Kalamkari

Kalamkari (Persian: قلم‌کاری) is a type of hand-painted cotton textile produced in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Only natural dyes are used in Kalamkari, which involves twenty-three steps.^[1][2][3]

There are two distinctive styles of Kalamkari art in India – Machilipatnam style and Srikalahasti style.

Machilipatnam style of Kalamkari work which involves vegetable dyed block-painting of a fabric.^[4] it is produced at the town of Machilipatnam in Krishna district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It was registered as one of the geographical indication from Andhra Pradesh under handicraft goods by Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999.^[5]

The Srikalahasti style of Kalamkari, where the "kalam" or pen is used for freehand drawing of the subject and filling in the colors, is entirely hand worked. This style flourished in temples centered on creating unique religious identities, appearing on scrolls, temple hangings, chariot banners as well as depictions of deities and scenes taken from the Hindu epics (e.g. Ramayana, Mahabharata and Purana). The style owes its present status to Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay who popularized the art as the first chairperson of the All India Handicrafts Board.^[6]