Gujarat Textile Crafts Quiz: Patola, Bandhani, Ajrakh and More

Patan Patola: double ikat

In ikat, the yarn is tied and dyed in a pattern before weaving. Patola from Patan is a double ikat: both the warp and the weft are dyed, and the weaver lines them up thread by thread so the pattern appears identically on both sides. It is one of the slowest and most precise weaving techniques in the world.

Bandhani: tie and dye

For Bandhani (Bandhej), tiny points of cloth are pinched and tied tightly with thread, then the cloth is dyed. The tied points stay undyed and form dots. Jamnagar and Kutch are known for very fine Bandhani. Leheriya, the diagonal wave tie-dye, is a related technique from Rajasthan.

Ajrakh: resist block printing

Ajrakh is printed with carved wooden blocks in many stages of resist printing and dyeing, traditionally with natural indigo and madder. In Gujarat it is practised by Khatri families in Kutch, notably at Dhamadka and Ajrakhpur, a village near Bhuj settled by printers after the 2001 earthquake.

Rogan, Tangaliya and Kutch embroidery

• Rogan: a thick paste of boiled castor oil and colour is drawn onto cloth with a metal stylus. A few families in Nirona, Kutch, keep it alive.
• Tangaliya: a weave from Surendranagar district in which extra weft threads are twisted around the warp to make raised dots called dana.
• Kutch embroidery: bright stitching with small mirrors, called abhla, worked into the design.

Telling genuine craft from a print

• Bandhani: real tie-dye has slightly irregular dots, and the fabric is often puckered where the knots were. A print shows dots only on the face.
• Patola: genuine double ikat has the same pattern on both sides, with soft, feathered edges to the motifs.
• Ajrakh: block prints show small variations between repeats; screen and digital prints are perfectly identical.

If you sell these crafts online, tell the story of how they are made: it helps buyers understand the price. Also try the famous sarees of India quiz.