BANJARA EMBROIDERY FROM TRADITIONAL TO CONTEMPORARY

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Date
1990
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ACHARYA N.G. RANGA AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY, RAJENDRANAGAR, HYDERABAD.
Abstract
Embroidery or the decoration of woven fabrics with coloured thread by means of a needle is probably one of the oldest arts of the world. India has a rich tradition of embroidery and different styles have evolved in different regions depending on the mater.ials available and the local culture. The embroidery of the Banjara tribal women of Andhra Pradesh is one of these distinctive styles. The embroidery, which was almost unknown till a few decades ago, is now a commercial handicraft employing a large number of people. But negligible work has been done to study this craft, which is valuable from economic and cultural points of view. Keeping this in view, the present study was taken up to study the traditional Banjara embroidery and contemporary Banjara work (as it is now called); to study the changes in the embroidery with commercialisation; to design some new Banjara work items of clothing and domestic use and to assess the consumer acceptability of the items after making and costing them. XV , Details of traditional Banjara embroidery were· collected by interviewing thirty Banjara ·. women from five rural tandas(settlements of Banjaras) and · by ob~ervation of their embroidered costume and other articles. Contemporary Banjara work and its economics were studied by interviewing thirty women in Hyderabad who were involved in the production of Banja~a work items. A consumer survey was also carried out among thirty consumers to obtain their opinion , preferences and problems regarding the Banjara work articles ~n the market. Based on the.findings of this survey, nirie new items of Banjara work were designed, constructed, casted and finally. evaluated by a panel of 30 judges which include~ staff and students of College of Home Science, Hyderabad and also customers and sales personnel from shops who were very familiar with Banjara work. The results of the evaluation were analysed and interpreted accordingly. The study has revealed details · of various aspects of the traditional and contemporary embroidery, namely fabrics and threads used, common colours seen, typical motifs and stitches employed, mirrors and beads used, other acc~ssories like shells and coins, the patchwork and appliqu~ done, the articles usually embroidered and the ·changes from traditional to modern Banjara work. The study also revealed particulars of the production process, sales and marketing of commercial Banjara \'mrk, and furthermore the mode of employment, wages and monthly earnings of the Banjara craftswomen. The findings of the consumers survey helped to assess the present day Banjara work (which comprises of mirrorwork, beadwork, applique~ patchwork and embroidery stitches) from the consumers• point of view. The consumers gave their opinion of the general quality of Banjara work items, the designs, the fabrics, and colours used, the workmanship and their cost. It was reve.aled that Banjara \'tork ~~~ very popular among consumers (inspite of some drawbacks) due to their attractive appearance and reasonable cost. The opinion , preferences and suggestions of the consumers obtained through the survey also helped . XVl in the selection and designing of nine articles for the experimental study. They were shopping bag, college bag, file backer, yoke, dupatta, shawl, magazine/ newspaper holder, mail bag, and wall panel. These articles were made and evaluated according to various aspects i.e. overall appearance, design, fabric, colour combination, workmanship and cost. The results of the evaluation showed that the consumer acceptability of all items was good. It was found that exclusively hand embroidered articles had slightly lower consumer preference compared to the items in which the cost was brought down by using more of colourful machine-worked applique'. It was also concluded that embroidered utility articles like the bags have an edge over the purely decorative items like the wall panel. On the whole, the items were well appreciated and
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Keywords
BANJARA, EMBROIDERY, TRADITIONAL, CONTEMPORARY
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