Craft and Shopping
When you take a land and fill it with people who love celebrations, and whose love for colour is unparalleled, even while it is sophisticated in its simplicity, chances are you will come across a range of arts and crafts that meets with their particular needs. It isn't an unfair assumption in the case of Rajasthan. The bazaars spill with produce, and there is a magnificent glow of colours that permeates the marts and spills over to the people themselves. /' There is nothing that is subtle about it either. Colours dance on textiles and fabrics, glow in between gold settings, is woven into the threads of rugs and carpets: it is a bountiful celebration where the range of materials at their command is put to amazing use.
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Not all the craft traditions of Rajasthan have origina ted locally. Since the trade routes lay through their kingdoms. they were able to not only learn of the development of arts in other parts of the world, but also, at will, kidnap master artisans and ensconce them in their own ateliers, adding new dimensions to their already rich repertoires. Increasing cross-fertilisa tion with the Mughals, who in turn were inspired by the Rajputs, brought new ideas to bear on their already bursting creative wealth. There was renewed zeal with which miniature paintings were outlined, a freshness to their approach to jewellery, a sense of vigour with which they adorned themselves and their homes. |
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For most people, however, this sense of colour is misleading: only people from Rajasthan know its significance. The odhnis or veils of the women, for example, can be used to signify anything from status and parenthood to denoting seasons and representing regions, ;yt'3.le similarly told by the turbans the mustachioed men wear, or the jewellery they sport.
Rajasthan know its significance. The odhnis or veils of the women, for example, can be used to signify anything from status and parenthood to denoting seasons and representing regions, ;yt'3.le similarly told by the turbans the mustachioed men wear, or the jewellery they sport.
Walking through the bazaars in Jaipur, for example, is an amazmg expenence: silver ornaments sold by the kilos, fistfuls of semi-precious and precious stones offered off pave-ments, mountains of hand-block printed fabrics piled up in shops, quilts strung up to hang, as colourful as the
veils fluttering in the adjoining store, rows upon rows of terracotta pots, evenly arranged pairs of embroidered shoes, piles of paintings, and amazing heaps of wood and metal crafted objects piled into incredible pyramids ... this is a medieval bazaar come to life and bursting with the passion with which the people of this state lead their daily lives.
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