History can be a quite boring subject, all those dates, times, events, and other topics that can put even the strongest adult to sleep. But don’t worry this article will not talk about that history but an interesting one; it’s the history of India’s age-old traditional art known as hand block printing.

Almost all northern states of the country have their style in making hand block prints and this article is going to deeply explore the art of hand block fabric making.

History and origin

Block printing was recorded earliest in history around 3500 to 1300BC in Indus valley civilization; many archeological pieces of evidence prove that Harappans knew an earlier form of block printing.

Block printed cotton fragments belonging to this era were found at different digging sites in the country along with various types of needles and spindles, all of them were dug out from sites at Harappa, Mohenjo Daro, Lothal, etc, all this supports the claim that Harappans were familiar with block printing.

Several southern, western, and eastern states of India became trade centers of great quality cotton prints in the early 12th century; wooden block printing and dying became common in various cities of Gujarat and Rajasthan since then and they soon became economic hubs in trading block print goods.

The wooden blocks were generally used to print fabrics for royal floor coverings, bedsheets, costumes, and decorative wall hangings, but now it is available to and affordable by everyone.

Evolution and design

Scholars have been pointing out that block printing reached its top when the Mughals ruled the country; this art has also evolved in terms of designing as well.

Take this example for instance, before the Mughal rule abstract and geometric designs were popular, but floral motifs such as the tree of life, plants, Kairi, vines, fruits, and vegetables, etc replaced geometric and abstract patterns under the Mughal rule, apart from that paisley motifs also gained interest under their era.

Animal figures such as peacocks, elephants, swan, and parrot, etc also became a part of hand block print design categories. There is a major difference in the designs of the pre and post-Mughal eras. The designs before the Mughal rule relied heavily on shapes such as squares, rectangles, and triangles, etc but under their rule, the patterns got curvier.

The designs in the modern era are a mix of geometric and floral patterns and both of them are equally popular and high in availability and demand.

The current state of hand block printing

The fascinating, amazing, and mesmerizing art of block printing started fading away by the early 18th century since the British rulers of India started taking heavy taxes on an art that is India’s own and original. Thus artisans had no choice left but to move to cities for a living.

But after independence, the government of India launched various schemes to support the craft and craftspeople. Due to their efforts, the ancient art of Hand Block Printed Indian Fabric is now back in business.