Bandhani is the art of tying and dyeing fabric. Bandhani is a delicate art requiring great skill. Bandhani is done on a variety of material from coarse cotton to fine silk. In this process, parts of the fabric are tied with thread or twined into minute knots and then dipped in dye.
The common tie and dye designs comprise tiny coloured dots. The size of the dots decide the intricacy of the designs - the smaller the coloured dots, more intricate is the design. Nowadays synthetic dyes have replaced the earlier vegetable dyes.
Artisans from the regions of
Kutch in Gujarat,
Mandsaur,
Indore and
Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh,
Jaipur,
Sikar and
Jodhpur in Rajasthan produce exquisite bandhanis. At present most of the bandhani produced in India is made in Kutch and
Saurashtra regions in Gujarat. More than 10,000 people are employed in making bandhani in these places.
