Mata ni Pachedi
A temple you can carry to the river — the goddess enthroned in black and madder red.
A hand-painted and block-printed temple cloth of the Vaghari community of Gujarat — literally 'behind the mother goddess'. The cloth becomes a portable shrine: the goddess sits enthroned at the centre, surrounded by her mounts, attendants and worshippers, all in a limited palette of black, madder red and the natural off-white of the cloth.
Craft at a Glance
Origin
Ahmedabad, Gujarat
Craft Type
Painted and block-printed ritual textile
Materials
Cotton cloth mordanted with harde (myrobalan); black from fermented iron; red from alizarin/madder with alum mordant; dhavdi flowers in the dye bath; bamboo pens and carved teak blocks.
Known For
The central enthroned goddess, black-and-red palette, Vaghari community worship
Time to Create
One to two weeks including the several dye and wash cycles
Process Steps
Preparing the cloth
Cotton is washed and soaked in a myrobalan (harde) solution so it will hold the mordant dyes, then dried.
Drawing the goddess
The central deity is drawn and filled freehand with a bamboo pen using a black iron-jaggery liquid.
Block-printing the borders
Rows of attendants, animals, worshippers and border motifs are stamped with carved wooden blocks.
Dyeing red and washing
Areas to be red are painted with mordant and the cloth is boiled with alizarin and dhavdi flowers; it is washed in running water between and after the dye baths.
Technique Glossary
A Craft Through Time
Historic
A shrine of one's own
Barred from temples, the Vaghari paint the mother goddess on cloth to create a portable place of worship.
Traditional use
Rite and river
Cloths are commissioned for ceremonies along the Sabarmati at Ahmedabad and then immersed in the river.
Late 20th century
Into the market
The Chitara and other families begin making Mata ni Pachedi for collectors, exhibitions and interiors.
Present
Recognition
The craft is widely exhibited as a Gujarati textile art while ritual commissions continue in the community.
Did You Know?
Mata ni Pachedi began as a workaround for exclusion: unable to enter temples, the Vaghari painted the goddess onto cloth and made a shrine they could set up anywhere.
Every craft has a story. Every story begins with tradition.