Mata ne pachedi – The Kalamkari of Gujarat

Around 300 years ago when the people of Vaghri community were barred from entering temples, the kalamkari art of Gujarat – Mata ne pachedi was born.

‘Mata ne pachedi’ means behind the mother goddess. Members of the Chitara family from Ahmedabad, Gujarat have been practicing this art for generations.  Artist Dilip Chitara informs us, “Around 300 years ago, people of the Vaghri community were barred from entering temples. This then led to a movement, where the community decided to create a shrine of their own. A simple cloth was put up on the walls of a simple built form; painted in red and black using sindoor (Kumkum) and coal respectively – their temple of worship.

The artists went beyond the shrine and began depicting the story of the Vaghri community and portraying their divine mother goddess in various forms on cloth. Thus, was born the new art of Mata ne pachedi. Seeing the divine forms of goddess, people from different villages would demand different forms of Mata or goddess to be painted for themselves. So, while the face of goddess remained the same just the ‘Vahana’ or the vehicle that the goddess uses was changed in every form like tiger, boar or so on.”

The process of making this folk art is interesting: the cotton cloth is first de-starched, washed, and dried in the sun. Later, it is soaked in a mixture of salt and cow dung and boiled – this process helps to fix the colour. It is then immersed in water containing caustic soda and castor oil, and a solution of Myrobalan (Harda) and dried. Now the cloth is ready to be painted upon.

The motifs and borders are painted using bamboo kalams (pens) or wooden blocks, using a dye made of rusted iron which has been soaked for a week in sugar solution thickened with the flour of tamarind seeds. Once the painting has been accomplished, dryers take the cloth to wash it under the running water of the river where excess colours flow away and no stains are left on the cloth.

At times, like the Navratri festival or in the Chaitra month of the Hindu calendar, when the goddess is worshipped and celebrated, the designs get complicated, and the workload intensifies. At such times, the entire family comes together to complete the work – an exercise that inculcates the zeal and love for the art in the upcoming generation.

Originally Mata ne pachedi was only made in red and black and meant to be only for the purpose of worship. Over time, artists like Dilip Chitara have taken the initiative to empower the women from his village by making them a part of developing this art. Due to difficulties in getting work and with changing times, they have switched to making wall pieces, sarees, masks, and a lot more using the same age-old techniques and natural dyes, where even today the artists work with complete dedication and patience for days and weeks to create every single piece of this amazing folk art.

Information was derived from a tele- conversation with Artist Dilip Chitara ji.
Photography credits: Dilip Chitara ji, Bhavesh Chitara.