Born into a paramparik family of Kalamkari artists from Srikalahasti, Niranjan Jonnalagadda is a fourth generation practitioner of the art of hand-painted Kalamkari.
His great grandfather Guruppa’s Tree of Life, an indigo-shaded Kalamkari masterpiece, hangs in London’s Victoria and Albert museum, as does his grandfather Lakshmaiah’s Story of Ramayana, an exquisitely nuanced pictorial version of the epic ‘told’ in the language of Kalamkari. His father Guruppa Chetty is a prolific master artist, the brilliance of whose art has won him the Padmashri award.
Niranjan has many state, national and international awards to his credit including a Doctorate from Delhi University. His creative oeuvre spans stunning wall hangings, which bring alive stories from the Epics and Puranas, ‘Tree of Life’ imagery as well as the exotic world of paradisical birds, animals and butterflies. Niranjan’s saris and stoles are one-off pieces of curvilinear Kalamkari motifs and figures while his diaphanous silk and Chanderi dupattas are ethereal works of art. Among his innovative touches is the use of calligraphy as part of artwork. His collection also includes the forgotten poetry of chintz, ‘cheent’ or ‘pintatose’ done on cushion covers and fabric.
All these were on display, when Niranjan Jonnalagadda’s delivered a talk on ‘Kalamkari and Chintz’ recently at Apparao Gallery. The artist took the audience on a journey of Kalamkari craft and chintz in which he and his family have played a historic role.
Touching on the origins of Kalamkari, Niranjan spoke of the beautiful Kalamkari cloths done for temples as a screen for the gods, for temple processions and palaces during the art renaissance of the Vijayanagar Empire. In the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries artisans in the entire Coromandel coast belt or Cholamandalam practised Kalamkari, which was divided into the four schools of Palakothi, Srikalahasti, Golconda and Machilipatnam .
Each school had a style of its own. The ‘Chintz’, so favoured by English and French fashionable society in the 16th and 17thcenturies, was done by the wax resist and other special techniques and included both Kalahasti Kalamkari’s hand-painted floral and bird motifs as well as Machilipanam’s hand block imprints.
All Kalamkari and Chintz was done on handwoven fabric and in vegetable dyes. As the exquisite Chintz fabric found a growing clientele among British and European aristocracy, trade in chintz grew to keep pace with the demands for wall hangings in Chintz, Palampores, upholstery and most of all, material for dresses.
The V and A museum has captivating exhibits of a pretty floral chintz dress circa 15th century and a four poster bed of the same period with pretty pink Chintz curtains.
However, parallel to the enormous growth in trade in chintz between East India Company and England, was the growing dissatisfaction among British weavers due to the diminishing demand for their cloth. There was widespread rioting by English weavers and attacks on the House of Commons and on warehouses storing chintz.
Bowing to popular pressure, the Chintz trade was stopped. Textile historians believe that this lead to Kalamkari artisans in India losing their livelihoods. Kalamkari and Chintz craft itself declined and nearly disappeared between the 19th and early 20 centuries. By mid 20th century only two Kalamkari artists were left in Srikalahasti, one of them was Niranjan’s grandfather Lakshmaiah.
It was against this background that Kamaladevi Chattpadhaya opened a pilot Kalamkari training centre at Kalahasti with Lakshmaiah as the first trainer. Many locals were trained in the art of Kalamkari. Many of his students have become master artisans and have won national and state recognition and awards. Kalamkari is a thriving craft now with Kalamkari panels, wall hangings, soft furnishings, saris, fabric and dupattas being celebrated at high-end exhibitions, boutiques and private collections.
What of Chintz? Says Niranjan, “My father and grandfather revived the near vanished art of Kalamkari. My mission is to revive Chintz and put it back into the textile mainstream. I have studied chintz-making techniques from manuscripts and books and have already crafted Chintz fabric. I plan to teach it to the students at my Kalamkari training school which I have set up in Srikalahasti and I hope Chintz will soon emerge from history books and museums and enter our lives.”
Niranjan can be contacted at 9849599239.
