History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c23.s3.2

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.