history of phulkari

Heer ranjha by waris shah

Shawl found in gurudwara

Shawl preserved in gurudwara

   

Now i would like to tell you the interesting history of how phulkari came in India.

 The history and origin of the Phulkari are not well- known due to lack of evidences and documentation. 

The earliest mention of the ancient word phulkari appears in the famous love story ‘Heer Ranjha’ written by Waris Shah (1725-1790). The Phulkari was the costume of Heer . In “Harishcharitra” the author, Bana Bhatt in the 7th century A.D., mentioned, “some people were embroidering flowers and leaves on the cloth from the reverse side”. This description is similar to the technique of Phulkari and Bagh because they are also done on the backside of the cloth. 

Based on this reference, Jasleen Dhamija has put forward the theory that such embroidery was probably prevalent in various parts of the country during the 7th century. According to her, the technique of embroidery survived only in Punjab, while similar motifs are sometimes used in Bihar and Rajasthan . 

Some studies on the art of Phulkari suggest that it came from Iran where it is known as “Gulkari”. Gulkari consists of two words, ‘Gul’, which means flower, and ‘Kari’, which means work. This is the same etymology for the word Phulkari.  Some researchers and historians think the art of Phulkari came from central Asia along with the Jat tribes who migrated to India and lived in Punjab, Haryana and Gujarat. Both these theories are seemingly incorrect. References to the art of Phulkari are found in the Vedas, the Mahabharata and Guru Granth Sahib. The origin of the art of phulkari can be traced back to the 15th century AD. The earliest available articles are Phulkari shawls & hankies embroidered in the Chamba style during the 15th century by Bebe Nanaki, the sister of Guru Nanak Dev ji (1469-1539), the first guru of the Sikh religion. These articles have been preserved in Sikh holy places in Punjab, at the Gurudwara Dera Baba Nanak in the district of Gurudaspur. 

Another shawl has been preserved in the Gurudwara Mao Sahib in the district of Jalandhar. It was used by the 5th Sikh Guru, Arjun Dev ji (1563-1606), when he married Mai Ganga . According to these theories and existing articles, it is difficult to trace the exact origin of traditional Punjabi Phulkari embroidery.

Phulkari: Wrong side for right effects!

So you have read my previous blog it was about how i chose my topic. My topic is Phulkari as i mentioned in my previous post.
Phulkari the most amazing and attractive embroidery ever, which is liked by anyone who likes colours, craft and creativity.
It has a deep history and I will talk about where it all started and came to where it is presently there.
Punjab is a place where you will get a a lot of colour and a lot food as it is a state which is famous for its agriculture.People of Punjab are very loud and enthusiastic.So they are more into dance and music every time.As the punjab is into agriculture men were more into that and women were mean't to take care of the household .During their free time they used to do phulkari embroidery at home. Phulkari was so famous that the mothers taught their daughters phulkari embroidery even before teaching them how to cook. Phulkari was to show love and affection towards their daughters or granddaughters,because it was given as a gift to the bride on the day of her wedding.
It is that embroidery which is embroidered on the wrong side and gives the result on the right side.
Phul here means"flower"and kari means"work"so phulkari means flower work.
The traditional phulkari symbolizes the tough and the hard life of a punjabi women.The phulkari also symbolizes love and affection.The tradition was mainly associated with sikh religion,but was also shared with hindus and muslims.The phulkari and bagh was embroidered primarily in rural punjab. This traditional art was more popular in districts of peshawar,hazra,rawalpindi which is now in Pakistan , amritsar,patiala , ludhiana and bhatinda in north India and also some parts haryana like ambala,rohtak etc

Phulkari embroidery done with the help of a frame

A women sitting at home and doing phulkari

  

When a dull day turned crafty

Hey guys
I am Vidushi, smart but totally clueless when you spell the word B.L.O.G. However, after almost 6 months in a design college now, I have realized that nobody cares about your cluelessness when we are talking "modules" and "assignment". So here I am, a lost soul in the web world, trying to make sense of it all.
Let me begin from the beginning.
When we rejoined college after the winter vacation, we were excited and happy as post-vacation students should be. And then started the module. Unlike the normal academic colleges, design colleges work differently. To cut the long story short, we were told to pick a topic from the wide, world of art and craft and do thorough research on it. Well, also while you go ahead with your research, pen it down (or is it key it down?) in a blog here.
So now i would express my journey through the the whole research period given to us. Its just a starting how i decided my topic , though it was very confusing after seeing alot of crafts.
For all this research we were taken to different places the best ones were crafts museum and dilli haat.
Now i  would like to express my journey through the whole research period.When we were taken to the places.
Initially i had gone to the crafts museum in delhi. There i had seen different types of crafts of india .there was tribal art like kashmir huts with handcrafted designs on it, there was also warli painting ,there were people from gujarat kutch selling there stuff from kutch like tussar silk shawls. There was also a gallery where there were a lots of different types of craftworks from different states like phulkari from punjab, kantha/sujni kantha from bihar and bengal, applique mirror work from gujarat, bandhini from rajasthan, banarasi sarees , zardozi work from lucknow ,chamba rumal from himachal pradesh, there were also different garments and  things that were in there houses like beds (dewan) sandook sofas,tables ,raths etc of rajas and maharajas with there accessories like pagdhi palced in a glass cage.
After seeing all this i really got confused which people usually get.
so next day i had gone to dilli haat where there was this festival of bastri haat was going on there was a lot of different arts and craft there too. I have always been there for the shopping purpose and never to know the art and craft of india. there was alot of bamboo craft sea shell craft
the most interesting thing was the Iran craft which was very nice .there was alot of pashmina shawls ,metal handcrated bells from gujarat which was very soothing to the ears . This experience was a great one .After so mucch of research and struggle i choose phulkari from punjab as a topic to research on.