Field of the Embroidered Quilts

Page 11

INDRODUCTION The earliest mention of Katha is only five

needlework and hand embroidery has been

hundred years old, however the tradition of

practiced by Bangladeshi poor women among

making layered quilts from old clothes goes

the part of rural areas for their family use.

back much further. It was first mentioned in

“Similar concepts of quilt making exists in other parts of the world as well, but what makes Bengal quilts unique is the fact that not only does it serve as an everyday functional item, it also represents the culture’s identity and folk art.”

a book by poet Krishnadas Kaviraj. In his book titled Sri Sri Chaitanya Charitamrita, the poet writes how the mother of Chaitanya sent a homemade katha to her son in Puri through some traveling pilgrims. You can see the same katha today on display at Gambhira in Puri. This was not the first katha to be made, however it is the first one historically recorded of and kept.

Even today every Bengali family owns at least one katha, if not multiple.

“Katha” refers to both the style of running stitch, as well as the finished cloth in quilting. In Bengali ‘katha’ (also spelled kantha, kata, kheta) simply means quilt. For decades, the application of artistic pattern in the art of

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