Diversity of ikat, the textile that is woven across countries

The exhibition is replete with museum-worthy ikat pieces

It’s a bit startling to think of a
sari as a time capsule that contains clues to the history of India. But then ikat — the warp and weft method of weaving textiles, including saris, that is present across Gujarat, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana — can even be seen in the 5th-7th century wall frescoes of the Ajanta and Ellora caves.

India, however, isn’t the only country with a strong tradition of ikat. Co-curators of a new show, “World Ikat Textiles…Ties That Bind”, which brings together over 100 items of unique antique and modern ikat textiles from 20 countries, say that ikat may have originated in Khujan (in present-day Iran).

It probably spread to Japan and the rest of South Asia through Buddhist monks from India, and a few centuries later, to the Islamic world and Europe through trade. Although it’s not possible to date the material, fragments have even been found in the tombs of Egyptian pharaohs, which would date the weaving method back to the 6th to 11th BCE. The word “ikat” itself is Indonesian in origin, where it can, depending on the context, be used as a noun (cord, thread, knot) or a verb (“to tie” or “to bind”). But, it has become a generic term in English used to describe the process and the cloth itself, regardless of where the fabric was produced or how it is patterned.

Padma Shri Gajam Govardhana’s double ikat telia rumal wall hanging

The reach and range of ikat can be gauged from the countries participating in the show in Delhi: India, Brunei, Cambodia, Chile, Ecuador, France, Guatemala, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Mexico, Myanmar, Nepal, Peru, the Philippines, Tajikistan, Thailand and Uzbekistan.

The show’s co-curators, Malaysian architect-designer Edric Ong and Crafts Council of India Vice-president Manjari Nirula, have tried to depict the individual cultural identity that this labour-intensive and precise process of tie-dying yarn and then hand weaving it into fabrics has taken on in each country. For example, 18th century fabrics from Nimes in France have tapestry like patterns printed on ribbons used to decorate hats. In Ecuador, it was printed on shawls that were a mixture of lace and cotton and traditionally commissioned by a father for his daughter or a husband for his wife. The Malaysians used the cloth in ancient head hunting rituals where they would weave designs with the breath of the dragon and snakes on the sides because they believed the spirit of the cloth would capture the souls of their enemies.

There are ikat designs printed on plant leaf fibres from Borneo and Abaca — the banana fibre from the Philippines. There’s also a selection from Japan, where it’s known as kasuri and woven in various regions in warp, weft and double ikat kasuri patterns, as well as in combinations. Cotton ikat was popular in Japan because the feudal government banned people from wearing silk. Kurume Kasuri, first woven by a woman called Den Inoue, was considered the best cotton kasuri in the 19th century Meiji period in Japan and was designated as “Important Intangible Cultural Property” in 1957 by UNESCO.

Sarat Kumar Patra’s ikat wall hanging, ‘Life of Budha’

But the exhibition also celebrates new generations of designers working with ikat. It’s replete with museum-worthy pieces, some from international private collections such as the double ikat patan patola saris from Gujarati master weavers Rohit and Rahul Salvi, a double ikat telia rumal wall-hanging with 100 non-repetitive motifs by Gajam Govardhan (Hyderabad), a calligraphic work by Gunjan Jain, who works with natural dyes and craftspeople from Odisha, and a double ikat silk sari with the designs and verses from Kalidasa’s Ritusamhara printed on it by Pitabas Meher (Odisha). There are also pieces by international designers like Sitthichai Smanchat (Thailand), Mayakovsky Kawahito (Japan), Myra Widiono (Australia), Aizhan Bekkulova (Kazakhstan) and Edric Ong (Malaysia). And, a silk and cotton ikat-Adras fabric by Rasul Mirzaahmedov (Uzbekistan) that was used by the House of Gucci.

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World Ikat Textiles…Ties That Bind can be viewed at Bikaner House, India Gate Circle, New Delhi, till September 16.