Dhar Tribal Textile Craft
Bagh prints and Bhil weaving and embroidery from a former Malwa capital.
Dhar district in western Madhya Pradesh brings together two textile traditions. One is the natural-dye hand block printing of Bagh village, a GI-protected craft in its own right, using iron and alum mordants, alizarin and indigo, and river washing. The other is the woven, embroidered and beaded textile work of the district's large Bhil and Bhilala tribal population — coarse pit-loom cotton lengths for waist and head cloths, and cholis, bags and festival garments dense with cross-stitch, mirrors, cowries and beads.
Craft at a Glance
Origin
Dhar, Madhya Pradesh
Also Known As
Dhar district textiles, Bagh print, Bhil-Bhilala craft of western Malwa
Craft Type
Natural-dye block printing and tribal cotton weaving and embroidery
Practising Community
Khatri printer-dyer families at Bagh; Bhil and Bhilala tribal communities for the woven and embroidered textiles
Materials
Handloom cotton; teak blocks and natural dyes (myrobalan, alum, iron liquor, alizarin, indigo, dhawda) for the printing; cotton yarn, embroidery floss, small mirrors, cowries, beads and coins for the tribal textiles.
Known For
Bagh-tradition natural-dye block prints and Bhil and Bhilala woven, embroidered and beaded textiles
Where It's Made
Bagh village and Kukshi for printing; Kukshi, Manawar and the Bhil belt of Dhar and Jhabua for tribal textiles, Madhya Pradesh
Time to Create
Days to weeks per printed length or embroidered garment
GI Status
Bagh Prints of Madhya Pradesh (made in Dhar district) is a registered GI; the tribal textiles are not registered
Process Steps
Priming the cloth for printing
Cotton is washed and soaked in myrobalan so the iron and alum mordants will bond with the fibre.
Mordant block printing
Iron-black and alum-red mordant pastes are printed with carved teak blocks, outline first then fillers.
Dye boiling and washing
The printed cloth is boiled with alizarin and dhawda flowers, then washed in the river; red develops on the alum areas and black on the iron.
Weaving the tribal cloth
Cotton lengths for waist and head cloths are woven on simple pit looms in the Bhil villages.
Embroidering the bodices
Cholis and blouse pieces are worked with counted cross-stitch and satin stitch in bright contrasting floss.
Anchoring the mirrors
Small mirrors are caught under crossed stitches and framed so they hold fast to the cloth.
Adding cowries, beads and coins
Festival garments and bags are edged and studded with cowrie shells, beads, buttons and coins.
Technique Glossary
Bagh print
The GI-tagged natural-dye block print of Bagh village in Dhar district.
Bhil / Bhilala
The major tribal communities of western Madhya Pradesh with distinct textile and dress customs.
Shisha
Small mirrors stitched into cloth, common in the region's tribal embroidery.
Harda (myrobalan)
A tannin used to pre-treat cloth so mordants and natural dyes hold fast.
Mordant
A metallic salt printed onto cloth so a dye later fixes permanently only where it was applied.
Cowrie work
Sewing small cowrie shells onto garments and bags as an edging and status marker.
Counted cross-stitch
Embroidery worked by counting the threads of the ground so the design is exact and symmetrical.
A Craft Through Time
Pre-modern
Paramara and princely Dhar
Market towns of the district support dyers, printers and weavers under successive rulers.
1962
Bagh printers arrive
Khatri families settle at Bagh, making Dhar district a natural-dye printing centre.
20th century
Tribal craft documented
Development agencies record and lightly market Bhil weaving, embroidery and bead work.
2008
Bagh print GI
Bagh Prints of Madhya Pradesh, made in Dhar district, are registered as a GI.
Present
Two living traditions
Bagh printing and Bhil textile work continue side by side in the district, one export-oriented, the other largely community wear.
Did You Know?
Among the Bhil, the amount and boldness of mirror-and-cowrie work on a woman's blouse traditionally signalled her clan and marital status as clearly as any spoken introduction.
Every craft has a story. Every story begins with tradition.