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Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, who recently attended the Quad Summit, presented a wonderfully carved wooden box along with a rogan painting gift to his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida. PM Modi had earlier presented a lacquered painting to Queen Margrethe II of Denmark on his three-day European tour. Earlier, PM Modi had also gifted the same lacquer painting to former US President Obama. In this sequence, today we know what is this rogan painting.
an art of textile printing
Actually, there is an art of cloth printing prevalent in the Kutch district of Gujarat, India. This art is known only to two families of Kutch. One of them is Rizwan Khatri. PM Modi has gifted this Rogan painting to veterans around the world. They have been prepared by Rizwan only. The Kutch edition of the Gujarati edition of Dainik Bhaskar completed its 15 years on 30 July. On this occasion, Rizwan had prepared the design for the mast head of Kutch Edition.
The Khatri family, whose paintings have been gifted by PM Modi to world leaders.
The Khatri family has kept this art alive
Significantly, the trend of rogan painting had ended by the end of the 20th century. But, the 8th generation Khatri family has kept this art alive even today. Talking about Kutch, 60 years ago there was Rogan art in total 4 families. In which two families in Nirona village, one family in Khavda of Bhuj and one in Chobari village of Bhachau taluk had Rogan art. Now this art survives only in two families of Nirana. The women of this family are also learning this art. When PM Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat, Khatri himself had reached his house to meet the family. Since then, this art has come in a lot of discussion.
This painting is done only on cotton and silk fabrics.
Rogan art is related to Iran
This art is related to Iran. The word ‘rogan’ means ‘oil’ in Persian language. It is believed that this ‘Rogan painting’ of Iranian origin reached Kutch in Gujarat about 300 years ago. The process of making lacquer painting is very laborious and meticulous. This painting is done only on cotton and silk fabrics. Under this, geometric pictures of flowers and leaves and animals like peacock, elephant are inscribed on the clothes. This painting is completely based on the imagination of the painter.
The color of 6 colored stones is prepared by grinding its sawdust and castor oil jelly.
How is color prepared?
Thickener is a color used to paint on clothes. To make this color, castor oil is first heated in a vessel and then cooled. This process is done several times in two consecutive days. Due to this, on the third day this oil comes into existence in the form of jelly foam. In this, a special type of 6 colored stones is rubbed on the ground and its sawdust is extracted. Then the sawdust of the stones is mixed with this castor oil. After this, again it is heated by putting it in water. After this process a waterproof and lightproof varnish is prepared.
Wooden box decorated with lacquered painting.
How much does a painting cost?
It takes a week to about 10 days to prepare a painting in size A-four. The cost of this painting ranges from two to 10 thousand rupees. As the size of the painting increases, so does the cost of the painting.
Gifts given by PM Modi to world leaders.
The family including Rizwan received many awards
In 2016, Rizwan was awarded Best Young Craftsman by the State Government for Rogan Kala. While Indira Gandhi National Center for the Arts Award in 2017 and Kamaladevi Award in 2021. A member of this family has also received 19 national level awards including Padma Shri.