Rajasthani Textile Arts
Overview
The block prints and tie dyes of Rajasthan have a long and continuing tradition. The Calico Museum of Textiles in Ahmedabad has fragments of cloth found in Egypt from as far back as the 14th or 15th centuries. Because their patterns match almost exactly those depicted in the miniature paintings of NW India, we can safely assume that fabrics were being exported to Europe and Africa at that time. American colonists enjoyed calicos and bandhani dyed stuffs from India.
The textile industry was a major part of the socio economic picture as many family names are oriented in the textile arts, from Chippa (printer) to Bhandhara (tie dyer).
The sparse desert landscape of most of the state contrasts fantastically to the brilliant colors worn by the villagers. The women of Rajasthan seem to favor above all hot pinks and brilliant yellow veils, the men in rainbow colored turbans. It's amazing to see the richness and variety of color that these traditional dyers are able to achieve with natural dyes.
 Costumes
The sari is scarcely worn by tribal women. Rather they wear a full drawstring skirt (ghagra) and a tight fitting blouse (choli). There are also matching tunic types of blouses over the whole thing. Often the necklines are so low on these tunics that they show the full chest and choli underneath.
The outfits are usually custom made by a tailor in the same colorful calico cotton and feature ornamental borders of woven ribbons, brick a brack, zari applique or hand embroidery.
 Then if this wasn't enough, over the top of all that is the crowning glory of a brilliantly colored odhani, which is tucked into the waist at the front and brought around back and draped over the head. Perfect for staving off the hot sun. Women with more traditional values often cover their face with their veils, which are transparent enough to see out through, but opaque enough not to see into. Since jewelry for women often represents their only individual sense of wealth they never seem to take it off. They come jingling in anklets, cascading clanks of bangles, sometimes all the way up to the upper arm, rings, hair ornaments.
 The men are equally fetching in tightly tied dhotis and waistcoats with a high waist and peplum, usually with a diagonal flap and tie closures. They sport glorious waxed moustaches and shoes with brightly ornamented curly toes!
To get to see a wide spectrum of costumes in Rajasthan it's great to attend the Pushkar Mela - famous for its camel trading and the hordes of tribal villagers that come to buy and sell them. Once a year this small holy city turns into a wild beehive of activity, merchants from all over india come offering their crafts to the villagers who have some money to spend from selling their animals. Then there's the other 10 thousand or so people who just come for the spectacle. The festival happens in early November culminating on the full moon night.
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Specialties of Rajasthan
Kota Doria
If you are lucky enough to come across handloomed Kota Doria, you will be taken right away. It is a highly transparent cotton or cotton/silk weave consisting of varied guages of yarn, in a graph like pattern called khats. The intermittent heavier guage yarns give the fabric enough weight and lateral stability to fall very gracefully, yet it is incredibly airy and transparent. Generally, these pieces are worn in the heat of summer.
Other than the few scarce weavers in a small town called Kaithoon most Kota Doria is machine woven on semi automatic power looms.
 Bandhni or Bandhej
This technique is most often associated with desert areas of Rajasthan and Gujarat. In the royal houses of Rajasthan, the printing on fabrics was often quite tightly conformed by social norms whereas in dyeing alot more experimentation was encouraged.
Bandhej is done in a four step rocess: likhai, bandhai, tipai and dyeing
The cloth is folded in 4 or 6 layers. The pattern outline is drawn on with washable colors. (likhai). Then the cloth is tied in small knots that are tight enough to resist the flow of die (bandhai). The average time needed is two days per sari for this work! Then the cloth is dyed in the first color, usually the lightest. The white dots created by tying then get hand colored (tipai). If the pattern dictates, this process could be repeated one or more times. Finally the cloth is washed and the bandhs are cut open and the cloth is dried.
Mothra
The cloth is folded diagonally and tied, and twisted like a rope while dying. When the cloth is unfolded the design appears in diagonal lines. This creates the revered "panchranga" (five colored) pattern of pink, red, orange, violet and green.
Leheriya
Rolling the cloth at a diagonal and wrapping the rolled tube very tightly produces thin lines on the bias - called Leheriya or "waves". Often this process is repeated from light to dark, producing beautiful multi hued interwoven diagonal stripes.
Lingo
khat - squares formed between the different thicknesses of fibers.
pani - the width of the fabric. Saris are usually 1.25 yards wide. The yarn content of one pani of fine cotton is 2500 - 3000 and 4500 - 5000 in silk
pan - 30 yards of cloth - takes about 15 days to weave
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Loanwords
Kamarband - (cumberbund) ornamental waistbands worn by the courtiers of Jaipur
chint - (chintz) block printing
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