On a paper trail- The New Indian Express

Categorical Information Service

Crafting handmade paper for over 30 years, Mohammad Altaf has earned his standing as a ‘Grasp Kagzi’ (papermaker). He learnt this artwork from his father, as did he from his father. Altaf would love for his son and the opposite kids of the village to proceed the legacy however, as he factors out, “there was no patronage of this previous and traditionally important unit for fairly a while, so it’s troublesome for us to proceed making a dwelling out of it”. He’s however considered one of two Grasp Kagzis and 10 households practising this dying craft within the unobtrusive lakeside city of Kagzipura in Aurangabad, Maharashtra. Nestled between the vacationer points of interest of the Ajanta and Ellora caves in Khuldabad on one finish and the towering Daulatabad Fort on the opposite, this hamlet bears a 700-year legacy of manufacturing a few of the most interesting handmade paper on the earth.

Mohammad Sallaudin, the opposite Grasp Kagzi, recollects a time when paper was made by people of their properties. At its zenith, 250 totally different varieties had been made utilizing the identical methodology. Sadly, in the previous couple of a long time, the shortage of patronage led to a close to wipe-out. However there may be hope. “We’re grateful that Intach (Indian Nationwide Belief for Artwork and Cultural Heritage) confirmed curiosity in our work in 2017, and with luck, their involvement will deliver Kagzipura to the eye of the federal government too,” he says.

Intach’s ongoing programme for the revival of this craft has a two-pronged strategy: counting on the Grasp Kagzis to share the data of the traditional craft with the youthful technology and roping in trade consultants to show greatest practices for the creation and efficient advertising of a brand new vary of merchandise. This consists of paper luggage, notebooks, folders, coasters, frames, envelopes, paper flowers, wrapping sheets, origami paper and extra. At the moment, these merchandise may be purchased by means of Intach’s web site, their workplace in Delhi and Kagzipura paper’s Instagram web page. A website museum can also be being developed to commemorate the historical past of this distinctive paper-making course of.

Vandana Manchanda, Director-Initiatives of the Architectural Heritage Division of Intach, says, “We felt that reviving this trade would tackle environmental issues because the ecological advantages of following this methodology are super.” The manufacturing course of begins with chopping rags constituted of material waste sourced from Ahmedabad, Gujarat, and supplemented with paper waste, vegetable fibres and used tea leaves. These are crushed, pressed, dried and minimize, and their combination is bleached, soaked in water and crushed right into a nice pulp to succeed in the specified thickness. The moist pulp is drained of water, pressed onto a nice muslin material and hung to dry naturally. Your complete course of is environmentally pleasant, requires low capital funding and promotes native employment.

When Muhammad Bin Tughlaq arrange the capital in Daulatabad within the 14th century, he demarcated 
a location for a model new and more and more fashionable trade that discovered its option to India round that point from China and Samarkand. The trade was the making of paper. Kagzipura, with its lush water physique, considerable sources of pure dyes and peculiar reeds, which to this date haven’t been discovered elsewhere, lent itself to the manufacturing course of admirably.

Later, Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, following an identical route in his pursuit of enlargement down South, revived the paper karkhanas. Beneath Mughal patronage, Kagzipura grew to become synonymous with producing the highest quality handmade paper, which was used for making royal manuscripts, official farmans of the court docket and different documentation. Again then, some sheets can be over six ft in peak and outlasted the British-made white paper by a long time, if not centuries.

<br /> Crafting handmade paper for over 30 years, Mohammad Altaf has earned his standing as a ‘Grasp Kagzi’ (papermaker). He learnt this artwork from his father, as did he from his father. Altaf would love for his son and the opposite kids of the village to proceed the legacy however, as he factors out, “there was no patronage of this previous and traditionally important unit for fairly a while, so it’s troublesome for us to proceed making a dwelling out of it”. He’s however considered one of two Grasp Kagzis and 10 households practising this dying craft within the unobtrusive lakeside city of Kagzipura in Aurangabad, Maharashtra. Nestled between the vacationer points of interest of the Ajanta and Ellora caves in Khuldabad on one finish and the towering Daulatabad Fort on the opposite, this hamlet bears a 700-year legacy of manufacturing a few of the most interesting handmade paper on the earth.</p> <p>Craftspeople studying pure dye processesMohammad Sallaudin, the opposite Grasp Kagzi, recollects a time when paper was made by people of their properties. At its zenith, 250 totally different varieties had been made utilizing the identical methodology. Sadly, in the previous couple of a long time, the shortage of patronage led to a close to wipe-out. However there may be hope. “We’re grateful that Intach (Indian Nationwide Belief for Artwork and Cultural Heritage) confirmed curiosity in our work in 2017, and with luck, their involvement will deliver Kagzipura to the eye of the federal government too,” he says.</p> <p>Intach’s ongoing programme for the revival of this craft has a two-pronged strategy: counting on the Grasp Kagzis to share the data of the traditional craft with the youthful technology and roping in trade consultants to show greatest practices for the creation and efficient advertising of a brand new vary of merchandise. This consists of paper luggage, notebooks, folders, coasters, frames, envelopes, paper flowers, wrapping sheets, origami paper and extra. At the moment, these merchandise may be purchased by means of Intach’s web site, their workplace in Delhi and Kagzipura paper’s Instagram web page. A website museum can also be being developed to commemorate the historical past of this distinctive paper-making course of.googletag.cmd.push(operate() {googletag.show(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });</p> <p>Vandana Manchanda, Director-Initiatives of the Architectural Heritage Division of Intach, says, “We felt that reviving this trade would tackle environmental issues because the ecological advantages of following this methodology are super.” The manufacturing course of begins with chopping rags constituted of material waste sourced from Ahmedabad, Gujarat, and supplemented with paper waste, vegetable fibres and used tea leaves. These are crushed, pressed, dried and minimize, and their combination is bleached, soaked in water and crushed right into a nice pulp to succeed in the specified thickness. The moist pulp is drained of water, pressed onto a nice muslin material and hung to dry naturally. Your complete course of is environmentally pleasant, requires low capital funding and promotes native employment.</p> <p>When Muhammad Bin Tughlaq arrange the capital in Daulatabad within the 14th century, he demarcated <br /> a location for a model new and more and more fashionable trade that discovered its option to India round that point from China and Samarkand. The trade was the making of paper. Kagzipura, with its lush water physique, considerable sources of pure dyes and peculiar reeds, which to this date haven’t been discovered elsewhere, lent itself to the manufacturing course of admirably.</p> <p>Later, Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, following an identical route in his pursuit of enlargement down South, revived the paper karkhanas. Beneath Mughal patronage, Kagzipura grew to become synonymous with producing the highest quality handmade paper, which was used for making royal manuscripts, official farmans of the court docket and different documentation. Again then, some sheets can be over six ft in peak and outlasted the British-made white paper by a long time, if not centuries.<br />