Most cloth is woven into pattern. Kalamkari is drawn, painted and printed onto it — with a pen, a block, and dyes drawn entirely from the earth.
✨ Fun fact: The word kalamkari simply means “pen-work” — from kalam (pen) and kari (craft) — named for the pointed bamboo pen the artist uses to draw directly onto the cloth.
Though it is a painted art rather than a woven one, we admire kalamkari deeply — for its patience, its natural colours, and its love of story. It is a close relative of our own dyed and printed traditions, such as ajrakh.
The art of pen-work
Kalamkari is the traditional textile art of Andhra Pradesh, in which designs are applied to cotton by hand using a kalam — a pointed bamboo pen — or with carved wooden blocks. Its colours come entirely from nature: deep black from fermented iron, red from madder root, blue from indigo, and yellow from pomegranate and myrobalan — the same earth-and-plant palette we describe in how Banarasi colours are made.
Two great styles
There are two distinct traditions, both now protected as Geographical Indications. The Srikalahasti style is freehand and devotional: artists draw sweeping scenes from the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and the lives of the gods — a temple art of scrolls, hangings and chariot banners. The Machilipatnam (or Pedana) style is block-printed, with elegant florals, vines and the tree of life — patterns shaped by Persian and Mughal taste for the export trade.
A labour of many washings
True kalamkari is astonishingly slow. The cloth is first treated with myrobalan and buffalo milk so the dyes will hold, then drawn, dyed, and washed in running water again and again — a single piece can pass through many stages and many rinses in the river before it is finished.
A cloth that travelled the world
From the Coromandel coast, these painted and printed cottons once sailed across the world — the famous Indian chintz that Europe and South-East Asia could not get enough of. The Dutch built a trade on it and wove it into their own Frisian folk dress; the Portuguese carried home whole embroidered colchas in the same current. When you read that Indian cotton “conquered” European taste, this pen-and-block art is much of what was meant.
The hands keeping it alive
Srikalahasti’s revival owes much to one family. The late Jonnalagadda Gurappa Chetty (1937–2021) spent his life reviving the freehand temple style and training new artists; the Government of India honoured him with the Padma Shri and the Shilp Guru award. His son Jonnalagadda Niranjan carries the tradition forward today.
Frequently asked questions
What is kalamkari?
A traditional Indian textile art from Andhra Pradesh in which designs are hand-painted with a bamboo pen or block-printed onto cotton, using only natural vegetable and mineral dyes.
What are the two types of kalamkari?
The hand-painted Srikalahasti style, known for freehand temple and mythological scenes, and the block-printed Machilipatnam (Pedana) style, known for Persian-influenced florals and the tree of life. Both are registered Geographical Indications of Andhra Pradesh.
What dyes are used in kalamkari?
Only natural ones: black from fermented iron, red from madder, blue from indigo, and yellows from pomegranate rind and myrobalan, fixed with mordants so the colours hold through repeated washing.
Sources & further reading
On kalamkari and the Coromandel painted-cotton trade, see the collections of the Victoria & Albert Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Geographical Indications registrations for Srikalahasti kalamkari (2005) and Machilipatnam/Pedana kalamkari (2008).
More from Khinkhwab Diaries: ajrakh · how Banarasi colours are made · the Dutch chintz trade · the crafts of Portugal.
