Indian Handicrafts

A handicraft is anything crafted by hand, without machines. India's states each carry their own craft traditions, handed down across generations. These traditions are tied closely to the livelihoods of rural and tribal communities. Many are now protected by a Geographical Indication (GI) tag. A GI tag certifies that a product comes from a particular region and meets its traditional standards. For the exam, the craft itself matters less than its name, its home state and its one distinguishing feature. Learn each as a name-place-feature triplet.

Cloth is decorated in three broad ways: weaving the pattern into the fabric, printing it on with wooden blocks, and tie-and-dye. In tie-and-dye, parts of the cloth are tied off so they resist the dye. Some techniques arrived through trade. Tanchoi weaving, for example, is said to be of Chinese inspiration. It reached Surat in Gujarat through trading communities. The most exam-tested output of these crafts is the regional saree.

The major traditional sarees and their homes:

• Pochampalli (Andhra Pradesh): silk and cotton saree in the geometric ikat style of dyeing, once worn by Air India cabin crew.
• Patola (Patan, Gujarat): rich double-ikat handloom saree.
• Baluchari (Murshidabad, West Bengal): silk saree that depicts scenes from ancient stories on its border and pallu.
• Jamdani (West Bengal): finest muslin with opaque patterns woven on a transparent background.
• Tanchoi / Banarasi brocade (Varanasi): silk saree woven with single or double warp and several colours on the weft.
• Chanderi (Madhya Pradesh): silk, zari and cotton woven into a sheer, feather-light "see-through" saree.
• Ilkal (Karnataka): uses Kasuti embroidery, with chariot and elephant as common motifs.
• Paithani (Maharashtra): silk saree with gold-coloured thread and a parrot motif.
• Nauvari / Kasta (Maharashtra): a single nine-yard saree.
• Bomkai (Odisha): silk and cotton saree combining ikat, embroidery and thread work.
• Konrad / temple saree (Tamil Nadu): stripes or checks with a wide border and motifs of animals and natural elements.
• Kancheepuram / Kanjeevaram (Tamil Nadu): heavy pure-silk saree with rich zari, woven in the temple town of Kancheepuram, the most famous silk-saree town of the south.
• Kasavu (Kerala): saree marked by a thick golden border.

The exam often asks which towns are traditional saree centres. Chanderi and Kancheepuram are. Bhadrachalam (a temple town in Telangana) and Karnal (in Haryana) are not; they are distractors with no traditional saree industry.

Two tie-and-dye and printing terms are worth fixing:

• Bandhani (Gujarat): the classic "tie-and-dye" cloth printing technique.
• Dabu (Chittorgarh, Rajasthan): an ancient mud-resist hand block-printing technique on cotton.

A related painted textile is Kalamkari (Andhra Pradesh). It is a hand-painted cotton textile. Its name comes from the kalam (pen) used to draw the designs.

Pair-matching questions test three lesser-known cloth crafts by pairing each with a wrong state. Fix the correct homes:

• Puthukkuli shawls (Tamil Nadu): embroidered shawls of the Toda tribe of the Nilgiris, a heritage craft worn on ceremonial occasions.
• Sujni embroidery (Bihar): quilted embroidery of the Muzaffarpur region, where old cloth layers are stitched with simple running stitches into narrative panels. It belongs to Bihar, not Maharashtra.
• Uppada Jamdani (Andhra Pradesh): a silk saree in the Jamdani technique, woven at Uppada in the East Godavari coastal belt. It belongs to Andhra Pradesh, not Karnataka. Only the original muslin Jamdani belongs to West Bengal.

Toy-making in India is both an art and a livelihood. The earliest evidence is the toy carts of the Harappan civilisation. Terracotta and metal cart models have been found at sites like Alamgirpur, Kalibangan and Lothal. The tradition continued into the early historic period. Later, toys were shaped from clay, paper, papier-mâché and lacquered wood. Different regions specialised in different materials.

The major toy and doll traditions:

• Channapatna and Mysore (Karnataka): toys of lacquered wood, so fine they are valued as crafts.
• Kondapalli (Andhra Pradesh): toys carved from a soft local wood called ponki. The famous piece is the Ambari Hathi (an elephant carrying a howdah).
• Tirupati (Andhra Pradesh): dolls made of red wood (red sandalwood).
• Assam: traditional dolls made of pith (Indian cork).
• Rajasthan: dolls and stuffed toys made of colourful cloth.

India's geography supplies a wide range of stone: soft sandstone, patchy red stone and hard granite. Stone-carving is among India's oldest crafts. The artisan's challenge was to carve lifelike figures in natural postures.

The landmark traditions of stonework:

• Rock-cut sculpture: the caves of Ajanta and Ellora, the temple sculptures of Khajuraho, and the Buddhist carvings at Sanchi and Bharhut.
• Masrur (Kangra district, Himachal Pradesh): a monolithic rock-cut temple carved from a single hill.
• Pietra Dura: the Mughal shift from stone to marble inlay, setting coloured stones into white marble. It is seen at the Taj Mahal and Itmad-ud-Daulah's tomb.

Two marbles to remember by name and source:

• Makrana marble (Rajasthan): the white Sang-e-Marmar used in the finest monuments.
• Sang-e-Rathak (Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh): articles made from a dark brown stone.

Embroidery is the working of raised designs onto cloth. It uses needle and thread of gold, silver, silk or cotton. Each region has its own signature stitch and motif.

The major embroidery styles and their homes:

• Chikankari (Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh): delicate white thread-work of flowers and patterns, block-printed first and embroidered along the print.
• Phulkari (Punjab): literally "flower work", with bright floral motifs darned on the reverse of a light-coloured cloth.
• Bagh (Punjab): like Phulkari, but the embroidery covers the entire surface of the fabric.
• Zardozi (Uttar Pradesh): heavy work in gold, silver or copper wire with silk thread.
• Gota (Rajasthan): strips of gold zari ribbon applied to the fabric to form patterns.
• Karchobi (Rajasthan): raised metallic zari embroidery sewn over cotton padding.
• Kashida / Kashidakari (Jammu and Kashmir): chain-stitch floral work, famously on Cashmere shawls. Human and animal figures are usually absent.
• Aari (Jammu and Kashmir and Gujarat): concentric rings of chain stitch worked with a hooked needle called the crewel.
• Kasuti (Karnataka): geometric cross-stitch done with a single thread, knotless so both sides look alike. It is linked to the Chalukyan era.
• Mirror work / Shisha (Kutch, Gujarat, and Rajasthan): tiny mirrors fixed to cloth with herringbone and satin stitch.
• Kantha (West Bengal and Odisha): layers of old cloth quilted and embroidered, the thread often drawn from the cloth's own border.
• Applique / Pipli work (Pipli village, Odisha): bright patches of fabric sewn onto a plain background, used to make lamps.
• Toda (Toda tribe, Tamil Nadu): embroidery similar to Kantha work.
• Banjara (Lambada and Banjara tribes): applique mixed with mirrors and beadwork.

A few related textile crafts share this section:

• Banaras Brocade (Varanasi): silver and gold zari work with floral motifs on silk sarees.
• Himroo (Aurangabad, Maharashtra): a silk-and-cotton material once used for royal dresses and shawls.
• Maheshwari (Madhya Pradesh): cotton-and-silk sarees with gold zari and famously reversible borders.
• Chamba Rumals (Himachal Pradesh): embroidered handkerchiefs that echo Chamba Pahari painting. They often show tales of Krishna and are given as marriage gifts.

Floor designs are drawn freehand on the ground at doorways and worship spaces. They are made during festivals and family occasions. Each design begins at a centre dot and grows outward in concentric circles, squares and triangles. They are made from rice powder, lime and chalk. They are washable and not meant to be permanent. The same art carries different names across regions.

The region-specific floor designs:

• Rangoli (Maharashtra): elegant motifs such as the lotus and swastik.
• Kolam (Tamil Nadu and South India): thin lines drawn to link an array of dots, outlined with red geru. It is called Muggulu in Andhra Pradesh, Hase in Karnataka and Golam in Kerala. The large Mandapa Kolam is drawn for marriages, and a daily Graha Kolam sanctifies the home.
• Mandana (Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh): from mandan (decoration), drawn on a cowdung-cleaned ground and often finished in crimson red from reti (red earth).
• Chowkpurna (Punjab and Uttar Pradesh): squares, circles and triangles. Chowk derives from chowki, the seat of Lakshmi.
• Aipan (Himachal Pradesh / Uttarakhand hills): geometric motifs of squares, circles and triangles.
• Santhia (Gujarat): drawn at house entrances on important occasions.
• Jhonti (Odisha) and Aripana (West Bengal and Assam): highly stylised designs of conch shells, fish, serpents and flowers, coloured with alta for red and turmeric for yellow.

The North-East is one of India's richest craft regions. Abundant bamboo and cane make basketry, mats and furniture the signature crafts here. Handloom weaving is equally widespread, and almost every community weaves its own shawls and wraps on simple looms. The exam tests this region differently from the rest of the country. Instead of craft names, it asks you to match a craft centre town to its state. Learn the towns as town-state pairs.

The tested centres and their states:

• Mon (Nagaland): a Konyak Naga district town known for wood carving, beadwork and tribal ornaments.
• Nalbari (Assam): a centre for bamboo and cane craft in the Brahmaputra valley.
• Pasighat (Arunachal Pradesh): one of the state's oldest towns, known for cane and bamboo work and tribal weaving.
• Tura (Meghalaya): the main town of the Garo Hills, known for bamboo craft and Garo handloom products.

A simple anchor helps: Mon sits in the Naga hills, Nalbari lies on the Assam plains, Pasighat stands where the Siang river enters Arunachal Pradesh, and Tura belongs to the Garo Hills of Meghalaya. Distractors in matching questions simply shuffle these four states, so fixing each pair firmly is enough.