India is a colourful country. Every state in India is famous for its different kinds of food, art, textiles, embroideries etc. Our Indian traditional textile is older, more than 3000 years. Kalamkari is one of the most beautiful and old traditional art forms used in textiles. Several years ago kalamkari art was started in the modern-day states namely Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Kalamkari was first used to draw the scenes from the sacred texts from Mahabharata, Ramayana and Bhagavatam. These paintings showed the stories of Hindu’s God and Goddess which were displayed as decorative backdrops in temples. Kalamkari word is made with two words “Kalam” means “pen” and “kari” means “artwork”. The artisans use tamarind brushes on cotton or silk fabric. There are 25 steps included with bleaching, dyeing, starching, block printing, hand printing and many others. In Andhra Pradesh Machilipatnam and Kalahasi are mainly concentrated for Kalamkari. Due to the supply of clean and fresh river water, Srikalahasti is the main centre of this art. In earlier times, Kalamkari was the family occupation of many rural women and artisans. As one generation passed it to another generation as a tradition. Andhra Pradesh is still famous and the main hub of Kalmkari in India.

In earlier times, painters and folk singers wandered from one village to another village and described Hindu mythology to the people. But as time passed the storytelling converted into canvas paintings. This art dates back to over 3000 B.C. As per the historians, many samples portraying kalamkari were discovered at the sites of Mohenjo-Daro. During the Mughal period, this art gained massive recognition. Mughals were chased and promoted at Coromandel and Golconda sites where the skilled artisans who are known as Qualamkars, cultivate and practice kalamkari art. During the 18^th century, kalamkari was promoted and used as a decorative artwork.

In the early 1670 complaints had started to be heard from English weavers about the influx of cotton from India, at that time in 1696 dyers and linen drapers joined the protest. At the House of Commons, 5,000 English weavers gathered for a mass protest against Indian imported goods. In 1701 a clumsy law was passed to import Indian dyed or printed cottons and silks into Britain except for re-export. That was the beginning of Kalamkari’s downfall. Many other reasons are also behind that like the establishment of the European cotton industry in the 18^th century. On the other hand, there was the rise of the batik industry in Indonesia, which was the reason for the cloth market in India in earlier times, this traditional art was done on woven cotton. But today, many kinds of fabrics like georgette, crepe, chiffon, silk etc. also are used. Many times kalamkari is combined with other crafts such as zari embroidery and so on. As above mentioned this art was used to describe the themes of Ramayana or Mahabharat. Today kalamkari motifs are related to nature, animals, birds and leaves. ‘Tree of Life’ and peacocks are the most common fashion trend used in dupattas and sarees. In earlier times, people used this art as wall hanging but as time passed it was used on different kinds of clothing. Mostly bright colours are used in this art like blue, red, green, yellow and brown(earthy tones). The blue colour was used to draw pictures of Gods, yellow was used to depict women, and red and green were used for the demons. The artisans mostly use natural colours instead the use of synthetic colours. The black colour is used to outline the sketches or motifs.

Kalamkari is a livelihood for many artisans. But today technology impacts it. The government launched many types of schemes to uplift its artisans but for the lack of knowledge, these artisans are not aware of these schemes. The young generation can become this beautiful handicraft more popular on social media.