Phulkari is one of the most beautiful handicraft for Punjab, and it doesn’t need any recognition. It has distinct identity not only in Punjab but all over the world. Phulkari is one of the hand embroidery found in India. Phulkari is made of with two words- Phul+Kari. Phul means flower and kari means work. So it means flower craft. In 15th century, during Maharaja Ranjit Singh reign, it’s popular among the women of Punjab. In the earliest times the untwisted floss silk yarn used for embroidery which was known as “PAT”.
Mostly dark colours like yellow, green, crimson red and orange used on it. “Khaddar” fabric was used as basic cloth, which was hand spun or hand woven. Red, white, blue or black colours used to dye the khaddar. Khaddar was dyed at the home or by dyer who known as “Lallari” in Punjab. Motifs was inspired by their daily life like animals, birds, flowers & fruits and geometrical. Horizontal, vertical or diagonal stitches used for the embroidery which was done by hand needle.
There was different types of Phulkari embroidery namely – Panchranga Bagh, Chope, Vari-da-Bagh, Ghunghat Bagh, Bawan Bagh, Darshan Dwar, Surajmukhi, Suber, Chamba, Sanchi, Meenakari Bagh & Kaudi Bagh. On that time, the young girls manufacture phulkari as their dowry. They learned this skill from their mothers or grand-mothers. Women was wear different types of phulkari on different occasions like marriage, festival and others. With the passage of time there have been many changes in Phulkari. Phulkari embroidery takes a lot of time to do.
Today’s mechanical era has affected it a lot, now machines are used for this embroidery which saves time. In the earlier times, Phulkari embroidery was used on “Dupattas”. But fashion has made many changes in this embroidery. India’s renowned fashion designer Manish Malhotra used Phulkari embroidery in a variety of costumes such as sarees, anarkali and kurtas in his 2013 collection. Now these days, Phulkari embroidery used in Punjabi jutti, mobile covers, handbags, purses, jackets and etc. Thus we can says that over time there have been many changes in Phulkari embroidery, but even today, this embroidery is preferred by the local peoples.
Written by – Dr. Balbir Kaur, Associate Professor and Head P.G. Department of Fashion Designing and Home Science, Khalsa College, Patiala.
& Dimple Khokhar, Research Scholar, RIMT University, Mandi Gobindgarh, Punjab