Batik Sari
Design by Jamuna SenMade by Karu Sangha; individual maker unknownSantiniketan, India, 1970s–1980s
- Materials & techniques
- Silk, batik; wax resist and dyes
- Collection
- Avijit Deb
Object details
This silk sari was produced by Karu Sangha, an association of women trained at Kala Bhavana, Santiniketan, during the 1970s–1980s.
Although the individual maker of this sari is unknown, it can be associated with Karu Sangha, whose members played an important role in the early commercialisation of Santiniketan batik. The women were trained in the artistic and technical traditions of Kala Bhavana and became particularly known for their ability to reproduce the designs of Jamuna Sen and Gouri Bhanja with remarkable precision.
The sari features a diagonal composition of foliage in acid tones, with elongated leaves and sinuous tendrils that interlace across the surface. The treatment of the foliage recalls the visual language of Ajanta, particularly in the fluid relationship between leaves and tendrils, which merge into an organic, continuous rhythm rather than appearing as isolated botanical forms.
The unnamed maker is significant to the history of the textile. While Jamuna Sen’s design authorship is identified, the skilled woman who translated that design into silk through wax-resist and dyeing remains unrecorded. This distinction reflects the collaborative nature of Santiniketan’s batik production, in which designs developed within Kala Bhavana circulated through the skilled hands of women practitioners whose individual contributions were often absorbed into the collective identity of organisations such as Karu Sangha. The sari thus preserves both a recognisable artistic vocabulary and the traces of an otherwise unnamed maker’s technical expertise.
