Pethapur Directory -Details

This directory brings together patterns from Pethapur, a block making centre near present day Ahmedabad in Gujarat, which is believed to have played a major role in the historical trade of printed textiles from this region called Saudagiri, with south east Asia. The patterns are geometrical and bring to mind the jaalis, lattices and carved designs in medieval period architecture in Gujarat. These patterns are formed by variations of small dots, which are so fine that they have been referred to as raidana, the seeds of the mustard plant.

In Indian cosmology, the dot or the bindu is the starting point of all creation. A rekha or a line too starts as a dot. From that perspective, this panel is a clever arrangement of dots that push the creative limits to reveal geometric shapes and other familiar motifs of India’s design repository.