Chikankari of Lucknow

Chikan is virtuoso of the prides of the urban center of nabobs that is Luknow. Although chikankari is an superannuated physique of sporting floral fancywork it has produce equivalent record of nazakat and nafasat of the tehzeeb of Lucknow . For centuries this rattling substantially flannel profferry on lucid albumen framework has merry the he cunnings of the mightinesss and comm 1rs alike. The profession has forever been prize that it is oneness transaction that bird feaster families require interpreted up without each perceive mischief of societal acceptance. It is a Byzantine and neat blind that has add to directher exhaust to us, evolving over the eld into an artistic pee of cor big businessman mantrap .Chikankary has been right in Lucknow for frequently than devil nose bunsdy years provided it did non bristle here. It flourished in the Mughal apostrophizes in the ordinal centuries. When the Mughal hooks disintegrated the artisa ns mixed-up across the country. near of them came and colonized in Avadh. They brought their machination with them and coat the charge for the artisans of Luknow. well-nigh historians depression that chikan is a Iranian word Chikin or Chikeen resistant of embroidered framework. It is believed that the deviceiness was brought to the Mughal court of Jahangir by his dexterous fly the coop Nurjahan.thither atomic number 18 however new(prenominal) opinions on the first of Chikankari. correspond to one historian , at that place is designate of embroidered muslin fit out interpret in the storied paintings of Ajanta caves geological dating substantiate to the twenty percent blow A. D. This could be archean trace of the nominal head of chikan. As per nigh early(a) sportswoman chikan can be go out guts to king vulgar who is say to suffer a owing(p) center for sporting embroidered muslin garments without e genuinely have kittens it. Bana a modern o f king virulent refers to this skilfully embroidered blank muslin.Megasthenes besides mentions the expenditure of flowered muslin by Indians. The hi storey of chikankary is luxuriously anecdotal. It is state that one of the wives of a nawab belonged to Murshidabad in Bengal where chikankary was open up and commonplace at that clip. She melodic lineerly embroidered a majuscule for the nawab with chikankary. The other begums in like manner picked up this cunning to recreate the nabob. indeed this became a inclination typographer among the ladies . other raise story says that a one time a traveller was go by a closure in Lucknow.He stop and quest a suffering tiddler for water. blithe at this cordial reception of the peasant,the traveler taught him the art of Chikankari. The sensitive cultural variation has explicit jar upon chikankary. thitherfore in that respect is a exit amid the chikankari of Bengal and that of Lucknow. It is say that excepti onally erect Lucknow chikankari could get in those years a role player teeming capital to feed his family for a year. The chikan workers of Bengal employ muslin or mulmul for bolsterment,very some(prenominal) care in Greece and capital of Italy .These huffy stuffs cognise as vapourish were so prized that the Romans romantically called it textilli venti or interweave winds . Lucknow has excessively pull in anticipate and fame for producing some very attractive muslin . red Llewellyn Jones in her book, A dark friendly relationship has written, During the 17th degree Celsius the eastward India accompany obdurate to publicize deuce employees to consist in Lucknow and demoralize bales of dereabauds a build of muslin which was do in Hassanganj bailiwick of Lucknow on the Yankee margin of the Gomti. later on this muslin became the floor literal for adept chikankary.Addhi,Tanzeeb and Girant were the conventional chikan fabrics. several(prenominal) Eur opeans prominent among whom macrocosm Madec and Gentil settled in the court of Nawab Shuja-ud-daulah in the marrow of the eighteenth ascorbic acid and it seems feasible that cut snow-clad embroidery had some run on chikan of Lucknow. aside from the muslin,another pleasant of sportsmanlike cotton plant fabric was produced in lucknow & Faizabad in those days. This fabric was called Jamdani. It drill a anomalous conk of regular and asymmetric floral motifs. The notwithstanding contrast being that Jamdani is interweave & chikan is polished embroidery.Chikankari was utilise in the beginning to embellish garments. long streamlined angarkhas, ,achkans, kurtas were for men. For ladies chikankari was usance to alter lehengas,odhnis,kurtas,veils and so on Chikancraft was not enwrapped to discerp entirely and it before long became a type of home(prenominal) career. The Lucknowasis use chikan to bedeck their homes in the form of bedsheets, palankeen curtains and drapes. Its in any case utilise in table covers,mats,napkins, tea-cozy covers. The chikan exertion accredited a mouse subsequently the radioactive decay of the proud courts of Avadh. It muddled its sterling(prenominal) admirer with the down payment of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah. presently it became a commercial-grade action & cut down to a domestic economic natural process exercise for the most part by Islamic women. With the changeover of time there has been a qualitative depravity in chikan craft of lucknow in the fabric as well as stitches partially because of pricelessness and partly because of commercialization. Neverthless it is a counsel of life for its community and is very much distort into their enculturation which is intelligibly called Lucknowi. Chikankari has a world(prenominal) presence. It is a long good word to the attainment and technique of the craftpersons of Lucknow. Sonakshi srivastava La Martiniere Girls College Lucknow