KALAMKËRÌ

One of the ancient and extremely vibrant style of the static images in cloth paintings, is that of KalamK¡r¢ in which the kalam or pen is used to paint figures on cotton cloth. The technique may have been practiced over a wide area. There were, however, two important centres of KalamK¡r¢ – Persia and India – in which it flourished. In India it has remained an integral part of the southern regional culture – particularly of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh for more than a thousand years.

One of the distinctive features of KalamK¡r¢ is the use of mordant dye technique in which mordant is selectively or uniformly applied over the entire fabric for preparing it to retain colour. The pictures are then painted with a pen made out of bamboo with cotton yarn wrapped around it to hold the vegetable colours made from the roots, barks of trees, leaves and flowers. The entire process consists of a series of seventeen stages. Each episode of a narrative is painted in a panel and accompanied with the text in Telugu with borders arduously decorated. Following the Indian tradition, the artists first invoke Lord GaneÜa by painting his picture in one corner.

A KalamK¡r¢ cloth depicting complete myths, legends and tales through floral, geometrical or figurative traditional motifs was used as decorative hangings in temples. The artists are divided into different categories within the KalamK¡r¢ tradition. On the basis of the nature of their work, there are four kinds of artists : those engaged in drawing, mordating, waxing and dyeing. Each individual artist maintains his identity and also shares the collective identity of the KalamK¡r¢ community.

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