Скачать или смотреть Pochampalli Ikat | Hindi | Weaving Dreams Crafting Lives | Muzaffar Ali

The exquisite and bold ikkat fabric of Central Asia known as Utlas is often mentioned in Persian and Urdu poetry as a prized fabric. The technique of ikkat spread from Gujarat and the Deccan in India along the silk-route to Central Asia.

From the East Coast of India ikkat travelled to Southeast Asia and Japan, where it became even more refined. It even found its way to parts of Africa and South America.

In India, three or four weaving centres emerged near Hyderabad which started to weave yardage, sarees, lungis (a kind of wrap around) in silk and cotton. Chirala, Pochampalli, Puttapaka and Koyyalagudem were given a new lease of life in the middle of the 20th century by the 'All India Handicrafts Board', as a result of which these and other nearby places have become important centres for the production of what is now known as Hyderbadi Ikkats. Of these the best known is Pochampally.

Doouble ikkats are produced in Japan, and Indonesia, besides several centres in India including Pochampally. In Patan, Gujarat, the double ikat or patola technique was the most evolved and was a highly prized export item in the Middle East, Africa and Arabia.