Cotton Kota Doria Bagh Print Saree 008

Baghprints originally belong to Bagh and Kukshi region of Madhya Pradesh. These are famous for their red Alizarine and black coloured prints on cotton fabrics. I have seen many similar prints and rejected them either as copies or imitation. On my visit to Tarapur I found these prints being made using same procedures and dyes, though the blocks were different and of course their rendition too was different. Tarapur being on the border touching the state of Rajasthan has a major influence of prints done in Bagru and Akola. So, what we have here is the name baghprint but with a very different block and background colour combinations. 

This small village of Madhya Pradesh, is struggling to survive as a hand block printing Centre with very few printers left who are still pursuing the profession. Considering the honest efforts and hard work put in by these printers, I present a few samples of their version of baghprints.

Incidentally the river Bagh flows through Kukshi as well and it is believed that the brightness in the colours of bagh prints is because of the water of this river. Lt. Ismail Suleman khatri, the award winning printer from bagh tried to establish a printing unit in Bhopal but could not get the brightness in colors as he did in Bagh, and had to return to Bagh to continue printing (as told by his son)