K A S H I D A K A R I

K A S H I D A K A R I 

KASHIDA

Rajasthan -  A city immensely rich in culture, history and natural beauty . This part retains the flavor , keeping alive the timeless tradition of their rich art and crafts. Kashida is a craft which consists of traditional embroidery using threads and mirrors on fabrics. As a result of different historical developments in various region of India, it is surprising that the embroidery stitches differ from region to region. 
Dandkala is a village around 30-35 km. away from Bajju, and it has got motor able concrete road. There are bus services from Bajju to Dandkala around thrice a day, but hired jeeps are more suitable means of transport. To reach Dandkala one has to travel via Bajju - a Tehsil in Bikaner district at a distance of about 100-110 km. towards west, of the main town of Bikaner. There are regular and quite frequent bus services from Bikaner to Bajju.

GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION

Bikaner district lies in north-west Rajasthan in the Thar desert, which accounts for about 30% of the hot arid zone of the country. It forms India’s northwest border alongwith Jaiselmer, across which lies Pakistan. The geographical surrounding of  Bikaner in India includes Jaiselmer in south-west, Jodhpur and Nagaur in south, Churu in east, and Ganganagar in north. The district  is sub-divided in four Tehsils :

 (i) Bikaner 

(ii) Lunkaransar

(iii) Kolagat 

(iv) Nokha. 

 Bajju lies in Bikaner and is 60-70 km. from the city . Approximately 30-35 km. west of Bajju lies Dandkala village.

AREAS (Where the craft is been practised)

Kashidakari was being practised in and near the villages of Bajju and Pugal. In Dandkala, Aduri, 2AD. 2DO and 1BD this craft was happening at a very commercial level.

House Of Craftsmen

FLORA-FAUNA

The vegetation of the area is of scrub and thorny type.
The most common trees found are

• Khejra (prospisspicizere) which is eaten by cattle
• Jhal (salvadoraoleoides), Khair (acacia cotechu), Babool (acacioarabica), Karel (capparis aphylla), which gives supplies for food
• Ak or akr (celotropis porcer) which is flowering plant known as pride of desert.
• Few of the bushes found are: Phog (Calligomum polygonoides), Thor(Euphorbia neriifolia), has medicinal value, Timber-Rohira (Tecoma undulata), it provides the best local timber. 
• Bharut (Cenchrus cathariticus), Its seeds make jam bread when ground and serve asfood for the poor during scarcity
• Sawan (Eleusive flagellifera). It is a tall grass, good for sheep
•  Dhamau(Pennisetum ceuchroides), Gau thil.

The main wild animals are: 
Wild ass, chikara (ravinedeer), hyaenas, black buck, gurkha (equus onages).

SOCIAL STRUCTURE

Bikaner has following community:

Cattle Rearing

JAT

They are agriculturists, laborious and skillful. The main sub castes are: Goders, Punia, Benival, Sohu, Kaswan. They are Vaishnaves by religion.

Water Tank

BRAHMAN
They are mostly traders, while some are priests.

CHAMARS
They work with leather or are cultivators.

MAHAJANS
Banias. They are the trading community. The main subjects the Jains, Oswal, Agarwal etc.They have separate residential blocks according to the caste, called Jattiwadas. Each house has water source in the form of water tank.

Rainwater collected in the well

CLIMATE
The climate of the region is dry and it is characterized by extremes of temperature and slow uncertain rainfall. 
April - June n : Summer
July - September : Southwest Monsoon
September - October  : Post Monsoon
November - March : Winter.

RAINFALL
Scanty and uncertain rainfall is experienced in this region. 
July - Mid September : Approx. 16 Days of Rainfall.
Mid September - October : Scanty Rainfall
August : Maximum Rainfall 
Average Rainfall : 10 inches

TEMPERATURE
Summer months are intensely hot with dust storms. 
Maximum temperature recorded is 48OC-50OC in May. 
January is the coldest month with temperature temperature falling to 2OC-3OC.

FESTIVALS

HINDUS
(i) Holi in Phagon (February-march).
(ii) Navratra and Gangal in Chait. Gangal is Parwati Puja (march-april)
(iii) Akha Teej in Baisakh (april-may).
(iv) Guru Parav in Aasarh (june-july).
(v) Dusehra in Asoj (september-october).
(vi) Diwali in Kartik (october -november).
MUSLIM
(i) Muharram.
(ii) Id.

(iii) Shol-i-barat.

FOOD
Bajra, millet, Moth, Jwar, barley, gram, wheat,oilseeds.

FRUITS
Watermelon - matira, melon, carrot, onions.

MEALS
Usually the locals have 4 meals a day:-
(i) Sirawan (in morning)
(ii) Roti (in day around 10 a.m.)
(iii) Dopahara (afternoon around 2 p.m.)
(iv) Biadu (after sunset)

EDUCATION

Dandkala is a backward area with a very low literacy rate. The village has no school, few of the village women mere taught to write their names by the Urumul workers. 
The men are late risers as compared to the hardworking women whose day started at around 4:30 a.m. Both the men and women practiced addictive habits like Naswari and Bidi. The villagers are aware of family planning, but this does not have an obvious effect on them.

COSTUME

Women wear Ghagras, Kanchli, Odhani (chunni). Ghagra-odhni are brightly coloured with Gota work on them. The Kanchli are usually heavily embroided with threads and mirror. They also wear heavy ornament, which were usually of silver. The ornaments consist of Haseli (worn around the neck),armlets, bolara, chokers, pendants, rings, Jhumkas,
Bichuwas (rings women in feet), nose pins.

Armlets

The women also wear Chudas which are made
of plastic. The men dress in Dhoti, shirts, Kurtas, Pyjamas, Lungees and wear a turban or a Safa. Also different community wear different kinds of prints on their Safas e.g. Leheriya, Chunnari or plain. (pattus or wollen blankets are seen in winters).






INTERIORS OF THE HOUSE

The craftsmen are not financially backward, due to agriculture being good but their possessions are few. The furniture used are chair, table, cot etc.

STORAGE
Metal trunks are used for storing clothes, jewellery and other personal things. Clothes are normally hung from the nail driven into the walls, which are for daily wear.





KITCHEN

The cooking area has a Kachcha Chulha (stove) made of mud and cow-dung, at one corner of the kitchen. There is ventilation for smoke and light.
Twigs collected from the village are kept at one place near the Chulha. Cooking utensils are made of aluminium. Earthenware were used for keeping Rotis etc. For storing grains earthenware bowls were used.
Earthenware is brought from potters in the village.

WORSHIP PLACE

Pits dug for the workship place outside the house

At times the worship place is a tiny little room within
the house. The door to this room is around ½ ft. by
2½ ft. At one time only two people can fit. Another
kind of worship place is seen at few other houses.
These were small pits dug outside the house and

made pukka by using the mud only.





CRAFT: KASHIDA

The craft consists of traditional embroidery using thread on fabric. As a result of differing historical developments in various region of India, it is surprising that the embroidery stitches used differ between distinct and communities. Same stitches, used in different communities produce individual motifs and the used for a variety of purposes.
Kashida includes different stitches for example: chain stitch, running stitch, cross stitch, ranton hole stitch, long and short stitch etc.

RAW MATERIALS
The raw materials consists of cotton fabric, embroidery threads (Anchor), mirror (each of 1-1.5 cm. in diameter) are require. The mirror and sequence may not be used all the time. The fabric
and the threads are available in various shades of colours.

RAW MATERIALS PROCUREMENT
The raw-materials are easily available and bought mainly from Bikaner and Jaipur. Most of the time the fabric was provided by the trust (Urmul), under whose guidance all these craftspersons were making.

COST

Thread - Cotton @ Rs. 3.50 per lachchhi (reel).

TRANSPORTATION
A person, who was amongst the craftspersons, did all the shopping for the raw materials. In Dandkala,the person who did this job is Paro Bai. Each women paid her Rs. 11 per month for the services she gave. Paro Bai made her trips to town as and when people ran short of raw materials, her mode of transport was the roadways bus. Also she used to take the finished good to the nearest Urmul Trust campus which is situated in Bajju .

STORAGE (PRESERVATION)
There is no need of storage/preservation of raw materials, since the raw material is never bought in bulk (also the raw material is soon converted into finished products and dispatched immediately to the trusts office.

TOOLS
Scissors, blades and needles are used. These are mainly bought from Bikaner and Jaipur.

PROCESS

The fabric is cut according to the required size e.g.bag or Kurta or cushion etc. Sometimes the fabric is provided by the trust, and is pre-cut according the requirement and also the area to be embroided would be marked. The rest of the design in terms
of motifs and colours is left to the cafts persons.
The craftsperson do the embroidery in terms of its
intricacy and heaviness of the work according to the

money they are been paid for that product.

Motifs commonly used

PRODUCT RANGE
The range as such consisted of cushion cover, bed covers, Kurtas, bags, caps. The motifs used were floral, geometric and abstract in very bright vibrant colours. The style of making did not vary much from one person to another. The craft as such has that evolved much. The old motifs are compared to the new one do not have much different, except that the new ones might not have been done painstakingly,

and very heavily.

MARKET
Indirect selling: The finished products are transported to the nearest trust campus (in this case at Bajju).

The craftswomen take great care in maintaining the quality of products. They made sure that the patterns were correctly traced and the lines were straight and not curving at places. The concept of being quality conscious had crept only when they came in contact with Urmul. Before this when they use to work for the Thekedar they never paid much interest in quality,
may because the Thekedar paid them very miserly for their work.


MIRROR WORK
Mirror work, also called Shisha (glass) work is thought to have been developed by the wife of Shahjahan, who built Taj Mahal. The technique gained popularity in the 17th century. It may have come to India from
Baluchistan (now part of Pakistan) or it may have originated in Gujrat and spread to Rajasthan.
Mirror work is a technique in which blown glass, silvered from one side is used, in squares and triangles forms, by hand. Mica has been used for
decorative purpose before mirror were developed.
In Rajasthan, it is mainly the women who do this work.
The mirrors come in several sizes and shapes round,square, triangle, large small and minute.

PROCESS

Mirrors have no holes, with which to sew them down, so they must be held by the surrounding threads usually with a form of Heering Bone stitch. The mirror is normally first held in place with two vertical and two horizontal threads, fairly close together. (these base threads can be developed asa decorative form in themselves).
The tension of base stitch is important, as they get pulled-out towards the edges of the mirrors by the top stitching, too loose and the mirror falls out; too light and the stitching is very difficult to pull out from
the centre to create a circle of stitches.

PATCHWORK

Patchwork is commonly understood to be the
process in which fabrics which the in daily use
one joined together in small pieces to form larger,decorative pieces.
Also called appliqué work is used in Rajasthan,
Gujrat. Patchwork fabrics are used for banners,
canopies, cushion-covers, bed-covers, quilts-covers, wall-hangings and bags. Patchwork is a technique of applying one piece of fabric to another by means of stitchery patchwork consists of small pieces of cut fabric joined together side by side to mark a larger piece of fabric.

APPLIQUÉ

Applique shapes are cut directly from the cloth,
the edges turned under and slip stitched on to the
background fabric. If many pieces of one shapes are required, a stencil is used. Sometimes, embroidery stitches and mirror work is also added.

PROCESS

a                                                                          b

A roughly cut circle of fabric is folded first in half and then into three, and cut to make a curved edge at (a) .
When opened-out, the resulting shape is seen as in (b) .
Cuts are made towards the centre of the shape, and the edges the turned under as in (C)

c

SOOF

1. Kachcha Soof
These are parallel and equal filing stitches, which are horizontally, vertically and diagonally without
any boundary stitch.
2. Pakka Soof
It is same Kachcha Soof, the only difference being in it being surrounded by a boundary (stitch).



KHARAK

In this first the outer boundary is made with simple stitches then the whole area is filled with soof. e.g..

STITCH TECHNIQUES

Bead work:

One or more beads are taken up by the needle. A single bead is secured by a simple stitch.

Back stitch: This makes a neat regular line. The
reverse of this stitch is a stem stitch.

Buttonhole stitch:

Buttonhole stitch can be worked in lines on fabric or on the edge of fabrics (sometimes then referred to as blanket stitch) with various spacing of the stitch.It is also used in little groups of three to make small spot.

Chain stitch/Open chain stitch:

 The line of stitches is worked away from the embroidered. Lines are made by using both types of stitch.

                                                                               

Couching: The laid thread can be metal or cork, is often a thread that could not be sewn through the fabric.








Herring Bone stitch (Runzi):

The diagram shows this stitch being worked in the usual way, but the stitches only have to be worked closer together, another row worked on top, or the interlaced, the effect changes.



Cretan stitch:

This stitch is used in a variety of ways,as a base thread to draw the design on the fabric,as a stitch farming lines, or for pattern or blocks of stitchery. It is also used in mirror work and other circles of embroidery stitches, often in conjunction with Herring Bone stitch.

Cross-stitch: The cross can be worked on its own, in a row, or to make a variety of patterns.

Running or darning stitch:

A simple stitch can achieve very effective results lines and can be put together with the same spacing or varied spacing in this way various daring patterns can be produced.












Stem stitch:

The angle of the line formed by this stitch can vary when used horizontally, it is the reverse of a back stitch.