NATURAL DYE TRADITION IN MANIPUR

[GOPI KANTA GHOSH]

Till chemical dye was invented Natural dye was only way to make our dress colorful. As chemical became cheap and lobby against Indigo created this healthy tradition was forgotten. Eminent scientist Acharya P. C Roy even wrote a book on Natural dye before independence as requested by Mahatma Gandhi. The book 'Deshi Rang' in Bengali is now out of print due to lack of demand. When many countries in Europe started banning chemical dye demand for Naturally dyed fabric went up. We found that we are in hopeless situation since the technique was forgotten. Two scientists Prof. R. B Chavan of IIT, Delhi and Dr. Padma Vankar of IIT, Kanpur could revive and document much of it. In Manipur tradition continued due to ritualistic need and short supply of chemical due to geographical isolation hence could be documented. I documented some in attached article here which I presented in ISCA. There is some lacunae in technology. The make color fast by repeatedly dying. Thus it is time consuming. It can be avoided by addition of Mordant. I took initiative to take Prof. Chavan to NE India for interaction with artisans. In 24 Paraganas S in West Bengal a NGO organized by women did wonderful job and exported Naturally dyed Khadi but it suffered due to political problem. The dyer of this organization Ms. Sushama Mistry is wonder lady. My question is can we revive this to meet global demand...let us think...

[Satya Prakash Mehra]

Thanks Dr. Ghosh for sharing such a nice information.......

[GOPI KANTA GHOSH]

Swagatum...let us replicate

[Prof Dr V N Sivasankara Pillai]

Dear Mr Ghosh,

Thank you for sharing the information.

[GOPI KANTA GHOSH]

Together we must contribute to revive this art