“Phulkari Meri Maa Ne Kadhi, Is Noo Ghut Ghut Japhiyan Paawan”…..
(This Phulkari was embroidered by my mother, I embrace it warmly).
If you have ever visited Punjab, you might overhear the folk songs like these. They are indicative of the emotional attachment the girl had to the Phulkari embroidered by her mother or grandmother, or aunts.
Phulkari, which means ‘flower craft’ was never fabricated for sale. A family did it for its own use, for every important moment in their life like wedding, birth, and religious functions. Therefore the birth of this handicraft was a mere domestic necessity and not any artistic motive. The creative art of embroidery persists in its technique since its introduction.
Etymology
Phulkari refers to the folk embroidery of Punjab. It is made of two words: Phul means ‘flower’ and a kari means ‘shape’. Phulkari meant the shape/direction of flowers that symbolized life.
Traditions
In Punjab, there is a belief that the birth of girl child in the family was auspicious. The mother and grandmothers would start embroidering Phulkari dupattas upon her birth because they believed that she would be the creator for future generations.
Women would gather to embroider Phulkaris and sing traditional folk songs while doing it. There are some instances noted where a woman putting one grain of wheat to one side for every stitch she made. When the Phulkari was complete, the lady donated the grains away. Sometimes, one Phulkari associated with different styles. This is because each girl would use her own imagination to stitch a design, perhaps to remind the girl when she gets married of her friends who helped stitch the Phulkari.
Origin
There are different theories about the origin of Phulkari. One such belief is that this embroidery was prevalent in different parts of the country as far back as the 7th century CE but survived only in Punjab. kashida of Bihar and some of the embroideries of Rajasthan found to contain motifs similar to the ones found in Phulkari. Another thought is that this style of embroidery came from Iran where it was called Gulkari, also meaning floral work. However, Pal (1960) notes that the styles of Phulkari are distinct to Gulkari work.
There is reference to Phulkari in ancient texts, folk legends, and literature of Punjab. In Harishcharitra, the biography of the Emperor Harshavardhana (590-647 CE), the last ruler of great ancient Indian Vardhana empire, the seventh-century chronicler Bana wrote, “Some people were embroidering flowers and leaves on the cloth from the reverse side,” which is a technical description of Phulkari embroidery. However, the earliest reference to the word Phulkari is in Punjabi literature in the 18th century Waris Shah’s version of Heer Ranjha (a legendary Punjabi tragic romance) which describes the wedding trousseau of the female protagonist Heer and lists various clothing items with Phulkari embroidery.
Features
The hallmark of Phulkari is, making innumerable patterns by using long and short darn stitches. Punjabi women create alluring and interesting designs and patterns by their skillful manipulation of the darn stitch. The main characteristic of this embroidery was that it worked entirely from the reverse of the fabric. There were no pattern books. There were no tracings of designs. Women counted threads to get the design accurately. Techniques and patterns were not documented but transmitted from word of mouth and each regional group was identified with the style of embroidery or design. Today there are changes in tracings and other means being used.
Soft untwisted silk floss called patt, was used for embroidery. The thread came from Kashmir, Afghanistan, and Bengal. The best quality silk came from China. The village ladies obtained the thread from hawkers or peddlers who went from village to village selling daily needs items. There was a belief that the virtue and character of a woman gave shape to the Phulkari.
Motifs
Although Phulkari means floral work, the designs include not only flowers but also cover motifs and geometrical shapes. Phulkari depicted scenes from everyday life in the villages. Animals and birds represented success, beauty, pride, and goodwill and different fruits symbolized wealth, prosperity, and fertility. Wheat and barley stalks with ears were also common motifs. Other popular motifs used are Jasmin flower(Motia) Lotus plant (Kamal) Chilli (Mirchi) Peacock (Mor) Wheat (Kanki) Wave (Lehriya bagh) Sunflower (Surajmughi) Parrot (Totha maina ). Religious subjects of darbar (Sikh temple hall) scenes prohibited in embroideries.
Colors
Color plays an important element in Phulkari embroidery. The bright-colored thread used in the embroidery symbolized different expressions. Red represents youth and passion. Green represents fertility and Blue serenity. Orange symbolizes energy and White purity. White is for widows and older women.
VARIOUS TYPES OF PHULKARI :
1. Bagh:
- Sometimes, the Bagh has separate categorization of its own as on other varieties of a Phulkari, parts of the cloth are visible, whereas, in a Bagh, the embroidery covers the entire garment so that the base cloth is not visible. Varieties of Bagh are as follows,
- Bawan Bagh: Mosaic of fifty two different patterns which decorate the piece and is the rarest of all.
- Varida Bagh: Made on an orange-reddish khaddar with the main pattern being a group of three four small concentric lozenges (diamond) of growing size.
- Ghunghat bagh: Originated in Rawalpindi. The heavily embroidered center is then pulled over the face so as to form an embroidered veil.
- Kaudi Bagh: Chains of small white squares representing stylized cowries.
- “Chashm-e-Bulbul”: The work done with white or yellow silk floss on cotton khaddar that starts from the center of the fabric and spreads to the whole fabric.
2. Sainchi:
Sainchi was popular in Bathinda and Faridkot districts. It was also popular in and around Ferozepur. It draws inspiration from village life and depicts various scenes of everyday village life such as a man ploughing, lying on a charpai (jute cot), playing chaupar (a cross and circle board game), smoking hookah, or guests drinking sharbat (sweet cordial).
Common themes also include women performing chores like churning milk, grinding wheat flour on the chakki (hand mill), and working on the charkha (spinning wheel). Women also embroidered scenes that they found interesting, such as a British official coming to a village or women carrying an umbrella and walking along with memsahib (the wife of a British official). Birds, trains, circuses as well as scenes from popular Punjabi legends like Sohni Mahiwal and Sassi-Punnun were often depicted. The style also incorporates jewelry designs of bracelets, earrings, rings, and necklaces. Pal (1960) believes that such designs did no form part of the traditional method of embroidering Phulkaris but expressed a woman’s wish to have such items of jewellery.
Other verities :
- Darshan Dwar: Made for a temple as an offering to thank god.
- Chope: Embroidered with one color, usually on the borders with small squares in a step ladder fashion.
- Subhar: It has a central motif and four motifs on the corners.
- Surajmukhi: Sunflower refers to the main pattern of this Phulkari.
- Panchranga: Decorated with chevrons of five different colors.
- Satranga: Decorated with chevrons of seven different colors.
- Meenakari: Made of gold and white-colored pat, decorated with small multicolored lozenges referring to enamel work (meenakari)
- Tilpatra: The til (sesame) Patra has decorative embroidery which looks as if spreading sesame seeds.The term tilpatra means “the spreading of seeds”.
- Chhamaas: The Chhaamas phulkari hails from Rohtak, Gurgaon, Hissar, and Delhi. The Chaamas Phulkari incorporates mirrors. Yellow, grey, or blue threads used to sew into cloth.
Step 1. Draw the design on the fabric. Earlier people used to count threads in Khaddar cloth and do the embroidery, without drawing. But you need not go to that much trouble. Go ahead and draw the design. Use a scale to draw geometrical designs.
Step 2. Fill the motifs with darning stitches. Bring the needle to the front from the back as shown in the picture. Go up the layers and then come down filling the designs or vise versa. Repeat with another side.
Step 5. Complete one side then repeat for the other side. Your fabric backside should be very neat as well.
Step 6. You can do outline stitches with running stitches or buttonhole stitches all around the motif after the filling stitches, like the Kantha work.
Some designs for phulkari embroidery
Global impact/occurrence
Even though this embroidery was not originally done on a commercial scale, some of it did find a market abroad in the 19th century. To make curtains for European homes, along fully embroidered cloth has a preference of choice. Specimens of Phulkari cloth from different regions of Punjab sent to the Colonial and Indian Exhibition, held under the British regime. By the end of the 19th century, Phulkaris and Baghs had found a market in Europe and America. Phulkari works of any shape or size ordered from certain firms in Amritsar. Some of the firms procured orders from Europe for supplying Phulkari on a commercial scale. The newer market dictated the changes in designs and color combinations. Some commented that the Europeanized versions of Phulkari were not Indian at all. The embroideries were in black, green, and red and the stitches of embroidery were an inch in length.
Revival and Exhibitions
Some modern fashion designers are incorporating this embroidery into their designs, and its use has spread beyond traditional salwar kameez and dupatta to accessories like jackets, handbags, cushion covers, table-mats, shoes, slippers, juttis, as well as children’s clothes.
There are also books on Phulkari available online or in bookstores for purchase. The library at Punjabi University, Patiala has extensive reading material on Phulkaris. Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) acquired a collection of selected phulkari for its archives in 1994. The Textile Gallery at the National Crafts Museum has a very extensive collection of Phulkaris. The Philadelphia Museum of Art has a permanent exhibition featuring Phulkaris from the museum’s Jill and Sheldon Bonovitz Collection and contemporary designs by Bollywood celebrity designer Manish Malhotra.
References
- Phulkari Work- Introduction (unnatisilks.com)
2. How to do {STUNNING} Phulkari embroidery – DIY tutorial – Sew Guide
3. Phulkari – Wikipedia
