Izhai - The Fabric With A Story - Department of Handlooms and Textiles

A small group cotton textiles, probably woven for the court of Tanjore at the eighteenth century and later, feature an extraordinary combination of jamdani brocading and dy e-painting. Unique among Indian textiles for their technique and style of patterning, the few dhotis, saris and turban cloths that survive may have been produced at the nearby village of Kodalikaruppur. The Karuppur textiles were worn mostly by the Tanjore nobility who also gifted them away as khillat (dresses of honour) . In several Maratha states such as Baroda, Kolhapur and Satara, the Karuppur sari was considered an essential elements of a bride's trousseau, as was the Karuppur turban for the groom. It has been suggested that these cloths may have served some ritual function in the temples of Tanjore. At the beginning of the twentieth century, small pieces were still being produced.

The first stage of the patterning process in the Karuppur textiles was the jamdani brocading with gold or silver Zari,while the cloth was being woven. In the end-panel, most remarkable, the Zari - brocaded area did not serve as a pattern. They were, in fact, the background to a pattern that was to be resisted and dye-painted after weaving was complete. Unlike the brocading of negative space in the end-panel, small motifs in repeat arrangement were directly inlaid into the field and borders. The interstices of these would eventually receive the resists and dyes. After the cloth was removed from the loom, the outlines of the principal pattern of the end-panel and the interstitial devices of the field and borders were reserved with wax by means of a kalam. Other details were worked carefully with the mordents for red and black. The initial dye-bath yielded a deep maroon- red, which was further enriched in selected portion of the design by a second dyeing.