Kutch Jat embroidery

A wedding shawl in red wool with Jat cotton embroidery using cotton thread and mirrors (mid-20th century; Shekawati district, Rajasthan). A wedding shawl in red wool with Jat cotton embroidery using cotton thread and mirrors (mid-20th century; Shekawati district, Rajasthan). © Trustees of the British Museum, London, acc. no. Eu1983,01.24.

The Jats are a conglomeration of peoples who live in parts of Pakistan and northwestern India (Haryana, Gujarat, Kutch and Rajasthan). Traditionally they make their living by herding or farming. The diversity of the Jats means that they may be Hindus, Muslims or Sikhs. The Kutch Jats are known for their embroidery work, which comes in a diversity of forms.

One of the most well-known forms of Kutch Jat embroidery is characterized by its use of counted thread work using tiny cross stitches worked in geometric patterns. Sometimes their work is further embellished with small mirrors (shisha)

A wide range of uses is associated with Kutch Jat embroidery. The women of the Garasia Jats, for example, heavily embroider the yokes of their long dresses. Traditionally, when one of their dresses is no longer used, it is hung on a tree and allowed to disintegrate. The elaborately embroidered yokes were considered sacred and are not generally sold, but also left to disintegrate.

The Textile Museum of Canada has examples of Jat embroidered dresses (called abho, from the Arabic aba; T00.51.5 and T85.0335) from the mid-nineteenth century and eight wedding shawls (called odhni, including T00.45.82, T04.24.8, T04.35.4 and T85.0258).

See also the TRC Needles enries on Kala Raksha Trust.

Sources: GILLOW, John and Nicholas BARNARD (1991). Traditional Indian Textiles, London: Thames and Hudson, p. 70.

Digital sources:

British Museum online catalogue (retrieved 8th July 2016).

SA

Last modified on Tuesday, 16 May 2017 19:38