Fakkad Phulkari of Lajwab Lajwanti Devi

- Antar-Raksha Shukla

Somewhere such consciousness is stirring,

The flower also turns to stone.

Somewhere Zampo is waiting,

Turning back from somewhere.

If you can digest the truth,

So Amasi life also shines.

If possible, do not pay taxes to God,

You can't guess the canoe.

It can be the breath of the century,

With the truth that never deceives.

-Harshad Pandya 'Shabdapreet'

India's majestic heritage of diverse culture and art has been spreading its light all over the world for centuries. Our ancient India has been at the forefront of art and skill as well as various sculptures and architecture. Punjab's great contribution to Indian culture is not limited to music or Punjabi cuisine. But Patiala salwar suit or fulkari embroidery is also his gift. If we talk about Indian fashion without it, it will look dull and dull. Traditional artists have perfected Phulkari art through various floral themes. Initially, Phulkari was worn on all kinds of clothes. But later it became limited to just making scarves or shawls or sometimes accessories like shoes, belts or purses. Years ago, women used to do fulkari work only for themselves or their families. Not for sale. Thus Phulkari was a pure home art. In which women embody their ju sensations through phulkari creation, new colors are enough in daily life. In ancient times, flower work was done with real flowers. This work is done on very high quality silk and muslin fabrics so that it becomes pure and durable.

Lajwanti Devi Chhabra, a 6-year-old resident of Tripuri district of Patiala, was honored with Padma Shri on the eve of Republic Day 2021 as a result of her tireless efforts to keep alive the traditional Phulkari art of Punjabi culture. This is a matter of pride for all Indians. Lajwanti Devi Phulkari is a leading artist. Who revived the forgotten Phulkari art of Punjab. He has been working hard and diligently for the development of Phulkari art for four decades. Lajwanti Devi is also training other women in Phulkari art. It is the responsibility of the new generation to keep the vanishing art alive with the old artisans. Even if they are unaware of the history of art, they can be given a bright future. With this in mind, students like Gurvind Kaur are also doing PhD on Phulkari under the guidance of Prof. Anjali Karolia. 'Bagh' work is also an art which is a part of Phulkari art. But the garden work covers the whole forest in which the original cloth is not visible at all.

Lajwanti Chhabra, a water instructor of Phulkari art, has studied only up to primary level. Then he left school. In her shy childhood, she also learned from the elders of Patiala the traditional Sindhi women who used to do 'ralli work' to make quilts and bedsheets. Also called 'Rally Work'. The art is a mix of patchwork, applique work and embroidery. Patchwork is very popular in Sindh province and is found on the bedsheets of almost every household in the villages.

While migrating from the Multan area of ​​Pakistan at the time of partition, Lajwanti's family carried on the traditional Phulkari work. Lajwanti says, 'I have been a florist since I was a child. At first no one in the family was very interested in this art but since then everyone has joined me including my two sons and three daughters. He has also received national awards. Together we have taught Phulkari work to thousands of women in Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Now they are teaching others and helping to keep the art alive. ' His whole family knows how to do floral work on fabrics, stitches, embroidery and all kinds of wo! She has passed on to her daughter Lovely everything that she has learned from her little sweetheart, Lajwanti. Lovely received her National Merit Certificate in 2010. Even before Padma Shri, Lajwanti Devi's Phulkari art was honored at the national level. She received her 12th National Award. He says, 'On occasions like weddings, I used to make flowers and other suits for my relatives. Gradually, the work became a necessity for the family. Circumstances changed after the marriage and I decided to take up Phulkari's work. There is a shop called 'Guru Nanak Phulkari House' of Lajwanti Chhabra in Tripuri Bazaar. His son Amit is fully involved in his floriculture business and handles everything with gusto. "I am proud to help my mother with her work and I enjoy what I do," he says, adding that "before people used to call us cursed and degraded." But after I got the award, the same people started singing different tunes. We were the custodians of the suddenly forgotten art. '

Lajwanti Devi says that 'years ago this art was on the verge of being forgotten. Artists were paid very little. But thanks to the efforts of the central government we can now help many women for self-employment. They can now earn a good living from it and live a beautiful life. ' His work has also spread abroad. They send them wool and cloth with floral work as per the order received from the NRI. For artists, especially for the economically weaker artists, this art has become a business that can lead a satisfying life. ' Today, in many villages of Patiala, more than a thousand women earn their livelihood through floriculture. They demand that 'they should be given other necessary facilities including free bus pass like in Haryana or any other state so that more and more women get involved in this work and spread the art of Phulkari. However, we regret that the Punjab government has not taken care of them. Shameless self-promotion for Ballistic Products and a great bargain on a neat little knife for you.

The word 'fulkari' is derived from 'floral art'. After the men went to work, the women used to light up the leisure time by singing songs on the bed made of beans. About 100-150 years ago, silk thread for floriculture was imported from China. The women themselves used to make cloth on the spinning wheel and do floral work on it with the help of Chinese thread. The women used to draw on the cloth with the help of colorful thread without printing or drawing any scenes they saw around him. In which human figures were also seen. In addition to Krishna's ras-lila, kavad with shravana, lotus, acacia flowers, ornaments, charkho, carts, the design of the train was also done by the sisters, which shows the influence of technology. However, as this art is very laborious and time consuming, no artisan in Punjab is ready to design a human figure.

As the wedding season arrives and Punjabi songs, ballads and bhangras are immediately present, the fluttering of the shy goddess also begins to fly at the same time. Folk songs like 'Ih fulkari meri maane kadhi, is nu dhoot dhoot japiyan pavan' show signs of emotional attachment of a girl who is associated with her mother, grandmother, grandma or aunt. Phulkari work is an integral part of Punjabi weddings. For over 200 years, this flower art has been passed down and developed from generation to generation. Today, wool with floral work is popular all over the world.

As soon as a daughter was born in Punjab, the mother would start gardening on her dresses or dupattas with Phulkari work as a memento for her wedding. Because it used to take about 15 years to make flowers on a scarf. I think that the girl herself will be helping her mother in this phulkari when she is 14-15 years old. Here I remember Ramesh Parekh's poem 'Parents rebuke Bharat Bharti's daughter' ...

You grow flowers by filling stitches,

You fly a butterfly,

Sprinkle silk threads and squeeze the rest

You grow a garden!

Tara behind this thread

How fragrant it is,

The little fairy, Tara called us to play in magical colors too.

You are playing butterflies by losing the wrong ray while playing!

Not only the mother of the daughter but also the mother of the son in some households used to give a handkerchief made of her own handmade flowers to the daughter-in-law as the first time the bride came home.

A rare handkerchief of floral work on black cloth, kept at the National Handicraft and Handloom Museum in Delhi, dates back to before the Indo-Pakistani partition. This handkerchief of black floral work is very rare. This is because most of the women worked on red or brown colored fabrics with pink, yellow, brown or white silk thread. It was very difficult to do a flower design with fine designs on a black cloth. Therefore, a blacksmith who worked as a florist was considered to be a very high quality female artisan.

Both the mother and daughter, residents of Patiala, took Phulkari work suits, saris, bedsheets and scarves to the handicraft fair at Surajkund. Lajwanti says they do floral work on cotton, silk, silver and georgette fabrics. They do all this work by hand. Phulkari work is done on it after the first wo go. P.M. When Modi visited the Delhi-based Hunar Hat, Bhatigal was delighted to see the diverse traditional art of India, highlighting the culture, saying, "These vivid specimens of art and culture from all over India were truly unique." According to Lajwanti, many women are becoming self-reliant because of Hunar Hat.

Many attribute the origin of this art to Iran. Phulkari is a well-known traditional art of Punjab which is also mentioned in the plays Hirranza and Guru Granth Sahib. There is also a reference to phulkari in the epic Hirranza written by Waris Shah. Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's wife Gursharan Kaur, while inaugurating an exhibition titled 'Phulkari-i Sarjakatanu Raj' on the art, said, "We had a big bag full of Phulkari. Because it was customary to give Phulkari to the bride at her wedding. My grandmother, whom we used to call 'Biji', said, 'Girls can also fill in the moonlight. Today all this takes me back to my childhood '. A tribute to the marvelous creativity of Lajwanti, the artisan-fakkad fulkari creator who keeps this craft alive from the past!