Sanganer is situated about 8 kilometers south-east of Jaipur city. Prior to the 17th century, there is no mention of Sanganer as a centre of printing. At that time Sanganer was known as a centre of plain and dyed clothes. It was probably towards the end of the 17th century that this art form developed here. Probably due to war with Emperor Aurangzeb and the repeated invasions of the Marathas, many craftsmen (Printers) from the neighbouring state Gujarat came and settled in Rajasthan. By the end of the 18th century this industry was fully developed in Sanganer. There are at present, about 125 hand block printing units in Sanganer. Sanganer was renowned for its small decorative and delicate floral patterns, called, ‘boota-booties’ which was printed on fine cotton and silk. The dyers and block makers came from Sindh and Punjab and settled here. The printers belong to Chhippa community. They are all Hindus and are followers of the renowned Marathi Saint Namdev. Almost every member of the ‘Chhippa’ family is involved in the washing, dyeing and printing of clothes. While, the printers are predominantly Hindus, majority of dyers and block makers are Muslims. Water of the Saraswati River that used to flow graciously through Sanganer, was known for its special quality that used to bring out radiance from the natural dyed fabric. This was major source of inspiration for the printing community.
In olden days, the fabric was printed mainly for use of royal families and rich traders but now it is used as part of clothing for urban families and also exported. At present,’ mulmul’ (cotton voile), ‘latha’ (sheeting fabrics) and cambric etc. are sourced from Jaipur.
On Sanganeri ‘chintz’ (printed cloth) usually, yellow, green blue (with different tones) are used as the background. These days one rarely comes across the variety of shades that were found in the old Sanganeri ‘chintz’, but still the ‘Chhippas’ of Sanganer have the incomparable know-how of matching the back ground on base colour with colours of the prints.
Motifs of Sanganeri Printing
Sanganeri is generally done on white background. Sanganer is famous for its Calico prints (recognised by their dual colour prints done repeatedly in diagonal rows) and Do-Rookhi prints (that come on both side of the fabric). Finesse in flowers-petal designs, curves and delicacy are the prime specialities of Sanganer prints. The curvature of flowers in the ’bootas’ is generally shown on the right side. Different types of flowers and plants are displayed in the form of ‘bel’ (a border) and ‘boota’ very naturally and in a really attractive manner.
Some of the flowers used in the prints are roses, rosettes, lotuses, lotus bud, sunflower, lily, ‘champa’ ‘canna’ ‘nergis’, marigold etc. Various other flower creations are also found in old Sanganeri prints. Other flowers used are locally known as ‘sosan’, ‘gainda’, ‘gulmehendi’, ‘javakusum’, ‘guldaudi’, ‘kachnar’, ‘jatadari lily’, ‘kaner’, ‘kanna’, ‘gullalla’, etc. ‘Sosan’ and ‘gullala’ prints are probably very suitable to sanganeri prints, therefore they are used in various forms.
In ‘booties’, generally, only one type of flower-petal and bud creations in the following forms: ‘badam, (almond)’, ‘paan’ (beetle leaf), ‘mukut of ‘kalanga’, While printing a saree, if the ‘booti’ is of ‘sosan’ flower or plant the ‘bel’ will also be of ‘sosan’ flower and the big’boota’ to be done on the ‘pallu’ (the end part of a saree) will also be of ‘sosan’ flower decoration. Hence, for printing one sari, a large number of blocks need to be made. In some ‘booties’ one finds a collection of more than one flower in the same product. Sometimes two different blocks of two different ‘booties’ are printed together to form a third type of ‘booti’ e.g. ‘Singhbal booti’. By printing different booties together, the Sanganeri ‘Chhippas’ have portrayed excellent know how. Sometimes more than three flowers are fitted beautifully in a single ‘booti’ e.g. in ‘Latkan booti’ banana tree, sosan tree and saro tree collection in assembled beautifully in one pattern. Apart from flowers, fruit trees of banana, dates, grapes pomegranate etc. have also been recreated in a very attractive manner. In some old prints figures of parrots and fish are also seen.
TRIVIA: Indira Gandhi, a woman of impeccable taste and style, was the most iconic figure as far as our Indian textile heritage goes. She gave a huge fillip to the pure cotton Kota and Mulmul saris, printed in monochrome with Sanganeri bootis. Indira Gandhi used her dressing as a powerful medium to send across a certain message. Indira Gandhi was also a style icon; no one else really connected fashion and politics like her.
