An art that can sweep you off your feet

Woven carpets a rich woven textile that is designed to

adorn the naked floor till it almost ends up embracing the
entire household through an unmistakable appeal of luxury. It
sometimes comes packed with super powers to transport you
to a world of an Arabian reverie, accessible only to fictitious
fantasy characters on flying sprees. When its not busy doing
earthly chores, a Gwalior carpet can really become a
neighbors envy and an owners pride.

Madhya Pradesh being the geographic heart of the country

has always been the nucleus for the blending of varied
cultural bloods. The invaders who caressed this glorious soil in
a bid to conquer it dropped some of their indigenous seeds.
These seeds then grew into trees with roots spread deep into
the Indian soil and branches farfetched to wrap an entire race
in its artistic fervor. Gwalior might have been ruled by the
Moguls once in the history of time, but the Persian
flavor they brought along with them exists in the
aesthetic sensibilities of this region even today.

The influence of the Persian style emerges strongly in the

vocabulary of motifs and the choice of colors used by the
artisans. Even the British who later established the East India
Company in this region couldnt stop themselves from
relishing this rich and exclusive flavor. They hence established
the Oriental Carpet Manufacturing (OCM) Company in
the early decades of 1900s to utilize the business

potential of this industry. Since then this craft has become

the locus of creative influences from different cultures within
the circumference of local heritage.

40 year old Chandra Prakash Prajapati is a master

craftsman who is more than merely passionate about the
dexterous craft of carpet weaving since 1997. He confesses
that it would be impossible to pull off the herculean task
single handedly and is hence assisted by his brother and son
while at work. The whole weavers community however
deserves profound credit for sensitively and responsibly
translating traditional themes into contemporary designs
without diluting their bonds with the vast reserve of the
ancestral patterns.

The raw materials required for this craft are wool, which
is sourced fromBikaner and Amritsar, the viscose comes

from Panipat & Surat and thecotton is brought from

Haryana. The unique patterns and styles of carpets made in
Gwalior possess a distinct vocabulary of flowers, leaves
and other design motifs inspired from nature. These
floral designs are more popular as compared to rugs with
geometric patterns.

As the carpet evolves through different stages, it assumes an

admirable number of expressions. The master craftsmen
themselves draft all the designs for the carpet. The
craftsmen initiate the process of design by sketching the
design on graph paper, ensuring that the underlying grid
remains as the reference throughout, even as details of colors
and shades are drafted on the same. The designs are
mostly symmetrical and are deciphered on the loom
where they materialize into pixilated patterns through
knotting. Warp for at least two to three copies of carpets of a
singular design is stretched on the loom.

The looms used in the weaving process are vertical. The

threads are aligned on the warp first. Two to three
people work simultaneously on the loom and tie the
threads into meticulous knots. Once the knots are tied, the
excess thread is chopped off. These knots are known as
Persian knots after the their place of origin.

A spectacle peculiar to this workspace is that of two people

sitting against each other, as the loom stands tall between
them like a wall of ever changing transparencies.The two
ensure that the conversations are woven between them
in tandem. This becomes increasingly necessary as the
designs are inherently symmetrical. The conversations
start when one of the weavers looks into the graph paper
and announces a term that the person on the other side
of the loom repeats as he executes the same step. The

terms include words such asByayi (meaning the color that lies
below
needs
to
be
repeated
on
the
top)
andBachcha (indicates the knot that comes on the right side
of the line below needs to be repeated), Chala (indicates that
the thread in front needs to be worked on eg. chala lal, chala
neela etc)

To ensure that the threads are firmly positioned in the matrix

of weaving, the craftsmen deliberately press them using a
comb like instrument called panja, which render the woven
fabric strong while introducing new rows of knots. Patti is
another tool that is used to beat the carpet so that all the
knots and threads settle down. Other locally invented
apparatus such as dhoori is used to cut off the excess thread
after weaving. However, now there is a mechanical facility to
do the same by cutting all the threads to a uniform size.

The woven carpets are then dipped for 8-10 hours in water,
making all the knots settle down homogeneously. The fabric
is washed and cleaned with chemicals. It is later sanded
using tools like faavada till the surface becomes even.
Dyeing is an essential part of the process, as these carpets
are ubiquitously known for the plethora of colors traditionally
obtained from natural pigments. Today despite having the
facility to dye the threads using natural and synthetic dyes,
the craftsmen prefer ordering previously colored fiber as it
saves them time and labor.

These carpets are most popularly used for dcor and

furnishings in interiors. The people in the colder countries
prefer hanging these carpets over the walls of their
timber houses so that they double up as insulating
agents.
The craft of carpet weaving in Gwalior has engulfed an
incredible population including few thousand men and women
in its weaves. A lot of them prefer to work with families within
their courtyards.The demographics of those involved in this
traditional craft currently involves a substantial Muslim
population.

Most of the designs are original creations of the master

craftsmen. There are also a significant number of established
designers and furnishing houses that get their designs
executed through the skilled artisans here. These hand
woven carpets are exported to US, Canada and many
other places world over.
The craftsmen believe that for a task as pedantic and
painstakingly meticulous as this, where a single error could
mean repeating the entire complex co-ordination all over
again, there is very little value for labor, which raises a big
monetary concern. Another challenge that threatens the
sustainability of carpet weaving in Gwalior is that children
below the age of 14 are not authorized to start working
at their family looms or at least until they have
attained their basic education. So, when children do join
after this age, they already have their interests set elsewhere
and are hardly keen on continuing.

Maybe the Gwalior carpets (which statistics suggest are only

second best to the Kashmiri ones) do not come with any
potential magic manuals or post usage jet lag inventory
but the divine beauty of human skill that goes into
meticulously building an empire of synchronized
weaves is enough to transfer one into the world of
delightful dream like bliss.