Ruposhi Banglar Nakshi Katha

Nakshi katha is traditional handicraft in Bangladesh. Nakshi kathas, created by SDUW （ Skill Development for Underprivileged Women ）are very popular for its high quality and aesthetic values around the world. EKMATTRA cooperates with SDUW to produce and sell these creative products both nationally and internationally.

The most famous folk craft form is Nakshi Katha or embroidered quilt...Traditionally, village women used to stich layers of old sari together with folk designs in red blue, yellow and green...These followed a particular form and style...Around these motifs fine white stiching created a ripple effects to bind the separate layers...There is a variety of stiches and design but there is a unity in the traditional arrrangement of a padma lotus in the centre or mandap, a tree of life in each corner, kalkas, mythical figures, animals, birds, geometrical objects, symbols of the sun and moon, the swastika, each representing a part of the village women's cultural conscience and the whole relating story.

Still in the remote villages of Bangladesh the expectant mothers own their last trimester of the pregnancy by making Nakshikantha for the new-born baby believing that wraping the newborn baby by Nakshikantha heralds fortune to the family and protects the baby from inflicting disease...Like Russian woodendolls Matriushka, one can never find two similar Nakshikanthas in this planet...Sri Chaitanya(1485-1533), the hindu krishna- cult prophet and reformist draped him often with Nakshikantha .

"Many years ago I collected different types of quilts, dolls , 'Patachitra' 'scroll painting' , Pat Patua, Gazir Pat - scrool pictures of Gazi, Monosa , pupet, alpana etc from different villages of Bengal. Friends advised me to make an ehibition. Gaba da displayed the items beautifully at the roof of Rabinra Nath Tagore. Rabinranath Tagore carefully observed all the items and Abinranath Tagore was overwhelmed with the exhibition. Rabinranath Tagore said that I want to keep an exhibition of folk culture at Santiniketan. My collection began to increase day by day and I did have any space to keep the collection. I asked again Rabinranath Tagore to receive the collection for Santiniketan. He said he would ask Nandolal Basu to collect the items. But Nandolal Basu did not show any interest!

The motifs of the Nakshi Kantha depict Hindu festivals, folk festivals, marriage ceremonies, the lotus, Lord Buddha s footprint, fishes, snakes, boats, horses, carts, flowers, elephants, umbrellas, Rathajatra (Procession of Chariots), Jhulanjatra (Swing festival of Krishna and Radha), Swastika (symbolizing the early Indus valley civilization), trees, wheels, etc. Muslim women especially concentrate on geometric and floral motifs, the crescent, star, domes, minarets, verses of the holy Quran and the like. Expectant mothers spend the last trimester of their pregnancy in making Nakshi Kantha for the new-born baby, believing that wrapping the newborn baby in a Nakshi Kantha herald�s good fortune for the family and protects the baby from disease.

Bibliography Gurusaday Dutt, Folk Arts and Crafts of Bengal: The Collected Papers, Seagull, Calcutta, 1990; Whitechapel Art Gallery, Woven Air: The Muslin and Kantha Tradition of Bangladesh, Whitechapel, London, 1988; Niaz Zaman, The Art of Kantha Embroidery, 2nd rev. ed., University Press, Dhaka, 1993.

A large number of kanthas show the ingenious use of the running stitch for working motifs and border patterns. The Chatai Nakshi Kantha stitches are found in some places of Jessore, Kushtia, Pabna, Rajshahi, Rangpur and Mymensingh. Other types of kanthas include the pad tola kantha, which is embroidered entirely with sari border patterns, and the lohori kantha, in which thick yarn is used for close pattern darning. In the most intricate of pad tola kanthas, there is no space between the concentric border patterns, so that the entire kantha seems apparently to be a piece of woven cloth. One can never find two identical Nakshi Kanthas on this planet. Since the emergence of Bangladesh in 1971 Nakshi Kantha has regained its aesthetic appeal (Independent, March 28, 2008).

Since the emergence of Bangladesh 1971 has Nakshikantha regained its esthetical values...1990 at the Edinburgh Folk Festival for the Commonwealth Countries drew Nakshikantha the best attention by winning a prestigious prize...Among the priceless art collections of Queen Elisabeth-II, ex- President Bush, Pope Johannes Paulus, Robert MacNamara and late President Mitterand all of them has a common possession that is a piece of Nakshikantha .