The prestigious “Madura Red”
Madurai was a prowess for dyeing innovation. ‘Madura Red’ was Madurai’s acclaimed dyeing invention. The specific colour red produced in Madurai owing to the ingenious formula made it famous during Colonial times. Madurai handloom industry is renowned not only for its Sungudi sarees, but also for the coloured sarees hand-dyed using the traditional formula of dyeing. Even the bandini tied in Gujarat are sent over to Madurai to be dyed in the Madura Red. That’s how prestigious Madura Red is.
The prestigious shade of red concocted only in Madurai is distinctively bright and scientifically colour-fast. It was widely accepted that this dye came from an indigenous plant called the ‘Chay Root’ / ‘Chaay Ver’ in Tamil / Indian Madder / (Oldenlandia Umbellata). It was a herbaceous climbing plant that colonized the coromandel coast along South India. When grown on soil rich in calcium from crushed seashells near estuaries, these roots seemed to give an intense and glowing hue of red. However, the Madura red was produced from an extensively drawn up formula that used other botanical elements besides Chay Root.
First Phase of Dyeing – Madura Red
The ashes from a plant, ‘Umiri’ (Salicornia Indica) grown in brackish estuaries of Madurai were dissolved in cool water and left to stand until sunset. A portion of it was mixed with groundnut oil to dye coarser yarns and gingelly oil to dye finer threads respectively. As a result, they turn into a milky emulsified mordant. The threads are soaked overnight in this mordant and then sun dried. This alternate soaking and drying continued for 10 days. Following this 10-day ritual, the treated threads are then soaked in the running water from the Vaigai river on the 11th day for a couple of hours. A glistening white thread product was achieved at the end of the process.
It is important to note the Vaigai river was a critical source of water for the Madurai handloom industry as the quality of this river’s water was sacred for the developing of dyes and ensured colour-fastness.
Second Phase of Dyeing – Madura Red
The Chay roots and the leaves from another native tropical plant Memecylon edule / colloquially known as Kayam in Madurai / Ironwood were both steeped together in water. The German alizarin dye was finally added to this dye solution. (Additional and longer steeping would later develop into deeper shades of red.) The glistening white thread product from the previous phase of dyeing was then soaked overnight in this chay-kayam-alizarine solution. The following day the threads are boiled in it for 2 hours. Finally, taken to the Vaigai river and washed in its sacred waters and then dried in the sun. This is the prestigious Madura Red as noted in the Madras District Gazetteers by W.Francis in 1906. Even today, the routine of washing and drying carries on for a week before the saree is soaked into a hot solution (usually maintained at 70 Degrees Celsius)
The Hereditary Dyeing Art
Tulasi Ram, a weaver, was trained in Japan in the art of dyeing. In 1895, he discovered that by adding German alizarine dye with the brownish-red shade from the Chay root, it produced a colour-fast red shade. Owing to this technical success of his experiment, he developed a formula using local ingredients and materials for the mordanting with German dyes. This materialized into successful ‘Red Factories’ producing the Madura red formula which further contributed to the innovation in Madurai and became an active site for experiments.
The art of dyeing started declining at the end of the 19th century, mainly because only the dyers restricted their formula amongst their clansmen – the Saurashtrian craftsmen / The Pattu Nool Kaarar. The dyer understood the botanical knowledge and a weaver knew his cloth. This special relationship between the weaver and the dyer was the central backbone to their trade secrecy. Any form of brainwork, or even the steaming processes to make the solutions in large scale productions were manned by only the Saurashtrian craftsmen. Along the way, the art saw its decline, not much efforts were put into its revival or research. The European colonists could not replicate the processes at any cost despite documenting the method. Forming the exact colour and then fastening it to the cotton cloth still remain a mystery.
Kattuchaayam / Kattu Saayam / Segregate to clamp and dye.
Kattu Saayam = Clamp and dye/ Tie-and-dye / Knot-and-dye is an ancient craftsmanship in Madurai which goes 400 years back into the yore. The esteemed hallmark of Madurai Sungudi is this Kattu Saayam.
The black contrast pallu is cleverly dyed by clamping the body area. This is to ensure the pallu of the saree is dyed without touching the clamped body. The body is clamped next to allow the pallu to be now dyed. The knots are finally removed by undoing the single continuous thread that formed the knots. The dyeing is tricky because a single mistake can cause the entire making of the saree to a ruin. Thanks to the conventional method of folding the body area and safely tucking it into a clamp tool with only the pallu exposed. The pallu is then dyed. Body area remains pristine and unaffected. Such is the mastery of Kattu Chayam.
Hand-knotting Process Happens before Dyeing
The hand-knotting principle and the heritage involved in the making of the Sungudi is in my previous article. You’d see me wearing the handloom the teal and navy wax-printed Sungudi saree. Please access this link: Handloom Madurai Sungudi Cotton Saree I
I finally own my hand-knotted, handloom, Madura Red Sungudi cotton saree from the textile exponent and master curator, Madam Sreemathy Mohan. The insights she gave me about the prestigious Sungudi has added onto my love for the Sungudi craft. Such is the softness of the cotton saree and it draped like a dream. The Madura Red was put to the test. It certainly is colour-fast. The red remains regal and vivacious even after washing. Now, this is one of my most coveted sarees I own and treasure.
Sungudi is a Saurashtrian term which means “Sunnam” that are round, circular dots. The southern state Sungudi saree is equivalent of the Northen Indian Bandhani because of the tie and dye technique employed in these weaves.
In the late 16th century to 17th century, skilled artisans migrated from Gujarat to Madurai during the reign of King Thirumalai Naicker. These artisans were Saurashtrians from Gujarat, who were mainly silk thread merchants and silk weavers. They brought with them this precious art of tie and dye using natural dyes to Madurai. The Tamils named them the “PattuNoolKarar” which directly translates as “Silk Thread People”.
The idea of dots being the signature Sungudi motifs materialized when the weavers drew the inspiration from star constellations in the night sky, kolam dots, and from the knots from their man-buns and the knots when their women tied their hair.
The pure Madurai cotton (paruthi) fabric are woven on pit looms whereby the warps and wefts are made from 80s-100s unbleached combed cotton yarns at first and then bleached later.
A simple grid is drawn on the entire fabric that would serve as the guide to locate the points to be tied into knots.
The Madurai Sungudi is entirely hand crafted, so each design, pattern is one of its kind. Never a replica can ever be made in another saree. That is the unique human touch. A true handmade tour de force.
A single continuous thread is used to firmly tie knots throughout a not-dyed cotton saree fabric. The tying of the knots are made in a deft motion of the artisan’s nimble fingers. A geometrical precision is brought into play in my saree design wherein a tessellated diamond pattern is formed beautifully by the “Sunnam” rings. My saree today has approximately 6000 rings knotted and resist-dyed by artisans.
Tie First; Dye Later
So here comes the meticulous tying of knots in the body of the fabric once the contrasting pallu and borders are ready.
A tiny part of the fabric within a single square on the grid is pinched into a knot using a fingernail and winding a thread tightly around it. As such, 20000 knots are spaced out in the fabric and stitched throughout by the same single thread used to wound each knot.
The knotted fabric was righteously washed in the Vaigai Nadhi as it was believed by the Saurashtrians that the water from the River Vaigai gave a special lustre to the saree. Soapnut powder is used during rinsing to remove stains.
The knots that are remain tied during the dyeing process helps in resisting the colour pigments from entering into the knotted parts.
The fabric is finally steamed and dried only during the cooler hours of dawn or dusk.
Upon drying, the knots are carefully untied by removing the thread. Usually they pull the fabric to release the single thread that bound the knots together.
It takes an estimated 10 to 15 days to make a traditional Sungudi.
The characteristic hand-knotted irregularly shaped small round white rings (with gaps inside the imperfect rings – not a full white dot) then take their form on the saree. This is the authentic and orthodox Madurai Sungudi saree.
(Beware, there are wax-printed sungudi sarees that also have irregularly shaped rings to mimic the original hand-knotted ones.)
Enjoy the videos below (Sourced from YouTube):
- Madam Sreemathy Mohan – Sthree Creatives
- The GI Tag of Madurai Sungudi Sarees Compendium by Government of India
- Madras District Gazetteers by W. Francis 1906
- The Crafts and Capitalism, Handloom Weaving Industry in Colonial India by Tirthanker Roy
Rebel Arunaa 