socio-cultural analysis

Hello,

I hope you guys like all my blog posts so far, so, in this post I m taking my research on kalamkari a little further and I m going to talk about the socio- cultural aspect about what influence it had on the art. You have already seen glimpse of it in my previous post, but now I will talk about it in detail.

So, as we all know that the geography and social structure of an area play an important role in the nature of its art forms. The availability of materials, existence of skillful artisans and a consistent clientele are all important factors.

The fact that there was ample production of cotton fabric in southern India ensured the supply of the raw materials to both Srikalahasti and Machilipatnam. Andhra Pradesh, along with neighboring Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are well known for the production of quality cotton even today. The other materials needed- natural colors and different kinds of wood (for the blocks and pens) were all available easily. One mandatory requirement is running water, as the process involves plenty of it. River Swarnamukhi, in Srikalahasti takes care of this requirement, whereas in Machilipatnam, the canal emptying into the Bay of Bengal acts as the source of water.

 Though geographically Machilipatnam and Srikalahasti are not too far away from one another, the proximity to the sea has worked more in favor of the former, as Machilipatnam was a distinguished port even in medieval India. The preserved samples of Kalamkari from museums from different parts of the world seem to indicate this too. For the English, Dutch and French traders, the port was well-known for the textile trade. Being a town of importance, both for the Vijayanagar rulers and Bahmani kingdom (later the Qutb Shahi kings); Machilipatnam was a ‘melting pot’ of cultures. In Srikalahasti, textiles were mainly produced for ritualistic purposes and their use remained confined within the temple space. Vijayanagar rulers like Krishnadevaraya, patronized the Srikalahastisvara Shiva temple, a fact which is mentioned in the inscriptions from that time period. This point to the fact that this region was already a distinguished site of pilgrimage before the 16th century. Comparing not only the purpose of making the textiles, but also the cultural atmosphere surrounding the workshops of the artists it is evident that the textile works are greatly influenced by the local geography.

That’s all for the socio- cultural aspect of kalamkari, in my next post I’ll be talking about the composition tools and techniques of the art.