National Institute Of Fashion Technology
Visual & Design Cultures
Document on Chamba Rumal which depicts “Gajantaka story”
Pooja Kushwaha | M.Des | Sem. I 1
Introduction Chamba rumal which depicts Gajantaka story
The Chamba Rumal or Chamba handkerchief is an embroidered handicraft that was once promoted under the patronage of the former rulers of Chamba kingdom. It is a common item of gift during marriages with detailed patterns in bright and pleasing colour schemes. This product has been registered for protection under the Geographical indication of the Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement. On 22 January 2007, it was listed as "Chamba Rumal" under the GI Act 1999 of the Government of India with registration confirmed by the Controller General of Patents Designs and Trademarks under Classes 24 as Textile and Textile Goods (Chamba Rumal). There is one piece of chamba rumal, which has been kept in National Museum, New Delhi, this piece of cloth is rectangular in dimensions, embroidered using multi-colour silk threads with delicate figures like Lord Shiva, Parvati, humans, animals and fine motifs of trees, flowers, leaves among others. This rumal was crafted to serve as a coverlet to cover the trays of gifts exchanged on festivals and ceremonious occasions, as also offerings carried to deities in temples. In18th-19th century Himalayan hill states a rumal enjoyed greater popularity than it did anywhere else. A 'Chamba rumal', the best known among Pahari1 rumals, is venerated world over for its delicate embroidery and thematic and mythical contexts.
Fig.1 Chamba Rumal depicts Gajantaka story, Late 19th Century, National Museum, New Delhi.
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This rumal portrays in delicate stitches one of Lord Shiva's great exploits: annihilation of the elephant demon Gaya widely known as 'Gajantaka' meaning 'end of Gaja' or elephant, a rare theme, not only for a rumal but for any art form. It involves depiction of great force: The destruction of the demon Gaja by Lord Shiva is an extremely rare subject for coverlets of chamba. The most common subjects found in both classical and folk coverlets are the rasa dance of Lord Krishna with Radha and the gopis, Rukmini, Rama – Sita, Hanuman, wedding scenes, hunting scenes, and geometric patterns. Shiva's bull fleeing for life, excited elephant chasing it, and Shiva, mad in fury, almost leaping on it. The entire episode has been done in narrative style within rectangular frame of rumal which a floral-creeper-design pattern defines. Towards the bottom are portrayed Shiva's Ganas2 - cosmic elements manifest in human forms, running after Gajasura - elephant demon, Gajasura as chasing Nandi - the Shiva's mount, and Nandi, fleeing wind-like. Towards the middle, highly agitated Shiva rushes to punish Gajasura. Devoted minds, manifest as his female devotees, rush to the site. Finally, Lord Siva and Parvati are seen seated under a large tree with the elephant skin on his shoulders suggesting that Gajasura has been annihilated. The uppermost portion of the rumal illustrates Gods and Goddesses in their vimanas3, descending from heaven and showering flowers on Siva - Parvati. Three-dimensional effects, fine line work, good composition, placement of various scenes reveal same accomplishment as does a miniature rendered in colours on a piece of paper (Anthropology). Earliest form of Chamba Rumal: Earliest reported form of this rumal is the one made by Bebe Nanki, sister of Guru Nanak in the 16th century, which is now preserved in the Gurudwara at Hoshiarpur. The Victoria Albert Museum, London has a rumal which was gifted to the British in 1883 by Raja Gopal Singh and it has an embroidered scene of the Kurukshetra War of the epic Mahabharta. However, from the 17th century the women of the erstwhile princely state of Chamba, Himachal Pradesh, including members of the royal family, indulged in embroidery of the rumals or handkerchiefs as a part of offerings to the gods and marriage gifts or dowry to their daughters. Process of making Chamba Rumal: Process of making Camba rumal is known as a "needle wonder" Chamba Rumal is now made in square and rectangular shapes. The materials used still consist of muslin, malmal, khaddar (a coarse fabric), fine charcoal or brush, and silk threads without knots. Using a double satin stitch for the embroidery, both faces of the cloth are concurrently stitched by a forward and backward technique to maintain uniformity of design on both faces of the rumal. After completing the embroidery, the fabric is stitched with a border of about 2 to 4 inches on all sides (Chamba Rumal). 2. Cosmic elements manifest in human forms 3. Vehicles 3
Gajantaka Story The “Gajantaka destruction episode”, which also has a deeper meaning, is discussed in the three Puranas4 and they are kurma, Varaha, and Shiva Puranas. The Kuma Purana mentions that Lord Shiva emerged from the krittivaseshvara linga5 in Varanashi, when an asura6, who assumed the shape of an elephant, come near it to disturb the meditation of several Brahmans who had gathered around the linga. Lord Shiva killed the elephant and made its skin his upper garment. The varaha Purana says that once the asura Nila came to kill Shiva in elephant form. Somehow Nandi came to know of it and informed Virabhadra, who took the shape of the lion (the natural enemy of elephant) and attacked and killed Nila. Virabhadra presented the skin of this elephant to the Shiva, who wore it as his upper garment. The Shiva Purana says that Gajasura, son of Mahishaura, performed penance and prayed to Lord Brahma who granted him a boon which made him so powerful and tyrannical that the whole world, including the gods in the heaven, feared him. Finally all the gods including Indra approached Shiva for help against Gajasura. Shiva pleased with the prayers of the gods, first tried to tame the demon. As the demon continued to be violent, Shiva trapped him with his trident and hanged him by his head. The suffering Gajasura prayed to lord Shiva for mercy before he died. Pleased with Gajasura’s last prayer, Shiva took his skin as a covering for himself and thus came to be called Gajajina, one who wears the skin of an elephant. Reason of uniqueness of this coverlet Important sequences from the Shiva Purana’s elaborate description of this story have been delicately embroidered in floss silk thread on hand woven cloth made from hands pun cotton yarn. Good composition, fine line work, a soothing colour combination, use of fine silk and badla7, and good stitch work, although lost at places, make this coverlet a unique specimen of a Chamba rumal of the mid 19th century. It appears to be a specially commissioned pie (Pathak).
4. Any of a class of Sanskrit sacred writings on Hindu mythology and folklore of varying date and origin, the most ancient of which dates from the 4th century AD. 5. An anionic representation of the Hindu deity, Shiva. 6. Demon. 7. Silver thread. 4
Depiction of the story on Rumal: 3.
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The artist has wisely chosen the three most important sequences, and succeeded in recreating the whole story. The depiction is in narrative style within a rectangular frame. Oral and scroll border, starting from below and moving upwards. 1. The lower portion depicts seven Shiva ganas holding various weapons (stick, battle-axe, and rod) and running after Gajasura who is chasing Nandi. 2. In the next sequence, Gajasura in his ferocious mood is chasing Nandi, while Shiva, Parvati, and her female attendants run to rescue Nandi. 3. In the third sequence, Shiva and Parvati are shown seated on a tiger skin under a large tree, while Gaja’s skin is draped on Shiva’s shoulder. 4. Finally the upper left portion illustrate gods and goddesses in their vimanas, descending from heaven, showering flowers on Shiva and Parvati, and respectfully bowing before them. 5. Banana and other trees are beautifully depicted in the last two panels, conveying that the event took place in the forest, as narrated in the literature. Shiva is embroidered with white, grey and pink silk threads. He is adorned with a snake and holds a flag and damaru8 in his two hands. 8. Small drum 5
Parvati and her attendants wear the orange, yellow, magenta and pink lehenga choli odhani9 and the usual ornaments. Karttikeya is represented by his vahana the peocock. The line work of this coverlet is strong and of high quality, with charcoal lines clearly visible at places. Orange, green, golden yellow and black are the dominant colours, with blue, magenta, pink and white also used in this coverlet, Double satin stitches have been used for the figure work, and the artist has embroidered a black outline for each figure to give it more prominence, although the outline work is not of very good quality. A magenta cross-stitch design is used to decorate the outermost border, which appears to be a later addition.
Reason for keeping this artwork in National Museum: It is interesting to compare this rumal with a miniature painting illustrating a similar subject in the collection of the National Museum. This Guler school painting depicts the story of Gajantaka in narrative form, but the artist has used only two sequences. It succeeds in conveying a philosophical message. It was a popular trend in 18th-19th century art works. Gajantaka subject became popular in the late 17th – early 18th century, both in literature and in art. The message was the renewal of fertility and religious aspiration by Lord Shiva, the philosophy being to protect dharma and destroy evil and ignorance. Here evil takes the form of the demon, chasing Nandi who represents dharma. Shiva destroys ignorance for the protection of dharma and perpetuates conditions in which dharma can flourish. Lord Shiva is considerable the exonerating god who believes in forgiveness even for the asura, thus he is shown wearing the skin of Gaja. In fact, the virtue of forgiveness and the power of prayer are apparent in the painting as well as in the unique embroidered coverlet. When describing the classic Chamba rumals, many writers are of the opinion that the drawing for classical rumals were done by court artist who were generally also commissioned to create miniature paintings for the rulers. In this instance it appears that the artist who made the drawing for the coverlet was inspired by the miniature paintings, or perhaps may have himself painted the miniature. It is rare to find the subject of a miniature paintings embroidered on a rumal, in such similar style.
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Significance of the craft to the nation
Chamba rumal were being made till early of the 20th century but suffered with the decline of the feudal system of patronage. The original designs and colours were lost; the rumal were being embroidered on low grade fabric with chemically dyed threads. The embroidery was of bad quality and it had degenerated to calendar art. Project taken by DCC (Delhi Craft Council) for reviving the embroidered art of the Chamba Rumal: Objective the Project which was taken by DCC for reviving the embroidered art of the chamba rumals are as follow: 1. To revive the art form by attempting to recreate the quality and fitness of the originals by replicating rumals housed in various museum collections. 2. To launch a sustained revival program, which would include training of the craftswomen and a sustained marketing effort (council). Purnima Rai, Manjari Nirula and late Usha Bhagat (a long time associate of Indira Gandhi) chanced upon the Chamba rumal on a visit to Himachal Pradesh in the late 1970s and on her return to Delhi, prompted the DCC to take up the revival of these handkerchiefs. Years of scouring museums and collections for pieces worthy of study and replication led to a set of 16 pieces being produced by retrained women artisans from the state, as the craft had already declined to unacceptable standards by then. The 16 pieces amply demonstrated their return to high quality. The DCC's Chamba rumals have been touring India for the last decade and they are currently on display at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts at New Delhi. Appropriate framing and display will certainly ensure that Delhi's cultured will get the full benefit of the Chamba rumals' allure. These shows not only creating new markets but also inspire younger people to take up the art in Himachal Pradesh. The gaining of GI (Geographical Indication) status has also earned them protection from cheap knockoffs from other regions. Not that the prices of the pieces reflect the tremendous skill that the artisans need to have to do these two-sided works mounted on frames that show off the fact that nary a thread-end is visible. While the DCC's efforts to revive and re-launch this art form are commendable including the training centre in Himachal a knotty problem remains after 7
the purposes of documentation are served. The DCC's stand to keep Chamba rumals true to their original purpose instead of succumbing to more saleable alternatives is understandable, and they have had significant success in that. But all too often, crafts in India are being pushed to the edge of oblivion because of the pressures of making ends meet. The artisan would love nothing better than to create for the joy and satisfaction of it; but there is a mart aspect that cannot be ignored in the long term interest of the art. (Bureau, 2010)
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Conclusion Chamba rumal is the most unique rumal of all Pahari rumals and the subject “Gajantaka” is very rare, usually subject like rasleela and Krishna stories are depicted on the rumal. It is kept in National Museum because of its unique and rare story which is depicted on it and unique and original double sided stitch which is very intricate and both stitch and fabric is original, muslin fabric of Bengal is used and stitches is done from silk thread which is similar from both the sides. Now-a-days synthetic fabric and thread is used to make rumal. And that’s the one reason why DCC is taking steps to preserve this artwork.
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Bibliography WEBSITES 1. Anthropology. (n.d.). Retrieved Nnovember 14, 2016, from National Museum: http://www.nationalmuseumindia.gov.in/departments-anthropology.asp?lk=dp8 2. Bureau, E. (2010, April 5). Unfurling a new life for Chamba rumals . Retrieved November 12, 2016, from The Economic times: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/unfurling-a-new-life-for-chambarumals/articleshow/5761062.cms 3. Chamba Rumal. (n.d.). Retrieved November 14, 2016, from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chamba_Rumal 4. council, D. c. (n.d.). Chanba rumal. Retrieved November 16, 2016, from Asia inch encyclopedia: http://www.craftrevival.org/caseStudyDetails.asp?Code=153 5. Pathak, A. (n.d.). Unique chamba rumal on the Gajantaka theme. Retrieved Nnovember 14, 2016, from Asia inch encyclopedia: http://www.craftrevival.org/CraftArt.asp?CountryCode=India&CraftCode=00378 5 BOOKS 6. T.A.G. Rao, Element of Hindu iconography, vol II, part I, Delhi, (reprint) 1960, pp.152-156 7. M. Bhattacharya, "Chamba Rumal: A Pictorial Handicraft of Himanchal Pradesh", in Himachal Art and Archeology, ed. V.(. Ohri, Simla, 1968, pp. 22-68. 8. A.S. Gupta, Karma Parana, Varanasi, 1972, vol. 30, pp. 16-18. 9. A.S. Gupta, Varaho Purana, Varanasi, 1981, vol. 27, pp. 15-18 10. J.I. Shastri, Shiva Purana, Varanasi 1970, part II, Khando II, ch. 57 PHOTO CREDITS All photographs courtesy National Museum, New Delhi.
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