As a collector of ikat saris, I have a defining memory of the weave. An exquisite cotton ikat sari woven by Pitabas Meher, whose father Mohan Meher received the National Award for the design. In shades of deep red and indigo, it was inspired by a board game and replicated the motifs of the dice with script and numbers. […]
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Aarathi Prasad; (right) Silk — A History in Three Metamorphoses An outstanding variety of Indian historical textiles in silk have fascinated the world for centuries. They comprise well-known private and public collections in museums in the country and abroad. But little is known of the sources and histories of the yarns used in them. In […]
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A pillar here, an elaborately carved door there, trellised balconies and stone carvings offer tantalising glimpses of what it must have been like 2,000 years ago when Paithan, then known as Pratishthana, was the capital of the mighty Satavahana dynasty, and later the Vakatakas, the Yadavas and the Marathas. The town located a little more […]
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(Clockwise from top left) Ladakhi kitchen utensils, textile exhibits in Amer, Kala Bhoomi, Central Asian Museum, and Bharat Kala Bhavan Among the highlights of my journeys through India researching textiles over the last two decades has been the discovery of some lesser-known museums. While my effort as an independent curator has been, often, to consistently question […]
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Gwyneth Paltrow, Deepika Padukone with Ranveer Singh, and Alia Bhatt | Photo Credit: AP, Getty Images Sarojini Naidu famously quipped that it cost a lot of money to keep Mahatma Gandhi in poverty, so she would no doubt view with amusement fashion’s current obsession with quiet luxury dressing. Blame it on actor Gwyneth Paltrow’s recent […]
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The 17th century English explorer Edward Terry wrote of his visit to India: “The natives there show very much ingenuity in their curious manufactures, as in their silk stuffs, which they most artificially weave, some very neatly mingled either with silver or gold or both…” It is these glowing, glistening, lustrous “silk stuffs” that are […]
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The Tungabhadra river flows, not too far from where we stand. On its southern bank is the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Hampi, the capital of the mighty Krishnadevaraya’s Vijayanagara empire. But we are on the northern banks at Anegundi village, said to be older than Hampi. All around are hills with massive boulders precariously […]
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