History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c23.s3: Indian Predelictions in colour and levels attained in Dye Technology
History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c23.s3
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Indian Predelictions in colour and levels attained in Dye Technology
v1.c23.s3.1
By and large, pre-Islamic Indian predelictions in colour tended towards a sober palate ²¹. The range of colour in cotton dyeing was based on blue and black from *Indigofera tinctoria*, black from iron acetate or a ferrugenous earth from Kutch called *Khayo*, red from either *Rubia cordifolia*, *Morinda citrifolia* or *Ventilago madraspatana*, yellow from *Curcuma longa* (turmeric), *Punica granatam* (pomegranate rind) or *Mangifera indica* (mango bark extract). Different shades could be obtained by combining individual dyeing procedures. Tanning and mordanting were very important pre-dyeing operations for cotton ²². In Egypt mordanting in linen was practiced but the importance of tanning for fixing of the mordant was mastered in India ²³. There is some variation in methods of dyeing and dyes used in the range of fibres such as silk and wool ²⁴. In the case of silk, efficient degumming is essential for success in subsequent dyeing operations. Generally, the yarn rather than the woven fabric has been dyed.
v1.c23.s3.2
Techniques of patterning achieved through variation in colour are associated with the practice of *ikat*, *plāngī*, painting or block printing. Batik as practiced in Indonesia involving usage of cold dyes is alien to the Indian tradition. However, in Mundhra, Kutch, there is a tradition of resist dyeing in which the resist paste, *minia*, is made of a mixture of top soil of goats pens which includes goats droppings, *gugul* local incense resin, olibanum, Fuller's earth and gum made into paste consistency which withstands hot dyeing. The colour palette comprised red, white and black. (Oral information: Shri Khodidas Parmar, Bhavnagar.) The earliest methods of dye patterning were accomplished by resisting through knotting of either the yarn as in *ikat*, or the finished product, as in *plāngī/bandhanī*, prior to processes of colouration. Fabrics could also be dye-patterned either by means of painting, or by stamping of mordant and resist with wooden blocks, the end product was called *Kalamkari* or Cit²⁵. Tie & dye may be practiced on wool, silk and cotton. In India painting and stamping has tended to predominate on cotton.
v1.c23.s3.3
²⁵ *Kalamkari* or Cit.