History

Originally introduced in the rural villages of Bengal, the art of making katha expanded throughout South Asia. It was very common practice in a lot of household, however in the early 19th century this art form disappeared for some time before being revived in the 1940’s by the daughter-in-law of the famous Bengali poet and Nobel Laureate, Rabindranath Tagore. The revival of katha was disrupted again during the partition of India in 1947 and the ensuing conflict between India and what was then Eastern Pakistan (now Bangladesh). Finally since the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971, katha has experienced a re-birth of its own as a highly valued and much desired art-craft form in Bangladesh.

In the early days these quilts were made to just to be used in the family or be given as a gift, they were not meant to be sold. Overtime the women found ways to make money from this craft and began selling it. Since it was a common practice in the village and every family made their own katha, most of their customers were from the cities or towns outside of the village. This required the women to make connections and travel far to be able to sell their work or work with other businesses in order to gain customers. The art of reflection in life, aspirations, and culture of the village women show their significant visibility of artistic pattern in needlework such as ‘Nokshi Katha’. A lot of the time these katha will tell the life story of the women making them. The defining element of this embroidery is the running stitch that creates beautiful motifs of trees, flowers, animals, birds, simple geometrical shapes, scenes from everyday life in the village, to mythological themes and folklore.

Similar to other traditional textiles, creating kathas was influenced by external factors such as material availability, daily needs, climate, geography and economic factors. Historically, textile production was one of the most labor-intensive industries, and as such, textiles were highly valued. Creating kathas out of old fabrics allowed the people to save money and they were able to recycle old clothing for a different usage. Kathas were made using recycled fabrics like old used sarees and dhottis. Around five to seven fabrics would be layered together, with lighter colored fabrics on the outside so the stitch and pattern was discernible. The stitch would cover the entire cloth to provide strength, and later designs would be added for the aesthetics.

Using old fabrics and different types of stitches artisans were able to create different textures in the fabric as well along with the design.

Image curtesy Geoff Bugbee and houseofwonderingsilk.org

Creating kathas can be very time consuming and requires a lot of focus as well. As shown above the stiches can be microscopic to achieve a certain design.