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134-508: Europe North America Oceania Phulkari ( Gurmukhi : ਫੁਲਕਾਰੀ ; Shahmukhi : پھلکاری ) refers to the folk embroidery of the Punjab region and Gulkari of Sindh in South Asia . Although phulkari means 'floral work', the designs include not only flowers but also cover motifs and geometrical shapes. The main characteristics of phulkari embroidery are use of darn stitch on

268-529: A British official). Birds, trains, circuses as well as scenes from popular Punjabi legends like Sohni Mahiwal and Sassi-Punnun were often depicted The style also incorporates jewellery designs of bracelets, earrings, rings and necklaces. Pal (1960) believes that such designs did no form part of the traditional method of embroidering Phulkaris but expressed a woman's wish to have such items of jewellery. The term tilpatra ( til + patra ) means 'the spreading of seeds'. The tilpatra has decorative embroidery which

402-660: A Phulkari cluster in 1997. 880 Phulkari artisans are now part of the cluster and over 10,000 women have been trained in Phulkari embroidery. There are several non-profits in Punjab that promote Phulkari to empower women by providing a source of livelihood. The Nabha Foundation launched the Phulkari Traditional Craft Program in 2007 to "empower the marginalized rural woman, generate sustainable home based employment." The Phulkari Makers of Bassi Pathana

536-848: A base for the embroideries. White was used in Bagh by elderly ladies and widows. Black and blue were less preferred in Western Punjab , whereas white was less commonly used in East Punjab . Geometrical patterns are usually embroidered on the Phulkaris. Phulkari depicted scenes from everyday life in the villages. Animals and birds represented success, beauty, pride, and goodwill and different fruits symbolized wealth, prosperity, and fertility. Wheat and barley stalks with ears were also common motifs . No religious subjects or darbar (Sikh temple hall) scenes were embroidered. The decorated end of

670-462: A brides dowry. The items would be gifted by the bride's father, uncles and mother-in-law. Blurton further states that it took many years for the baghs and phulkaris to be embroidered. Traditionally women would begin to embroider the bhagh when their grandsons were born to be give to their future brides. Accordingly, in the past, as soon as a girl was born, mothers and grandmothers would start embroidering Baghs and Phulkaris, which were to be given away at

804-409: A central motif and four motifs on the corners. Darshan dwar is a type of Phulkari which was made as an offering or bhet (presentation). It has panelled architectural design. The pillars and the top of the gate are filled with latticed geometrical patterns. Sometimes human beings are also shown standing at the gate. This is the only style where the outlines of the figures are drawn using black ink. It

938-476: A charpai (jute cot), playing chaupar (a cross and circle board game), smoking hookah, or guests drinking sharbat (sweet cordial). Common themes also include women performing chores like churning milk, grinding wheat flour on the chakki (hand mill), and working on the charkha (spinning wheel). Women also embroidered scenes which they found interesting, such as a British official coming to a village or women carrying an umbrella and walking along with memsahib (the wife of

1072-435: A drive band; instead the flyer is directly friction-driven via a rubber ring in contact at a right angle to the flat surface of a solid drive wheel. One example from New Zealand dates to 1918, and a very few other models using this drive method have been manufactured since 1970. These wheels are extremely compact and less fouled by outdoor dirt than drive-band wheels, but they are quite uncommon. The spinning wheel increased

1206-417: A hand to turn the wheel. The great wheel is usually used to spin short-staple fibres (this includes both cotton and wool), and can only be used with fibre preparations that are suited to long-draw spinning. The great wheel is usually over 1.5 metres (5 feet) in height. The large drive wheel turns the much smaller spindle assembly, with the spindle revolving many times for each turn of the drive wheel. The yarn

1340-549: A heavy material. Lighter versions called halvaan were also used. Pal noted that khaddi material was also becoming popular. The colours were red, white, golden yellow, green, and deep blue. Natural methods would be used to dye the material w such as utilising flowers. A popular method was to use the Rubia cordifolia tree known as Indian madder and Majith in Punjabi. Unspun silk thread known as patt would be used to embroider

1474-434: A long vowel (/a:/, /e:/, /i:/, /o:/, /u:/, /ɛ:/, /ɔː/, which triggers shortening in these vowels) in the penult of a word, e.g. ਔਖਾ aukkhā "difficult", ਕੀਤੀ kī̆ttī "did", ਪੋਤਾ pō̆ttā "grandson", ਪੰਜਾਬੀ panjā̆bbī "Punjabi", ਹਾਕ hākă "call, shout", but plural ਹਾਕਾਂ hā̆kkā̃ . Except in this case, where this unmarked gemination is often etymologically rooted in archaic forms, and has become phonotactically regular,

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1608-525: A low-voltage source, such as a rechargeable battery. Most e-spinners are smaller, more portable, and quieter than treadle wheels. One of the attractions of an e-spinner is that it is not necessary to coordinate treadling with handling the fibre (drafting), so it can be easier to learn to spin on an e-spinner than a traditional treadle-style spinning wheel. E-spinners are also suitable for spinners who have trouble treadling or keeping their treadling speed consistent. This type of treadle-driven wheel does not use

1742-450: A musical treatment of the classical story of Omphale and Heracles . A favorite piano work for students is Albert Ellmenreich's Spinnleidchen (Spinning Song) , from his 1863 Musikalische Genrebilder , Op. 14. An ostinato of repeating melodic fifths represents the spinning wheel. The Spinning Wheel is also the title/subject of a classic Irish folk song by John Francis Waller . A traditional Irish folk song, Túirne Mháire ,

1876-569: A picture of the flyer, which twists the yarn before winding it onto the spindle. During the 16th century a treadle wheel with flyer was in common use, and gained such names as the Saxony wheel and the flax wheel. It sped up production, as one need not stop spinning to wind up the yarn. According to Mark Elvin , 14th-century Chinese technical manuals describe an automatic water-powered spinning wheel. Comparable devices were not developed in Europe until

2010-490: A scarf or shawl, the pallu , has separate panels of exquisite Phulkari workmanship with striking designs. Despite the fact that this embroidery was not originally done on a commercial scale, some of it did find a market abroad in the 19th century. The embroideries for shawls or ghagras (a long full decorated skirt) were used to make curtains for European homes. Specimens of phulkari cloth from different regions of Punjab were sent to Colonial and Indian Exhibition , held under

2144-506: A single drive wheel set up in Irish tension, or 'bobbin lead', the drive band drives the bobbin and the tension band brakes the flyer. Some wheels can be set up in either single drive configuration, others only one. Additionally some wheels can be set up either in double drive or single drive. When the spindle or flyer is located above the wheel, rather than off to one side, the wheel is called an upright wheel or castle wheel. This type of wheel

2278-522: A small, portable, hand-cranked wheel, is ideal for spinning cotton and other fine, short-staple fibres, though it can be used to spin other fibres as well. The size varies, from that of a hardbound novel to the size of a briefcase, to a floor charkha. Leaders of the India's Freedom Struggle brought the charkha into wider use with their teachings. They hoped the charkha would assist the people of India achieve self-sufficiency and independence, and therefore used

2412-422: A spinning wheel. Perhaps surprisingly, a traditional spindle does not have a sharp end that could prick a person's finger (unlike the walking wheel, often used for wool spinning). Despite this, the narrative idea persists that Sleeping Beauty or Briar Rose or Dornrosen pricks her finger on the spindle—a device which she has never seen before, as they have been banned from the kingdom in a forlorn attempt to prevent

2546-541: A spinning wheel. In 1814, Franz Schubert composed " Gretchen am Spinnrade ", a lied for piano and voice based on a poem from Goethe's Faust . the piano part depicts Gretchen's restlessness as she spins on a spinning wheel while waiting by a window for her love to return. Antonín Dvořák composed The Golden Spinning Wheel , a symphonic poem based on the folk ballad from Kytice by Karel Jaromír Erben . Camille Saint-Saëns wrote Le Rouet d'Omphale (Omphale's Spinning Wheel) , symphonic poem in A major, Op. 31,

2680-547: A subscript ਵ would produce ਸ੍ਵ ( sʋə- ) as in the Sanskrit word ਸ੍ਵਰਗ (/ sʋə ɾᵊgə/, "heaven"), but followed by a regular ਵ would yield ਸਵ - ( səʋ- ) as in the common word ਸਵਰਗ (/ səʋ əɾᵊgə̆/, "heaven"), borrowed earlier from Sanskrit but subsequently changed. The natural Punjabi reflex, ਸੁਰਗ /sʊɾᵊgə̆/, is also used in everyday speech. For example, the regular ਹ is used after vowels as in ਮੀਂਹ (transcribed as mĩh ( IPA: [míː] ), "rain"). The subjoined ਹ ( ha ) acts

2814-437: A symbolic identification with the poor of India. His personal choice became a powerful political gesture as he urged his more privileged followers to copy his example and discard—or even burn—their European-style clothing and return with pride to their ancient, pre-colonial culture. Gandhi claimed that spinning thread in the traditional manner also had material advantages, as it would create the basis for economic independence and

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2948-413: Is Pal's chapter that triggered a serious interest in preserving the dying tradition of Phulkari. People began to take note of the folk art. Thind also noted private collectors preserving traditional Phulkaris. In his visit to the U.K. in 1980, Thind saw a private collection of Phulkaris with various motifs. He also mentions work by local organisations in Punjab (India). Various books have also been written on

3082-552: Is a financially independent self-group which evolved from the vocational training initiatives at Mehar Baba Charitable Trust in 2009. Artisan markets like Dilli Haat in New Delhi feature stalls by India several National Award winners like Mrs. Lajwanti Devi from Patiala who was awarded the Rashtrapati Award in 1995 for her embroidery. Phulkari products can also be found at occasional bazaars at Dastkar, at Diwali melas, at

3216-533: Is a painstaking and time-consuming art that strains the eyes, and, as many women work indoors with poor lighting, it leads to the deterioration of their eyesight over time. Relatively low remunerations have made it an economically unviable option for many young women who do not want to take it up as a means of livelihood. There are limited books on Phulkari available online or in bookstores for purchase. The library at Punjabi University, Patiala has extensive reading material on Phulkaris. Indira Gandhi National Centre for

3350-496: Is also a conjunct form of the letter yayyā , ਯ→੍ਯ , a later form, which functions similarly to the yakaśă , and is used exclusively for Sanskrit borrowings, and even then rarely. In addition, miniaturized versions of the letters ਚ, ਟ, ਤ, and ਨ are also found in limited use as subscript letters in Sikh scripture. Only the subjoined /ɾə/ and /hə/ are commonly used; usage of the subjoined /ʋə/ and conjoined forms of /jə/, already rare,

3484-479: Is called adha bagh (half garden). The work done with white or yellow silk floss on cotton khaddar that starts from the center of the fabric and spreads to the whole fabric is called "Chashm-e-Bulbul". Historically, the exquisite embroidery for baghs are known to have been made in the districts of Hazara , Peshawar , Sialkot , Jhelum , Rawalpindi , Multan , Amritsar , Jalandhar , Sialkot , Ludhiana , Gujranwala , Kasur , Gujrat , Chiniot and Chakwal of

3618-476: Is derived from Sharada in the Northwestern group, of which it is the only major surviving member, with full modern currency. Notable features include: Gurmukhi evolved in cultural and historical circumstances notably different from other regional scripts, for the purpose of recording scriptures of Sikhism , a far less Sanskritized cultural tradition than others of the subcontinent. This independence from

3752-485: Is distinctive and uniquely Punjabi. Various coarse structured fabrics such as khaddar , dasuti , and khaddar casement were used for embroidery work, including phulkari. According to the employment of phulkari types "chaddar," "bhagh," or "chope," these khaddar characteristics vary in thickness, weight, and loose or firmly woven structures. The first was a loosely woven khaddar with coarse yarns, which stood in contrast to "Halwan" (a lightweight and finely woven Khaddar), and

3886-413: Is embroidered on red with yellow. Two fabric panels are joined that have similar patterns embroidered on both ends. The only motifs embroidered on both selvage are a series of triangles with the base towards the selvage and pointing inwards. The design is worked with small squares in a step-ladder fashion. Only the borders and the four edges of the cloth are embroidered in fine embroidery. The subhar has

4020-416: Is embroidered. By working with darning stitch, numerous designs are made by use of horizontal, vertical, and diagonal stitches. Some make the distinction that phulkari only refers to sparingly-embroidered flowers, whereas a large, intricately embroidered flower pattern is known as a bagh. That is to say, in other varieties of phulkari, the base cloth is still visible, whereas in a bagh, the embroidery covers

4154-984: Is generally believed to have roots in the Proto-Sinaitic alphabet by way of the Brahmi script , which developed further into the Northwestern group ( Sharada , or Śāradā, and its descendants, including Landa and Takri ), the Central group ( Nagari and its descendants, including Devanagari , Gujarati and Modi ) and the Eastern group (evolved from Siddhaṃ , including Bangla , Tibetan , and some Nepali scripts), as well as several prominent writing systems of Southeast Asia and Sinhala in Sri Lanka, in addition to scripts used historically in Central Asia for extinct languages like Saka and Tocharian . Gurmukhi

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4288-595: Is generally sung in praise of the spinning wheel, but was regarded by Mrs Costelloe , who collected it, as "much corrupted", and may have had a darker narrative. It is widely taught in junior schools in Ireland. Sun Charkhe Di Mithi Mithi Kook is a Sufi song in the Punjabi language inspired by the traditional spinning wheel. It is an ode by a lover as she remembers her beloved with the sound of every spin of her Charkha. Spinning wheels also feature prominently in

4422-446: Is increasingly scarce in modern contexts. To express vowels (singular, sură ), Gurmukhī, as an abugida , makes use of obligatory diacritics called lagā̃ . Gurmukhī is similar to Brahmi scripts in that all consonants are followed by an inherent schwa sound. This inherent vowel sound can be changed by using dependent vowel signs which attach to a bearing consonant. In some cases, dependent vowel signs cannot be used – at

4556-407: Is not a common feature of the treadle wheel. Instead, most modern wheels employ a flyer-and-bobbin system which twists the yarn and winds it onto a spool simultaneously. These wheels can be single- or double-treadle; which is a matter of personal preference and ergonomics and does not materially affect the operation of the wheel. The double drive wheel is named after its drive band, which goes around

4690-501: Is not always obligatory: The letter ਸ਼, already in use by the time of the earliest Punjabi grammars produced, along with ਜ਼ and ਲ਼, enabled the previously unmarked distinction of /s/ and the well-established phoneme /ʃ/, which is used even in native echo doublets e.g. rō̆ṭṭī-śō̆ṭṭī "stuff to eat"; the loansounds f , z , x , and ġ as distinct phonemes are less well-established, decreasing in that order and often dependent on exposure to Hindi-Urdu norms. The character ਲ਼ ( ḷa ),

4824-604: Is not used when writing Punjabi in Gurmukhī. However, it may occasionally be used in Sanskritised text or in dictionaries for extra phonetic information. When it is used, it represents the suppression of the inherent vowel. The effect of this is shown below: The ḍaṇḍī (।) is used in Gurmukhi to mark the end of a sentence. A doubled ḍaṇḍī , or doḍaṇḍī (॥) marks the end of a verse. The visarga symbol (ਃ U+0A03)

4958-423: Is often more compact, thus easier to store and transport. Some upright wheels are even made to fold up small enough that they fit in carry-on luggage at the airport. An Irish castle wheel is a type of upright in which the flyer is located below the drive wheel. An electric spinning wheels, or e-spinner, is powered by an electric motor rather than via a treadle. Some require mains power while others may be powered by

5092-570: Is spread out as if spreading sesame seeds. Neelak phulkari is made of a black or red background with yellow or bright red embroidery. The color of the phulkari is mixed with metals. The Chhaamas phulkari hails from Rohtak , Gurgaon , Hissar , and Delhi . The Chaamas Phulkari incorporates mirrors which are sewn into the cloth with yellow, grey, or blue thread. The phulkari of south and southwestern Punjab in India and Pakistan has wide edges upon which designs of animals and birds are embroidered. As

5226-457: Is spun at an angle off the tip of the spindle, and is then stored on the spindle. To begin spinning on a great wheel, first a leader (a length of waste yarn) is tied onto the base of the spindle and spiraled up to the tip. Then the spinner overlaps a handful of fibre with the leader, holding both gently together with the left hand, and begins to slowly turn the drive wheel clockwise with the right hand, while simultaneously walking backward and drawing

5360-494: Is spun off the tip of the spindle with the other. The floor charkha and the great wheel closely resemble each other. With both, the spinning must stop in order to wind the yarn onto the spindle. The word charkha , which has links with Persian چرخ ( Romanized : charkh ), wheel, is related to the Sanskrit word for "circle" ( cakra ). The charkha was both a tool and a symbol of the Indian independence movement . The charkha,

5494-455: Is that the market is flooded with relatively inexpensive machine made Phulkaris manufactured in factories in Amritsar and Ludhiana. As consumers become less discerning and as there is improvisation and innovation in machine embroidery, even stalls at Dilli Haat have begun retailing machine made Phulkaris on synthetic fabrics along with high quality hand embroidered Phulkaris. Phulkari embroidery

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5628-495: Is that this style of embroidery came from Iran where it was called Gulkari , also meaning floral work. However, Pal (1960) notes that the styles of Phulkari are distinct to Gulkari work. There is reference to phulkari in ancient texts, folk legends, and literature of Punjab. In Harishcharitra , the biography of the Emperor Harshavardhana (590-647 CE), the last ruler of great ancient Indian Vardhana empire,

5762-443: Is the case of the chope, the edges are embroidered on both sides of the cloth. Traditionally, phulkari garments were part of a girl's wedding trousseau . Its motifs were expressive of her emotions and the number of phulkari pieces defined the status of the family. According to Blurton (2003), "angular satin-stitch baghs (shawls) and phulkaris (shawls similar to baghs, but less heavily embroidered)" up to 20 pieces would form part of

5896-479: Is the classic fairy tale Sleeping Beauty , in which the main character pricks her hand or finger on the poisoned spindle of a spinning wheel and falls into a deep sleep following a wicked fairy or witch 's curse. Numerous variations of the tale exist (the Brothers Grimm had one in their collection entitled Little Briar Rose), and in only some of them is the spindle actually attached to/associated with

6030-474: Is then filled by embroidering with darn stitch. In other styles, there are no patterns drawn and the work was done only by counting the threads from the back. Sainchi was popular in Bathinda and Faridkot districts. Sainchi phulkari was also popular in and around Ferozepur . Sainchi embroidery draws inspiration from village life and depict various scenes of everyday village life such as a man ploughing, lying on

6164-557: Is used in all spheres of culture, arts, education, and administration, with a firmly established common and secular character. It is one of the official scripts of the Indian Republic , and is currently the 14th most used script in the world. The prevalent view among Punjabi linguists is that as in the early stages the Gurmukhī letters were primarily used by the Guru's followers, gurmukhs (literally, those who face, or follow,

6298-634: Is used very occasionally in Gurmukhī. It can represent an abbreviation, as the period is used in English, though the period for abbreviation, like commas, exclamation points, and other Western punctuation, is freely used in modern Gurmukhī. Gurmukhī has its own set of digits, which function exactly as in other versions of the Hindu–Arabic numeral system . These are used extensively in older texts. In modern contexts, they are sometimes replaced by standard Western Arabic numerals . *In some Punjabi dialects,

6432-625: The Guru Granth Sahib , is written in Gurmukhī, in various dialects and languages often subsumed under the generic title Sant Bhasha or "saint language", in addition to other languages like Persian and various phases of Indo-Aryan languages. Modern Gurmukhī has thirty-five original letters, hence its common alternative term paintī or "the thirty-five", plus six additional consonants , nine vowel diacritics , two diacritics for nasal sounds, one diacritic that geminates consonants and three subscript characters. The Gurmukhī script

6566-633: The Industrial Revolution it took at least five spinners to supply one weaver. Lewis Paul and John Wyatt first worked on the problem in 1738, patenting the Roller Spinning machine and the flyer-and-bobbin system, for drawing wool to a more even thickness. Using two sets of rollers that travelled at different speeds, yarn could be twisted and spun quickly and efficiently. However, they did not have much financial success. In 1771, Richard Arkwright used waterwheels to power looms for

6700-486: The Kashmiri language . With the last known inscription dating to 1204 C.E., the early 13th century marks a milestone in the development of Sharada. The regional variety in Punjab continued to evolve from this stage through the 14th century; during this period it starts to appear in forms closely resembling Gurmukhī and other Landa scripts . By the 15th century, Sharada had evolved so considerably that epigraphists denote

6834-457: The Punjab region . Ghunghat bagh Originating in Rawalpindi , the ghunghat bagh is heavily embroidered around the centre on the edge to be worn over the head. The embroidered centre is then pulled over the face so as to form an embroidered veil. The two styles of chope and subhar are worn by brides. The chope is embroidered on both sides of the cloth. Chope traditionally

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6968-618: The mukhă (face, or mouth) of the Gurus. Consequently, the script that was used to write the resulting scripture may have also been designated with the same name. The name for the Perso–Arabic alphabet for the Punjabi language, Shahmukhi , was modeled on the term Gurmukhi . The Gurmukhī alphabet contains thirty-five base letters ( akkhară ), traditionally arranged in seven rows of five letters each. The first three letters, or mātarā vāhakă ("vowel bearer"), are distinct because they form

7102-510: The spinning jenny and spinning frame , which displaced the spinning wheel during the Industrial Revolution. The spinning wheel was a precursor to the spinning jenny , which was widely used during the Industrial Revolution. The spinning jenny was essentially an adaptation of the spinning wheel. The ubiquity of the spinning wheel has led to its inclusion in the art, literature and other expressions of numerous cultures around

7236-461: The 18th century. However, it fell into disuse when fibre production shifted from hemp to cotton . It was forgotten by the 17th century. The decline of the automatic spinning wheel in China is an important part of Elvin's high level equilibrium trap theory to explain why there was no indigenous Industrial Revolution in China despite its high levels of wealth and scientific knowledge. On the eve of

7370-419: The 35 original letters, there are six supplementary consonants in official usage, referred to as the navīnă ṭollī or navīnă vargă , meaning "new group", created by placing a dot ( bindī ) at the foot ( pairă ) of the consonant to create pairĭ bindī consonants. These are not present in the Guru Granth Sahib or old texts. These are used most often for loanwords, though not exclusively, and their usage

7504-572: The Arts (IGNCA) acquired a collection of selected phulkari for its archives in 1994. The Textile Gallery at the National Crafts Museum has a very extensive collection of Phulkaris. The Philadelphia Museum of Art has a permanent exhibition featuring Phulkaris from the museum's Jill and Sheldon Bonovitz Collection and contemporary designs by Bollywood celebrity designer Manish Malhotra. Gurmukhi The primary scripture of Sikhism ,

7638-673: The British regime. By the end of the 19th century, Phulkaris and Baghs had found a market in Europe and America. There were firms in Amritsar where Phulkari work of any shape or size could be ordered. Some of the firms procured orders from Europe for supplying Phulkari on a commercial scale. The newer market dictated the changes in designs and color combinations. Some commented that the Europeanized versions of Phulkari were not Indian at all. The embroideries were in black, green, and red and

7772-412: The Guru, as opposed to a manmukh ); the script thus came to be known as gurmukhī , "the script of those guided by the Guru." Guru Angad is credited in the Sikh tradition with the creation and standardization of Gurmukhi script from earlier Śāradā -descended scripts native to the region. It is now the standard writing script for the Punjabi language in India. The original Sikh scriptures and most of

7906-486: The Indian fashion industry has also been partially blamed for its decline. Noting the value of traditional phulkaris, Aryan (1983) collected the garments noting their spectacular artwork. Such efforts to preserve the art of Phulkari has influenced its revival. Pal (1960) states that, despite there being a reduction in the art for the last 50 years in undivided Punjab, girls and women still continued to embroider phulkaris in

8040-685: The Lota Shop at the National Crafts Museum in New Delhi, the Punjab Handloom Emporium in Ludhiana, and in some private chains like 1469. Garg (2017) in her study of the prevalence of the Phulkari craft in Punjab (India) notes that there are various units set up in Patiala district where mainly women reported that they have been carrying on the work set up by their mothers and grandmothers. The respondents also stated that Phulkari work

8174-683: The Punjabi language is its tone system. The script has no separate symbol for tones, but they correspond to the tonal consonants that once represented voiced aspirates as well as older * h . To differentiate between consonants, the Punjabi tonal consonants of the fourth column, ਘ kà , ਝ cà , ਢ ṭà , ਧ tà , and ਭ pà , are often transliterated in the way of the voiced aspirate consonants gha , jha , ḍha , dha , and bha respectively, although Punjabi lacks these sounds. Tones in Punjabi can be either rising, neutral, or falling: The letters now always represent unaspirated consonants, and are unvoiced in onset positions and voiced elsewhere. In addition to

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8308-410: The Punjabi language, it served as the main medium of literacy in Punjab and adjoining areas for centuries when the earliest schools were attached to gurdwaras . The first natively produced grammars of the Punjabi language were written in the 1860s in Gurmukhi. The Singh Sabha Movement of the late 19th century, a movement to revitalize Sikh institutions which had declined during colonial rule after

8442-658: The Sanskritic model allowed it the freedom to evolve unique orthographical features. These include: and other features. From the 10th century onwards, regional differences started to appear between the Sharada script used in Punjab, the Hill States (partly Himachal Pradesh ) and Kashmir . Sharada proper was eventually restricted to very limited ceremonial use in Kashmir, as it grew increasingly unsuitable for writing

8576-769: The Sikhs. The Takri alphabet developed through the Dēvāśēṣa stage of the Sharada script from the 14th-18th centuries and is found mainly in the Hill States such as Chamba, Himachal Pradesh and surrounding areas, where it is called Chambeali . In Jammu Division , it developed into Dogri, which was a "highly imperfect" script later consciously influenced in part by Gurmukhi during the late 19th century, possibly to provide it an air of authority by having it resemble scripts already established in official and literary capacities, though not displacing Takri. The local Takri variants got

8710-403: The basis for independent vowels and are not consonants, or vianjană , like the remaining letters are, and except for the second letter aiṛā are never used on their own; see § Vowel diacritics for further details. The pair of fricatives, or mūlă vargă ("base class"), share the row, which is followed by the next five sets of consonants, with the consonants in each row being homorganic ,

8844-422: The beginning of a word or syllable for instance – and so an independent vowel character is used instead. Independent vowels are constructed using the three vowel-bearing characters: ੳ ūṛā , ਅ aiṛā , and ੲ īṛī . With the exception of aiṛā (which in isolation represents the vowel [ ə ] ), the bearer vowels are never used without additional vowel diacritics. Vowels are always pronounced after

8978-470: The capability to spin a variety of yarns until the beginning of the 19th century and the mechanization of spinning. In general, the spinning technology was known for a long time before being adopted by the majority of people, thus making it hard to fix dates of the improvements. In 1533, a citizen of Brunswick is said to have added a treadle , by which the spinner could rotate her spindle with one foot and have both hands free to spin. Leonardo da Vinci drew

9112-505: The centuries. According to Pal (1960), the traditional method of embroidering a phulkari and its widespread use in Punjab, India , declined by the 1950s. Traditionally, women would embroider phulkaris without using stencils . Pal (1960) states that women would clean their courtyards and invite friends and family to ceremonially begin the process of embroidering a phulkari. Folk songs would be sung on this occasion. "Ih Phulkari Meri Maan Ne Kadhi / Is Noo Ghut Ghut Japhiyan Paawan" ('This Phulkari

9246-453: The charkha as a symbol of the Indian independence movement and included it on earlier versions of the Flag of India . The great wheel was one of the earlier types of spinning wheel. The fibre is held in the left hand and the wheel slowly turned with the right. Yarn is spun on a great wheel with the long-draw spinning technique, which requires only one active hand most of the time, thus freeing

9380-619: The consonant they are attached to. Thus, siā̀rī is always written to the left, but pronounced after the character on the right. When constructing the independent vowel for [ oː ] , ūṛā takes an irregular form instead of using the usual hōṛā . Gurmukhi orthography prefers vowel sequences over the use of semivowels ("y" or "w") intervocally and in syllable nuclei , as in the words ਦਿਸਾਇਆ disāiā "caused to be visible" rather than disāyā , ਦਿਆਰ diāră "cedar" rather than dyāră , and ਸੁਆਦ suādă "taste" rather than swādă , permitting vowels in hiatus . In terms of tone orthography,

9514-536: The curse of the wicked godmother-fairy. Walt Disney included the Saxony or flax wheel in their animated film version of Perrault's tale and Rose pricks her finger on the distaff (which holds the plant fibre waiting to be spun). Whereas only a spindle is used in Tchaikovsky 's ballet The Sleeping Beauty which is closer to the direct translation of the French "un fuseau". Spinning wheels are also integral to

9648-410: The designs using the double stitch known in Punjabi as dasuti tropa, herringbone stitch and satin stitch . Long and short stitches would be employed. No stencil would be used to embroider the designs. Women would gather to embroider phulkaris. Traditional folk songs would be sung by the group. Pal also gives one instance of a woman putting one grain of wheat to one side for every stitch she made. When

9782-400: The designs were inspired by what the embroiderer saw around them. The kitchen provided the designs of many baghs—belan (rolling pin) bagh, mirchi (chilli) bagh, gobhi ( cauliflower ) bagh, karela (bitter gourd) bagh, and dabbi (metal container) bagh. Others like Dilli Darwaza, Shalimar Char, and Chaurasia Baghs depicted the layout of well-known Mughal gardens . The scattered work on the fabric

9916-411: The difference in speed winds the yarn onto the bobbin when the spinner lets up tension on the newly spun yarn, and spins the bobbin and flyer together to add spin to the yarn when the spinner keeps the new yarn under tension (in this case, the drive band will slip slightly in the groove in the bobbin, flyer whorl, or both). Generally the speed difference or "ratio" is adjusted by the size of the whorls and

10050-431: The earlier method of hand spinning with a spindle. The first stage in mechanizing the process was mounting the spindle horizontally so it could be rotated by a cord encircling a large, hand-driven wheel. The great wheel is an example of this type, where the fibre is held in the left hand and the wheel slowly turned with the right. Holding the fibre at a slight angle to the spindle produced the necessary twist. The spun yarn

10184-504: The entire garment so that the base cloth is not visible. Similarly, in contemporary modern designs, simple and sparsely embroidered dupattas (long scarf), odhinis (oversized long scarf), and shawls , made for everyday use, are referred to as phulkaris, whereas clothing items that cover the entire body, made for special and ceremonial occasions such as weddings are called baghs. There were many kinds of bagh depending on its usage, such ghungat bagh and vari da bagh. In many cases

10318-547: The fall of the Sikh Empire, also advocated for the usage of the Gurmukhi script for mass media , with print media publications and Punjabi-language newspapers established in the 1880s. Later in the 20th century, after the struggle of the Punjabi Suba movement , from the founding of modern India in the 1940s to the 1960s, the script was given the authority as the official state script of the Punjab, India , where it

10452-400: The female protagonist Heer and lists various clothing items with phulkari embroidery. The first extensive English publication on phulkari was by Flora Annie Steel in 1880 where she describes the various styles and exhibited the varieties in picture form. In its present form, phulkari embroidery has been popular since the 15th century. Pal (1960) believes that no matter its origin, phulkari work

10586-405: The fibre in the left hand away from the spindle at an angle. The left hand must control the tension on the wool to produce an even result. Once a sufficient amount of yarn has been made, the spinner turns the wheel backward a short distance to unwind the spiral on the spindle, then turns it clockwise again, and winds the newly made yarn onto the spindle, finishing the wind-on by spiralling back out to

10720-517: The fields to collect crops and being used as rags. Phulkaris were being sold at cheap rates to collectors from overseas who would then sell them at higher rates. Women would give away lighter Phulkaris to servants. Pal believed that the Punjab is a progressive state of India but it did not value its traditional crafts. Renewed interest has only resulted from the refugee crisis after the 1947 partition whereby organisations encouraged women to embroider Phulkaris to make ends meet. Thind (2005) believes that it

10854-409: The following consonant is geminated , and is placed above the consonant preceding the geminated one. Consonant length is distinctive in the Punjabi language and the use of this diacritic can change the meaning of a word, as below: It has not been standardized to be written in all instances of gemination; there is a strong tendency, especially in rural dialects, to also geminate consonants following

10988-485: The following epochs, Gurmukhī became the primary script for the literary writings of the Sikhs. Playing a significant role in Sikh faith and tradition, it expanded from its original use for Sikh scriptures and developed its own orthographical rules, spreading widely under the Sikh Empire and used by Sikh kings and chiefs of Punjab for administrative purposes. Also playing a major role in consolidating and standardizing

11122-529: The historic Sikh literature have been written in the Gurmukhi script. Although the word Gurmukhī has been commonly translated as "from the Mouth of the Guru", the term used for the Punjabi script has somewhat different connotations. This usage of the term may have gained currency from the use of the script to record the utterances of the Sikh Gurus as scripture, which were often referred to as Gurmukhī, or from

11256-454: The homes of Punjabis as well as Indian handloom aficionados. Kaur and Gupta (2016) state that the traditional khaddar material has now been replaced by fine materials such as chiffon and silk for the base. The traditional Pat thread has been replaced by synthetic silk thread. All types of dark and light colours are used. This revival can be used to design the interiors of buildings such as Phulkari style curtains or Phulkari work on lamps to enhance

11390-622: The market. Thus, it was purely a domestic art which not only satisfied their inner urge for creation but brought colour into day-to-day life. In this way, it is a folk art . Fifty-two different types of phulkari existed at one point in time, but they have now been reduced to less than a handful. In olden days, women could embroider without the use of the tracing blocks. Most contemporary embroiderers can no longer do so and use tracing blocks. According to handloom and handicraft traditions expert Jasleen Dhamija , "The embroidery form became more or less extinct. Nobody promoted these." Poor treatment from

11524-585: The more recent [ਕ਼] / qə /, are also on rare occasion used unofficially, chiefly for transliterating old writings in Persian and Urdu , the knowledge of which is less relevant in modern times. Three "subscript" letters, called duttă akkhară ("joint letters") or pairī̃ akkhară ("letters at the feet") are utilised in modern Gurmukhī: forms of ਹ ha , ਰ ra , and ਵ va . The subscript ਰ ra and ਵ va are used to make consonant clusters and behave similarly; subjoined ਹ ha introduces tone. For example, ਸ with

11658-589: The only character not representing a fricative consonant, was only recently officially added to the Gurmukhī alphabet. It was not a part of the traditional orthography, as the distinctive phonological difference between /lə/ and /ɭə/, while both native sounds, was not reflected in the script, and its inclusion is still not currently universal. Previous usage of another glyph to represent this sound, [ਲ੍ਰ], has also been attested. The letters ਲ਼ ḷa , like ਙ ṅ , ਙ ṅ , ਣ ṇ , and ੜ ṛ , do not occur word-initially, except in some cases their names. Other characters, like

11792-448: The past has made us dependent on England, and the only way we can rid ourselves of the dependence is to boycott all goods made by machinery. This is why we have made it the patriotic duty of every Indian to spin his own cotton and weave his own cloth." The Golden Spinning Wheel (Zlatý kolovrat) is a Czech poem by Karel Jaromír Erben that was included in his classic collection of folk ballads , Kytice . Rumpelstiltskin , one of

11926-404: The phulkari was complete, the lady donated the grains away. Sometimes, different styles can be seen on one phulkari. This is because each girl would use her own imagination to stitch a design, perhaps to remind the girl when she gets married of her friends who helped stitch the phulkari. Thind (2005) mentions another variety: the bawan bagh where more than one bagh style is used on one cloth. Many of

12060-510: The plot or characterization in the Scottish folk tale Habitrot and the German tales The Three Spinners and The Twelve Huntsmen . Louisa May Alcott , most famous as the author of Little Women , wrote a collection of short stories called Spinning-Wheel Stories , which were not about spinning wheels but instead meant to be read while engaging in the rather tedious act of using

12194-478: The possibility of survival for India’s impoverished rural areas. This commitment to traditional cloth making was also part of a larger swadeshi movement , which aimed for the boycott of all British goods. As Gandhi explained to Charlie Chaplin in 1931, the return to spinning did not mean a rejection of all modern technology but of the exploitative and controlling economic and political system in which textile manufacture had become entangled. Gandhi said, “Machinery in

12328-662: The production of cotton cloth, his invention becoming known as the water frame. More modern spinning machines use a mechanical means to rotate the spindle, as well as an automatic method to draw out fibres, and devices to work many spindles together at speeds previously unattainable. Newer technologies that offer even faster yarn production include friction spinning, an open-end system, and air jets. Numerous types of spinning wheels exist, including: Spinning yarn on any spinning wheel requires prepared fibre; excepting silk, which can be spun directly from unwound cocoons, fibres must be prepared for spinning, usually by combing or carding. At

12462-407: The productivity of thread making by a factor of greater than 10. Medieval historian Lynn Townsend White Jr. credited the spinning wheel with increasing the supply of rags, which led to cheap paper , which in turn was a factor in the development of printing . It was fundamental to the cotton textile industry prior to the Industrial Revolution . It laid the foundations for later machinery such as

12596-806: The rows arranged from the back (velars) to the front (labials) of the mouth, and the letters in the grid arranged by place and manner of articulation . The arrangement, or varṇămāllā , is completed with the antimă ṭollī , literally "ending group." The names of most of the consonants are based on their reduplicative phonetic values, and the varṇămāllā is as follows: The nasal letters ਙ ṅaṅṅā and ਞ ñaññā have become marginal as independent consonants in modern Gurmukhi. The sounds they represent occur most often as allophones of [ n ] in clusters with velars and palatals respectively. The pronunciation of ਵ can vary allophonically between [ [ ʋ ] ~ [ β ] ] preceding front vowels , and [ [ w ] ] elsewhere. The most characteristic feature of

12730-462: The same way but instead is used under consonants: ਚ ( ca ) followed by ੜ ( ṛa ) yields ਚੜ ( caṛă ), but not until the rising tone is introduced via a subscript ਹ ( ha ) does it properly spell the word ਚੜ੍ਹ ( cáṛĭ , "climb"). This character's function is similar to that of the udātă character (ੑ U+0A51), which occurs in older texts and indicates a rising tone. In addition to the three standard subscript letters, another subscript character representing

12864-485: The script at this point by a special name, Dēvāśēṣa . Tarlochan Singh Bedi (1999) prefers the name prithamă gurmukhī , or Proto-Gurmukhī. It was through its recording in Gurmukhi that knowledge of the pronunciation and grammar of the Old Punjabi language (c. 10th–16th century) was preserved for modern philologists. The Sikh gurus adopted Proto-Gurmukhī to write the Guru Granth Sahib , the religious scriptures of

12998-412: The script did not have vowel symbols. In Punjab, there were at least ten different scripts classified as Laṇḍā, Mahajani being the most popular. The Laṇḍā scripts were used for household and trade purposes. In contrast to Laṇḍā, the use of vowel diacritics was made obligatory in Gurmukhī for increased accuracy and precision, due to the difficulties involved in deciphering words without vowel signs. In

13132-408: The seventh-century chronicler Bana wrote, "Some people were embroidering flowers and leaves on the cloth from the reverse side," which is a technical description of Phulkari embroidery. However, the earliest reference to the word phulkari is in Punjabi literature in the 18th century Waris Shah 's version of Heer Ranjha , a legendary Punjabi tragic romance, which describes the wedding trousseau of

13266-456: The shape/direction of flowers which symbolized life. In Punjab, it was popularly believed that the birth of girl child in the family was auspicious. The mother and grandmothers would start embroidering Phulkari dupattas upon her birth because they believed that she would be the creator for future generations. Originally Phulkari was done with real flowers. Silk and Mulmul (soft cotton muslin) fabrics were used because of their purity and longevity. It

13400-635: The short vowels [ɪ] and [ʊ], when paired with [h] to yield /ɪh/ and /ʊh/, represent [é] and [ó] with high tones respectively, e.g. ਕਿਹੜਾ kihṛā ( IPA: [kéːɽaː] ) 'which?' ਦੁਹਰਾ duhrā ( IPA: [d̪óːɾaː] ) "repeat, reiterate, double." The compounding of [əɦ] with [ɪ] or [ʊ] yield [ɛ́ː] and [ɔ́ː] respectively, e.g. ਮਹਿੰਗਾ mahingā ( IPA: [mɛ́ːŋgaː] ) "expensive", ਵਹੁਟੀ vahuṭṭī ( IPA: [wɔ́ʈːiː] ) "bride." The diacritics for gemination and nasalization are together referred to as ਲਗਾਖਰ lagākkhară ("applied letters"). The diacritic ਅੱਧਕ áddakă ( ੱ ) indicates that

13534-426: The size of the wheel lets one more finely control the amount of twist. The thread still ends up on a spindle, just as it did before the invention of the wheel. The wheel itself was originally free-moving, spun by a hand or foot reaching out and turning it directly. Eventually, simple mechanisms were created that let a person simply push at a pedal and keep the wheel turning at an even more constant rate. This mechanism

13668-459: The spinner loosens their tension on the newly spun yarn, the bobbin and flyer spin relative to each other and the yarn is wound onto the bobbin. A tighter tension band increases relative torque and 'pulls' the yarn onto the bobbin more forcefully; a looser tension band 'pulls' the yarn more gently. Generally, the tension band is tighter for spinning thicker yarn or yarn with less twist, and looser for spinning thinner yarn or yarn with more twist. For

13802-411: The spinning wheel twice. The drive band turns the flyer, which is the horse-shoe shaped piece of wood surrounding the bobbin , as well as the bobbin. Due to a difference in the size of the whorls (the round pieces or pulleys around which the drive band runs) the bobbin whorl, which has a smaller radius than the flyer whorl, turns slightly faster. Thus both the flyer and bobbin rotate to twist the yarn, and

13936-446: The states of Punjab, Haryana, and Rajasthan would be able to use the term for the traditional craft, and the patent information centre (PIC) of Punjab State Council for Science and Technology would issue a logo or hologram to distinguish the product. Over the years, the Indian and Punjab governments have been working towards promotion of phulkari embroidery, by organizing special training programs, fairs, and exhibitions. Since most of

14070-575: The status of official scripts in some of the Punjab Hill States, and were used for both administrative and literary purposes until the 19th century. After 1948, when Himachal Pradesh was established as an administrative unit, the local Takri variants were replaced by Devanagari . Meanwhile, the mercantile scripts of Punjab known as the Laṇḍā scripts were normally not used for literary purposes. Laṇḍā means alphabet "without tail", implying that

14204-442: The stitches of embroidery were an inch in length. Pal (1960) describes the following traditional varieties of Phulkari: bagh (' garden '), chope , subhar , sainchi , tilpatra , neelal , ghungat bagh , and chammas . He also describes the materials used, colours, and stitching techniques. The traditional cloth would be khaddar using hand-spun cotton. The cotton would be weaved professionally to create

14338-523: The subject either wholly dedicated to the subject or in chapters. The renewed interest can be seen in girls and women wearing Phulkari scarfs and carrying Phulkari bags. However, the new method of embroidering Phulkaris is distinct from the traditional method. Phulkaris are now embroidered using machines and modern materials. In 2011, after a five-year-long legal case, Phulkari was awarded the geographical indication (GI) status in India, which means that after that only registered traders and manufacturers, from

14472-419: The subjoined /j/, the yakaśă or pairī̃ yayyā ( ੵ U+0A75), is utilized specifically in archaized sahaskritī -style writings in Sikh scripture, where it is found 268 times for word forms and inflections from older phases of Indo-Aryan, as in the examples ਰਖੵਾ /ɾəkʰːjaː/ "(to be) protected", ਮਿਥੵੰਤ /mɪt̪ʰjən̪t̪ə/ "deceiving", ਸੰਸਾਰਸੵ /sənsaːɾəsjə/ "of the world", ਭਿਖੵਾ /pɪ̀kʰːjaː/ "(act of) begging", etc. There

14606-475: The tales collected by the Brothers Grimm , revolves around a woman who is imprisoned under threat of execution unless she can spin straw into gold . Rumpelstiltskin helps her with this task, ultimately at the cost of her first-born child; however, she makes a new bargain with him and is able to keep her child after successfully guessing his name. Another folk tale that incorporates spinning wheels

14740-472: The tension of the drive band. The drive band on the double drive wheel is generally made from a non-stretch cotton or hemp yarn or twine. A single drive wheel set up in Scotch tension has one drive band connecting the drive wheel to the flyer. The spinning drive wheel turns the flyer and, via friction with the flyer shaft, the bobbin. A short tension band, or brake band, adds drag to the bobbin such that when

14874-406: The texts ( interpuncts in the form of a dot were used by some to differentiate between words, such as by Guru Arjan ). This is opposed to the comparatively more recent method of writing in Gurmukhi known as padă chēdă , which breaks the words by inserting spacing between them. Charkha (spinning wheel) A spinning wheel is a device for spinning thread or yarn from fibres . It

15008-451: The then Punjab comprising modern Punjab, India , Haryana and parts of Himachal Pradesh to at least the 1950s. In villages far away from the cities, Phulkaris such as the chope were still given to brides hailing from traditional families. However, he noted a marked loss of interest in the craft as a whole. Phulkaris could be seen hanging on walls using nails, being placed on the ground when religious figures attended villages, being used in

15142-406: The third was "Chaunsa Khaddar," which was woven with finer yarns and was chosen for "Bhag". Phulkari was essentially a product of domestic work done by the women of the household. The fabric on which Phulkari embroidery was done was hand spun khaddar (a handloomed plain-weave cotton fabric). Cotton was grown throughout Punjab plains and after a series of simple processes it was spun into yarn by

15276-411: The time of marriage. Depending on the status of the family, the parents would give dowry of 11 to 101 Baghs and Phulkaris. It was also passed from one generation to the next as an heirloom. Phulkaris and bagh were worn by women all over Punjab during marriage festivals and other joyous occasions. They were embroidered by the women for their own use and use of other family members and were not for sale in

15410-429: The tip again to make another draw. This type of wheel is powered by the spinner's foot rather than their hand or a motor. The spinner sits and pumps a foot treadle that turns the drive wheel via a crankshaft and a connecting rod. This leaves both hands free for drafting the fibres, which is necessary in the short draw spinning technique, which is often used on this type of wheel. The old-fashioned pointed driven spindle

15544-573: The usage of the áddakă is obligatory. It is also sometimes used to indicate second-syllable stress, e.g. ਬਚਾੱ ba'cā , "save". The diacritics ਟਿੱਪੀ ṭippī ( ੰ ) and ਬਿੰਦੀ bindī ( ਂ ) are used for producing a nasal phoneme depending on the following obstruent or a nasal vowel at the end of a word. All short vowels are nasalized using ṭippī and all long vowels are nasalized using bindī except for dulaiṅkaṛă ( ੂ ), which uses ṭippī instead. Older texts may follow other conventions. The ਹਲੰਤ halantă , or ਹਲੰਦ halandă , ( ੍ U+0A4D) character

15678-543: The use of Phulkari. In Pakistan, Madan and Phul (2016) noted that the Phulkari work of the Punjab was revived in Hazara (of undivided Punjab but now in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa ) on the initiative of an NGO. However, the Phulkaris produced on a commercial level are not of the same quality as the traditional craft. But the revival has helped poor rural families. The biggest challenge to hand-embroidered Phulkaris today

15812-480: The varieties are part of museum exhibitions and private collections. Thind makes reference to the contributions made by Mohinder Singh Randhawa in promoting the preservation of Phulkari art. He also mentions private collections where he has seen various motifs including the Harmandir Sahib (Golden Temple) embroidered in a Phulkari.   Bagh (meaning ' large garden ') is a style wherein the entire surface

15946-403: The very least, foreign matter (dirt, plant stalks, or animal manure) must be removed before spinning. Most handspinners spin from 'a fluffy mass of aligned fibers' to more easily produce a consistent yarn. The tabletop or floor charkha is one of the oldest known forms of the spinning wheel. The charkha works similarly to the great wheel, with a drive wheel being turned by one hand, while the yarn

16080-571: The women artisans creating phulkari are in the unorganized sector or work through middlemen, they do not make much money compared to an actual selling price of their product. To overcome this, Punjab Small Industries and Export Corporation (PSIEC) formed women self-help groups and cooperatives to sell directly and make more profits. Their products retail at PHULKARI- Punjab Government Emporiums in New Delhi, Chandigarh, Patiala, Kolktata, and Amritsar. The Patiala Handicraft Workshop Cooperative Industrial Society Ltd. (Society for Rural Women Empowerment) founded

16214-465: The women on the charkha (spinning wheel). After making the yarn it was dyed by the lalari (dyer) and woven by the jullaha (weaver). Traditionally, use of coarse khaddar fabric made it easy to count the yarn. The base khaddar cloth used in Western Punjab was finer than what was used in Central Punjab . The fabric was woven in widths, which were narrow, as the width of the loom

16348-426: The word for three is ਤ੍ਰੈ trai ( IPA: [t̪ɾɛː] ). The scriptural symbol for the Sikh term ਇੱਕੁ ਓਅੰਕਾਰੁ ikku о̄aṅkāru ( ੴ U+0A74) is formed from ੧ ("1") and ਓ ("о̄"). Before the 1970s, Gurbani and other Sikh scriptures were written in the traditional scriptio continua method of writing the Gurmukhi script known as ਲੜੀਵਾਰ laṛīvāră , where there were no spacing between words in

16482-491: The world, and in the case of South Asia it has become a powerful political symbol. Starting in 1931, the traditional spinning wheel became the primary symbol on the flag of the Provisional Government of Free India. Mahatma Gandhi ’s manner of dress and commitment to hand spinning were essential elements of his philosophy and politics. He chose the traditional loincloth as a rejection of Western culture and

16616-474: The wrong side of coarse cotton cloth with coloured silken thread. The traditional varieties of phulkaris are large items of cloth and include chope, tilpatr, neelak, and bagh. Some make the distinction that phulkari only refers to sparingly-embroidered flowers, where the base cloth is still visible, while an intricately embroidered flower pattern that covers the entire garment is known as a bagh ('large garden'). The craft of phulkari has undergone changes over

16750-423: The yarn in this manner to make it longer and longer while also controlling the thickness. Thousands of years ago, people began doing this onto a stick, called a spindle , which was a very lengthy process. The actual wheel part of a spinning wheel does not take the place of the spindle; instead, it automates the twisting process, allowing one to "twist" the thread without having to constantly do so manually, and also

16884-489: Was believed that the virtue and character of a woman gave shape to the Phulkari. There are different theories about the origin of phulkari. One such belief is that this embroidery was prevalent in different parts of the country as far back as the 7th century CE but survived only in Punjab. Motifs similar to the ones found in Phulkari are also found in Kashida of Bihar and some of the embroideries of Rajasthan. Another thought

17018-410: Was dyed in the big cities by the lalaris . The best quality silk came from China . The village ladies obtained the thread from hawkers or peddlers who went from village to village selling daily needs items. The most favoured colour was red and its shades, because red is considered auspicious by both Hindus and Sikhs of Punjab. Madder brown, rust red, or indigo were the usual background colours for

17152-444: Was embroidered by my mother, I embrace it warmly'). Folk songs like these are indicative of the emotional attachment the girl had to the Phulkari embroidered by her mother or grandmother, or aunts. Phulkari and bagh embroidery has influenced the embroidery of Gujarat known as heer bharat in its use of geometrical motifs and stitchery. Phulkari is made of two words: phul means 'flower' and akari means 'shape'. Phulkari meant

17286-432: Was fundamental to the cotton textile industry prior to the Industrial Revolution . It laid the foundations for later machinery such as the spinning jenny and spinning frame , which displaced the spinning wheel during the Industrial Revolution. The basic spinning of yarn involves taking a clump of fibres and teasing a bit of them out, then twisting it into a basic string shape. The spinner continues pulling and twisting

17420-478: Was particularly carried out after the arrival of refugees in Patiala after 1947 from West Punjab. Some modern fashion designers are incorporating this embroidery into their designs, and its use has spread beyond traditional salwar kameez and dupatta to accessories like jackets, handbags, cushion covers, table-mats, shoes, slipper, juttis , and children's clothes. Phulkaris are now sold online on popular retail and fashion websites and apps and can be found in

17554-649: Was such. Thus, the fabric had to be stitched lengthwise to make the desired width, which was later embroidered. This practice of stitching two pieces was common among textiles of Punjab in the early 20th century. In West Punjab (now in Pakistan), two or three pieces of cloth were first folded and joined, leading to distorted designs. In East Punjab (now Punjab, Haryana, and part of Himachal Pradesh), they were joined first and then embroidered. The hallmark of Phulkari is, making innumerable patterns by using long and short darn stitches. There were no pattern books and embroidery

17688-469: Was the main source of technological progress for the spinning wheel before the 18th century. The history of the spinning wheel is disputed, with: The spinning wheel spread from the Middle-East to Europe by the 13th century, with the earliest European illustration dated to around 1280. In France, the spindle and distaff were not displaced until the mid 18th century. The spinning wheel replaced

17822-476: Was then wound onto the spindle by moving it so as to form a right angle with the spindle. This type of wheel, while known in Europe by the 14th century, was not in general use until later. The construction of the Great Wheel made it very good at creating long drawn soft fuzzy wools, but very difficult to create the strong smooth yarns needed to create warp for weaving. Spinning wheels ultimately did not develop

17956-417: Was worked entirely from the reverse of the fabric. The designs were not traced. Techniques and patterns were not documented but transmitted from word of mouth and each regional group was identified with the style of embroidery or design The embroidery is done with floss silk thread. Soft untwisted silk floss called patt , was used for embroidery. The thread came from Kashmir , Afghanistan , and Bengal and

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