Kantha

What it is

Kantha is embroidery in running stitch, worked in close parallel lines so the cloth puckers gently. The craft began as a way of reusing: women stacked worn sarees, stitched them into quilts, wraps and bags, and decorated the surface with thread pulled from the saree borders. On a kantha saree the stitching is usually done on one or two layers of silk or cotton, giving a lightly textured surface. Stitching can outline motifs or fill the whole ground so the pattern appears through the texture. Kantha is a genuine rural craft of eastern India and Bangladesh, and it should not be confused with a machine-made imitation.

How it is made, step by step

The cloth, such as tussar silk, cotton or Bangalore silk, is laid out and the design is traced with a pencil or drawn from memory. Women sit with the cloth in their lap and sew with a simple needle, taking tiny running stitches that go in and out. Stitches are typically 2 to 4 mm long, and the lines may run along the outlines or fill areas. Thread is traditionally pulled from old saree borders, while today embroidery silk is generally used. Some women do only the outline, others fill. After stitching, the cloth is washed to settle it. A fully filled saree may take several months, and the piece is often shared among a group.

The motifs and looks it is known for

Traditional kantha motifs include the lotus, the tree of life, fish, birds, sun and moon, scenes from village life, and geometric borders. The stitching sets up wavy lines across the cloth, and the stitches may be in one colour for a tone-on-tone effect or in many colours for pictorial work. Several styles are recognised, including the lep kantha, a thick quilted kind, the sujni, and the archilata for covering mirrors. On sarees the work is often a dense pattern at the pallu and border, sometimes covering all of the body. The look is soft, hand-drawn and a little irregular, with stitching lines slightly wavy.

Where it is made

In India, kantha is worked in West Bengal, especially in Birbhum around Santiniketan, and in districts such as Murshidabad, Nadia and Bankura, and also in parts of Odisha and Bihar. Bolpur is a well-known marketplace. In Bangladesh, kantha embroidery is practised in Jessore, Rajshahi, Faridpur, Comilla and elsewhere. Cooperatives and NGOs help organise women into groups, which pay piece rates and provide designs and cloth. The workers are mostly rural women, many of them Muslim and Hindu households in the countryside. Tussar and Bishnupuri silks are common bases in the saree market, and the work is sold through shops in Kolkata and Santiniketan.

History in brief

Kantha has a long history in Bengal. References to quilted cloth stitched from rags appear in Bengali writing from past centuries, and the tradition developed among rural women who used discarded cloth for babies and household use. The craft became widely admired in the twentieth century, and Santiniketan and Visva Bharati encouraged it, with figures such as Rabindranath Tagore taking an interest in rural crafts. After 1947 the tradition continued on both sides of the border. Collectors began to value old kantha pieces, and in the last few decades kantha-stitched sarees have become a widely popular fashion item, with some makers earning a living from the trade. West Bengal kantha stitch holds a Geographical Indication registration.

Buying and caring for it

Turn the cloth over. In genuine kantha, the stitching shows on both sides in nearly equal form, and the running stitches are slightly uneven, like handwriting. Machine imitation shows a very regular chain or lock stitch and may leave bare, flat cloth on the back. The cloth should have a gentle ripple. Be careful of cheap sarees in which the stitching is bunched or the thread is a hard polyester. Ask whether it was stitched by hand and in which village. Wash gently by hand in cold water with a mild soap and dry in shade, or dry clean for silk. Do not wring, because the stitches may pull. Press lightly on the reverse.

Where to look

• Bolpur kantha: Kantha sarees sold from Bolpur and Santiniketan in Birbhum, West Bengal.
• Birbhum kantha: Rural stitching tradition of the Birbhum district.
• Kantha on tussar: Kantha stitching on tussar silk, a popular sarees combination.
• Lep kantha: A thick quilted style of kantha used for winter wraps.
• Nakshi kantha: Pictorial kantha of Bangladesh, with figures and village scenes.
• Jessore kantha: A centre of nakshi kantha in Bangladesh.

Care

• Hand wash gently in cold water, or dry clean silk.
• Do not wring, as stitches may pull.
• Press lightly on the reverse and dry in shade.

Sources and further reading

• Kantha on Wikipedia
• Nakshi kantha, Wikipedia