Arts & Crafts
Timeless Traditions in Handicrafts & Weaving
Telangana is renowned for its rich handicrafts and artistic traditions, passed down through generations. The state is famous for Pochampally Ikat sarees, Gadwal handlooms, Nirmal paintings, and Pembarthi brassware, known for their intricate craftsmanship. Cheriyal scroll paintings, a unique storytelling art form, depict mythological and folk tales. The Dokra metal craft of Adilabad showcases traditional tribal artistry with lost-wax casting techniques. These art forms continue to thrive, preserving Telangana’s cultural legacy and heritage.
Cheriyal Scroll Paintings
Cheriyal scroll painting is a stylized religious cloth-scroll paintings, rich in the local motifs peculiar to the Telangana. They are at present made only in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. The scrolls are painted in a narrative format, much like a film roll or a comic strip, depicting stories from Indian mythology, and intimately tied to the shorter stories from the Puranas and Epics. Earlier, these paintings were prevalent across Andhra, as also various other parts of the country, albeit flavoured with their distinct styles and other local peculiarities dictated by the local customs and traditions. In the same way, Cheriyal scrolls must have been popular across Telangana in earlier times, though with the advent of television, cinemas and computers it has been fenced into its last outpost, the Cheriyal town. Cheriyal cloth-scroll painting shares common origin with textile scroll paintings like Patachitra and Phad.
Textiles of Telangana:
These textiles can be ordered online on Telangana Handlooms website https://tgsco.co.in/
Pochampaly Ikat
The Pochampally Ikat sarees are made in the town of Bhoodan Pochampally, in Yadadri Bhuvanagiri district of Telangana. While the Pochampally fabric can be used for making a range of items like shirts, bed-spreads, wall hangings etc., it is the Pochampally saree that has the maximum demand. Locally known as Buddabhashi, Chtiki, and Pogudubandhu, these sarees are dyed in the traditional double Ikat style, where both the warp and the weft are tie-dyed so as to create specific designs on the yarns.
The colours used for the fabric are all obtained from natural sources. Cotton, silk and sico (silk-cotton blend) are used for making Poochampally sarees. The motifs on the Pochampally sarees are a combination of flowers, parrots, elephants etc. The traditional motifs are intricately woven within geometric grids, which gives these sarees a unique look.
Gollabhama Saree, Siddipet
The exquisite Gollabhama sarees are from the Siddipet district of Telangana. While Siddipet produces a range of handloom textiles, the Gollabhama saree is the most famous. These sarees are made of cotton threads that are tied and dyed before weaving. The distinguishing factor of these sarees is the Gollabhama motif. It depicts a woman carrying one pot on her head and another in her hand. The inspirations behind the motif are said to be the women of the cattle-rearing community.
It is also believed that the Gollabhama motifs are inspired by the legend of a queen called Gollabhama, who was estranged from her King due to some tragedy. The King found her years later selling milk to make ends meet. She used to carry the milk in a pail on her head.
Durries of Warangal
The historic city of Warangal in southern Telangana is famous for its cotton durries, woven skillfully by the local artisans. Its history is traced back to medieval times, when the art of weaving durries reached here with the Mughals. The abundant availability of cotton facilitated the craft, eventually turning Warangal into an important centre of dhurrie production. The cotton yarns, bought locally, are dyed with bright colours like blue, yellow, red etc. before they are put into pit or frame looms for the weaving to commence. These durries are weft-faced and woven using the tapestry technique.
Among the different types of cotton dhurries, the shatranji is the product that was originally woven in the region. This dhurrie with its precise horizontal, geometric designs is used for welcoming guests in people’s homes. Depicting woven motifs of pillars and towers, the ja-namaz , dhurries produced here are used as prayer rugs by the Muslim community, and the plain rugs with beautiful block printed designs are used in the houses for purposes of decoration. Many of the durries are now produced using the ikkat style, and others are decorated with intricate kalamkari designs. The material used for making these has also diversified to include jute and wool.
Gadwal Saree
Produced in the small town of Gadwal in Jogulamba Gadwal district, the Gadwal sarees are acknowledged for their fine fabric texture and design. While a few of the Gadwal sarees are made completely of silk, most of them are Sico sarees. The term Sico comes from the words ‘silk’ and ‘cotton’ respectively, indicating a blend of both the fibres. The body of the Gadwal Saree is made of cotton fabric, while the border is of mulberry or tussar silk. The most characteristic and challenging aspect of Gadwal sarees is where the silk pallu is attached to the cotton body through weaving. This makes the sarees comfortable to wear and at the same time gives them a lustrous look. The borders of the saree are decorated with zari work, depicting geographical patterns, temple designs, flowers etc. The traditional interlocked weft technique called Kupadam is used for making a Gadwal saree. The design on the saree is outlined on graph paper before weaving begins. The designs and colours of these sarees are conventionally inspired by temple architecture and nature respectively.
Narayanpet Saree
The Narayanpet town in Mahabubnagar district is well known for its exquisite silk and cotton sarees. Using the interlocked weft method, the Narayanpet weaving process produces eight sarees at a time. Traditionally these sarees come in two types. One is the pure silk saree having both warp and weft of silk, and the other has cotton weft threads locked into warps of silk. The Narayanpet sarees are distinguished by their lustre, checkered patterns, and elegant zari borders. The brightly coloured sarees of green, red, yellow, purple etc. come with contrast borders. Sections of red or chocolate red and deep maroon colour are interspersed by a sharp pattern of white lines, which imparts a rich look to the pallu. It is also believed that there is a Maharashtrian influence on these sarees. Weaving in Narayanpet is said to have started in the 17th century as a few people from Chhatrapati Shivaji’s mobile camp settled down in the region and began the business of weaving. These beautiful sarees are, thus, a reflection of the interactions of two cultures - that of the regions of present-day Maharashtra and Telangana.
Visual arts
Nirmal paintings are a popular form of painting done in Nirmal in Adilabad District. The paintings have golden hues. The region is well known for its Golconda and Hyderabad painting styles which are branches of Deccan painting. Developed during the 16th century, the Golconda style is a native style blending foreign techniques and bears some similarity to the Vijayanagara paintings of neighbouring Mysore. A significant use of luminous gold and white colours is generally found in the Golconda style. The Hyderabad style originated in the 17th century under the Nizams. Highly influenced by Mughal painting, this style makes use of bright colours and mostly depicts regional landscape, culture, costumes and jewellery.
Performing arts
Dance
Perini Sivatandavam or Perinin Thandavam is an ancient dance of from Telangana which has been revived in recent times. The Perini Thandavam is a dance form usually performed by males. It is called 'Dance of Warriors'. Warriors before leaving to the battlefield enact this dance before the idol of Lord Shiva. The dance form, Perini, reached its pinnacle during the rule of the 'Kakatiyas' who established their dynasty at Warangal and ruled for almost two centuries. It is believed that this dance form invokes 'Prerana' (inspiration) and is dedicated to supreme dancer, Lord Shiva.
Bonalu The folk festival of Bonalu in the Telangana region brings with it celebrations which see the colourfully dressed female dancers balancing pots (Bonalu), step to the rhythmic beats and tunes in praise of the village deity Mahakali. Male dancers called Pothuraju's precede the female dancers to the temple lashing whips and neem leaves adding colour to the festivity.
Music
Telangana has a diverse variation of music from carnatic music to folk music. [Kancherla Gopanna, popularly known as Bhakta Ramadasu or Bhadrachala Ramadasu was a 17th-century Indian devotee of Rama and a composer of Carnatic music. He is one among the famous vaggeyakaras (a person who not only composes the lyrics but also sets them to music; vāk = word, speech; geya = singing, singable; geyakāra = singer) in the Telugu language. there are many types of instruments in telangana
The folk songs of Telangana had left a profound impact on the Statehood movement as it played a significant role in the success of the Dhoom-Dham, a cultural event that was a vital part of the agitations.
Some of the known folk singers who took active part in the Telangana movement are Gaddar, Belli Lalitha, Sai Chand, Vimalakka and singers like Deshapati Srinivas and Rasamayi Balakishan.
Oggu Katha
Oggu Katha or Oggukatha is a traditional folklore singing praising and narrating the stories of Hindu gods Mallana, Beerappa and Yellamma. It originated among the Yadav and Kuruma Golla communities, who devoted themselves to the singing of ballads in praise of Lord Shiva's son Sri Mallanna swamy (also called Sri Mallikarjuna swamy). Oggus are the traditional priests of the Yadavas and perform the marriage of Mallanna with Bhramaramba.
The narrator and his chorus i.e. two or more narrators-help in dramatizing the narration as very often, they transform themselves into two characters. The dramatization of the narrative is what gives the Oggu Katha its predominant place in the ballad tradition in Telangana, where Oggu Katha is prevalent. The singers visit the shrine of Komuravelli Mallanna swamy Temple every year.
