Ujjain Textile & Devotional Craft
Batik and block-printed cloth, and the pilgrim crafts of a Kumbh Mela city on the Kshipra.
Ujjain, one of Hinduism's seven sacred cities and a host of the Simhastha Kumbh Mela, is a temple town on the Kshipra whose craft economy is closely tied to worship and pilgrimage. On its edge, Bhairavgarh is a printing centre for batik (wax-resist dyeing) and hand block printing, producing sarees, dupattas, yardage and furnishing in crackled batik and Malwa-style prints. The city itself supports makers of prayer beads and malas, brass and copper puja vessels, lamps and bells, clay lamps and idols, and the flowers, threads and ritual kits sold to the pilgrims who come for the Mahakaleshwar temple and the Kumbh.
Craft at a Glance
Origin
Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh
Also Known As
Ujjain crafts, Avantika craft, Bhairavgarh-Ujjain textiles
Craft Type
Batik and block-printed textiles, and devotional pilgrim craft
Practising Community
Chhipa printer-dyer families, women's batik units, and bead, brass and clay puja-ware makers serving the temples and pilgrims
Materials
Cotton and silk cloth, paraffin and beeswax, wooden blocks and dyes (indigo, naphthol, reactive) for the textiles; rudraksha, tulsi and sandal beads, thread, brass, copper and clay for the devotional items.
Known For
Bhairavgarh batik and block prints, temple rudraksha and bead malas, brass and clay puja ware, and Kumbh-linked craft
Where It's Made
Ujjain city and Bhairavgarh (Bherugarh) on its edge, Ujjain district, Madhya Pradesh
Time to Create
Days per printed length; hours to days per devotional item
GI Status
Not GI-registered; nearby Bagh Prints of the same state are registered
Process Steps
Preparing the cloth (batik)
Fabric is washed and dried so wax and dye take evenly.
Waxing and cracking
Hot wax is applied over the areas to be reserved, and the wax is flexed so it cracks in fine lines.
Dyeing and de-waxing
The cloth is dyed, the wax resisting the colour, and then the wax is boiled off; the cycle repeats for each colour.
Block printing
Where used, carved blocks add printed borders, motifs or backgrounds to the batik cloth.
Stringing the malas
Rudraksha, tulsi, sandal and crystal beads are drilled, graded and strung into prayer garlands.
Making the puja ware
Brass and copper lamps, vessels and bells are cast or spun and hand-finished; clay lamps and idols are thrown or moulded and fired.
Assembling pilgrim kits
Threads, flowers, vermilion, lamps and beads are packaged into the ritual kits sold at the temples and the Mela.
Technique Glossary
Batik
A wax-resist dyeing method in which molten wax blocks dye from selected areas of cloth.
Crackle
The network of thin dyed lines formed where the wax resist fractures before dyeing.
Canting (tjanting)
A small spouted tool for drawing fine lines of hot wax freehand.
Rudraksha mala
A prayer garland strung from the seeds of the rudraksha tree, sacred to Shiva.
Simhastha Kumbh
The twelve-yearly bathing festival at Ujjain that drives the city's devotional-craft economy.
Puja ware
The lamps, vessels, bells and idols used in Hindu worship, made in brass, copper and clay.
Chhipa
The hereditary block-printing and dyeing community of central and western India.
A Craft Through Time
Ancient
A sacred city
Ujjain (Avantika) is established as one of Hinduism's holiest cities and a centre of astronomy and pilgrimage.
Pre-modern
Temple and trade crafts
Printers, dyers, bead-stringers and metalworkers serve the temple town and the Malwa trade.
20th century
Batik at Bhairavgarh
Bhairavgarh takes up wax-resist batik and becomes identified with it.
Late 20th century
Craft schemes
Government support and design input widen the market for the region's printed cloth.
21st century
Mela-scale demand
The Simhastha Kumbh brings vast pilgrim numbers, sustaining the devotional-craft trades.
Present
Cloth and worship
Bhairavgarh batik and block printing and Ujjain's puja and bead crafts continue side by side, one for fashion, the other for the pilgrims.
Did You Know?
Every twelve years the Simhastha Kumbh Mela brings tens of millions of pilgrims to Ujjain, and the city's bead-stringers, brass-workers and potters spend the preceding year making malas, lamps and puja kits for them.
Every craft has a story. Every story begins with tradition.