from rural life, - For example, Shalimar, Charbagh and Chaurasia Bagh depict the Mughals and other gardens. Bagh that was embroidered with a red and yellow colored flower was called Asharfi (mohur or gold coin) Bagh. “Ike” (ace of diamond design) came from playing cards. There were Dhoop Chhaon (sun light and shade), Lahriya (waves), Patedar (stripes), Chand (moon), Patang (kite), Saru (cypress tree), Pachranga (five coloured), Satranga (seven coloured), Dariya (river) and Shisha (mirror) patterns as well.

Socio-economic conditions

In Punjab the the Ebroidery work of Phulkari is done only by the local women of Punjab at homes  or  at the common facility centre . 

                                                      JANKI DEVI OF TRIPURI

THE PATIALA HANDICRAFT CENTRE OF RAJPURA (THUHA VILLAGE)

WOMEN LEARNING AND WORKING TOGETHER

History of Punjab

In 1947, the Punjab Province of British India was divided along religious lines into West Punjab and East Punjab. The western part was assimilated into new country of Pakistan while the east stayed in India. This led to massive rioting as both sides committed atrocities against fleeing refugees. The Partition of India in 1947 split the former Raj province of Punjab; the mostly Muslim western part became the Pakistani province of West Punjab and the mostly Sikh and Hindu eastern part became the Indian province of Punjab. Many Sikhs and Hindus lived in the west, and many Muslims lived in the east, and so partition saw many people displaced and much intercommunal violence. Several small Punjabi princely states, including Patiala, also became part of India. The undivided Punjab, of which Punjab (Pakistan) forms a major region today, was home to a large minority population of Punjabi Sikhs and Hindus unto 1947 apart from the Muslim majority.

History of craft

Phulkari is the skillful handling of a single stitch, which

when positioned in a sequence forms striking designs.

A  reference to phulkari in literature comes from Guru Nanak

Dev ji who wrote: "Kadd kasidha paihren choli, tan tu

jane nari" (only when you can embroider your own choli

with the embroidery stitch, will you be accepted as a

woman).  It brings to mind several visions of the life of a

Punjabi  woman of yesteryears: embroidering her phulkari

for her wedding and spinning cotton on a painted charkha;

the elaborate ceremonies of her marriage with the wedding

phulkari  draped over her; going out to the fields with a pot

of butter-milk and corn-flakes on her head, dressed in a full

yellow skirt with a black kurta and richly embroidered

phulkari  covering her from head to knee; the birth of her

sons and daughters and the beginning of embroidering

phulkari  for the distant but happy occasions of their

marriages; and on her death, when she is lifted on a bier by

her  sons, covered with a red phulkari, the symbol of a

happy end, of prosperity, of fulfilment.

PHULKARI ARTISANS: Sikhs were the main

practitioners and patrons of this art form. The craft remains

the mainstay of the Bahawalpur community, which

migrated from Pakistan during Partition. Thousands of

members of this community were settled in a separate

township created for them in Patiala city called Tripuri by

the erstwhile ruler of Patiala, Maharaja Yadavindra Singh.

At least one woman, if not more, of each household in the

mini township of Tripuri is engaged in this work. 

Phulkari  is an embroidery  technique  from the Punjab region  (divided between India and Pakistan)  literally means flower working, which was at one time used as the word for embroidery, but in time the word “Phulkari” became restricted to embroidered shawls and head scarfs.

The word phul means flower and kari means craft, thus its name, literally means floral work or floral craft.  Spun from the charkha this spectacular style of embroidery is patterned on odinis, shawals, kurtis and chunris.

 The main characteristics of Phulkari embroidery are the use of darn stitch on the wrong side of cloth with colored silken thread. Phulkari is brought to the Indian Subcontinent by the migrant Jat people of Central Asia in ancient times. Techniques and patterns of Phulkari were not documented but transmitted by word of mouth. The tradition of Phulkari was associated with the Sikh heritage but was also shared with Hindus & Muslims. Phulkari has it’s origins in the famous love story of Heer & Ranjha (a love tale) by Waris Shah.

It’s present form and popularity goes back to 15th century.  The embroideries were a mere reflection of a woman’s life and every woman had her way of representing. Phulkaris and Baghs were worn by women all over Punjab during marriage festivals and other joyous occasions.  They were embroidered by the women for their own use and use of other family members and were not for sale in the market.  Thus, it was purely a domestic art which not only satisfied their inner urge for creation but brought colour into day-to-day life. In a way, it was true folk art.  Custom had grown to give Phulkaris and Baghs to brides at the time of marriages.   

Some best Phulkaris and Baghs are known to have been made in Hazaraand Chakwal, areas of Northern Punjab in Pakistan.  Some scholars trace the history of phulkari to Iran, where it is known as "Gulkari”. Others are of the opinion that it came from Central Asia along with Jat tribes who migrated to India and settled in Punjab, Haryana and Gujarat.  There is also reference to phulkari in Vedas, Mahabharat, Guru Granth Sahib and folk songs of Punjab.

We were asked to do a Handicraft visit in a particular state region of India where the Indian traditional Craft is found and is practiced by the local Crafts men a. We had observe how they work and live in those conditions. And make a final Documentary on it.

Therefore I and my classmate Shivangi sharma decided to visit city Patiala ,which is situated in Punjab to study their Ancient Textile Phulkari.

Panjab, is a state in the northwest of the Republic of India, forming part of the larger Punjab region.The state is bordered by the Indian states of Himachal Pradesh to the east, Haryana to the south and southeast, Rajasthan to the southwest, and the Pakistani province of Punjab to the west. To the north it is bounded by the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. The state capital is located in Chandigarh, a Union Territory and also the capital of the neighbouring state of Haryana.

After the partition of India in 1947, the Punjab province of British India was divided between India and Pakistan. The Indian Punjab was divided in 1966 with the formation of the new states of Haryana and Himachal Pradesh alongside the current state of Punjab.

Punjab is the only state in India with a majority Sikh population.