Union textile minister Smriti Irani inaugurates Titanwala Museum in Rajasthan's Bagru, Jaipur :

Union Textiles Minister Smriti inaugurated the 'Titanwala Museum' in Bagru that showcases the Chhipa community's hand-block printing.

"The museum is an example that art and culture are not dependent on the government for being nurtured or preserved. It will go a long way in taking the name of Bagru on the world map".

Suraj Narayan Titanwala, who took the initiative of setting up the museum, said it was his dream which was realised today.The museum is an effort towards preserving the art of traditional Bagru block printing. Bagru printing is one of the traditional techniques of printing with natural color followed by the chippas of Rajasthan.

It is highly labor intensive, in which patience, creativity and quality are important. Specialized artisans from this art are associated with skillful people, including Kharodi (Block Carver), Rangrej, Chhipa (Block Printer) and Dhobis are the most prominent. Handblock printing is a highly timed and labor-intensive printing style in which natural colors are used and now this technique is being used by very few families from their generations. 

Bagru Block Printing :

Bagru printing is one of the traditional techniques of printing with natural colour followed by the chippas of a remote place of Rajasthan. The process starts from preparing the cloth to finished printed fabrics through their indigenous methods. Motifs having some specialty are transferred onto light coloured background with wooden blocks following two styles direct and resist style. Although this technique is facing problems against the threat of globalization, this exotic art of creation is required to be encouraged in the present context of environmental consciousness.

History of hand block printing in Bagru :

Bagru is one of the famous centres of hand block printing in Rajasthan located 32 km west from Jaipur. The Chhipa community is famous for this artisan work of block printing. Its soil and climate provide a perfect blend for this exclusive style of printing. Dabu printing is famous in Bagru in which clay, gum, ruined wheat, limestone and cow pies are mixed together and printed on the fabric. Thereafter fabric then can be dyed and left for drying under the sunlight. Now day’s synthetic dyes are introduced for various color combinations but still village has the practice to use the natural color. Indigo, pomegranate, harda are used to obtain the natural colors. Chhipa moholla is considered as the hub of hand block printing in Bagru where one can be able to see various colors of fabric hung on terraces.

It is believed that this form of art was introduced 450 years back by Chhipa community who were settled in the banks of river Sanjariya which provides the most important ingredient “clay” for this printing. The fabric is then soaked in Fuller’s earth and then dipped into turmeric water to get a tone of yellow color. Then the dyed fabric is stamped with the beautiful designs known as blocks. The base color of the fabric is usually the dull shades such as white, cream and beige and natural color such as red, black and maroon are used for printing. Black color can be obtained naturally from iron horse shoe smeared in water, red can be obtained from alum and maroon is a mixture of black and red. Apart from this natural vegetable dyes are also prominent and saffron is also used to create a special print of hand block printing in Bagru.

Technique :

• It’s  a labor intensive process which require lot of skillfulness, time and tolerance power of artisan.
• The wooden blocks of teak-wood are used for printing the design which are soaked in oil overnight and then washed before put to use.
• These collections of block are considered to be the wealth of Chhipa’s that they have collected over a period of time.
• The cloth to be printed is soaked in the solution of clay and other chemicals to make the fabric soften and then dried before used for printing.
• Neat stamping is foremost to get the appealing prints.
• After printing, cloth is left for drying in sun for final touch-up.
• Different types of motifs used in Bagru printing are Aath Kaliya, Chopad, and Kamal.

Nowadays various modern techniques and equipments are used by artisan to make their crafts more efficient and effective. Synthetic dyes are used to come out from traditional style of hand block printing in Bagru and making the prints more attractive. Many Chhipa families have left this form of art and migrated to cities but still few skilled artisan are there to keep their ancient tradition. This art is not only magnificent but also Eco friendly so gaining more importance as the world is rising up for environmental awareness and getting renowned day by day.