South India, Sri Kalahasti Pen Kalamkari, Andhra Pradesh
Andhra’s hand-painted temple textile art.
Pen Kalamkari is an ancient textile printing art that finds its roots in in Srikalahasti of Tirupati district of Andhra Pradesh.
Srikalahasti style of Kalamkari, where the "kalam" or pen is used for freehand drawing of the subject and filling in the colours, is entirely hand worked. This style flourished in temples centred on creating unique religious identities, appearing on scrolls, temple hangings, chariot banners as well as depictions of deities and scenes taken from the Hindu epics (e.g. Ramayana, Mahabharata and Purana). The style owes its present status to Kamala Devi Chattopadhyay who popularised the art as the first chairperson of the All India Handicrafts Board. Previously Vegetable Colors were used for making Pen Kalamkari but now Artisans started using pigment colors with Vegetable colors. And to be more cost efficient they use screen printing for making outline and do the filling inside it. For painting fabric they firstly dip it in milk with 8%fat.The process is done to avoide color spreading on fabric while painting. Currently the products made using Pen Kalamkari are Wall art, Saree, Dupatta and Yardage.
