Art and crafts run through veins of Bihar. Several art forms like the Madhubani painting, Zari Works, Tikuli work are few of them. But one other artform that stands out from the crowd is Kasida art form.
The Kasida artform is one of the oldest art forms that are still in trend. The art form involves geometrical designs that are embroidered on clothes and looks similar to the Kasuti Embroidery of Mysore. Although there are many kinds of stitching it involves jhankhana stitch.
Kasida Art
The Kasida art is not unique to Bihar but it’s also famous in Kashmir. But, unlike the kasida of Kashmir, Bihar’s kasida is famous for embroidery work on fabrics of day to day use. However, the folk involved in kashida work of Kashmir are men and that of Bihar is women. The embroidery is done with gold and silver metallic threads beads, silk, and sequins on satin or velvet having the motifs of birds, leaf and many other.
The stitch is done on personal garments followed by filling-in using long and short satin stitches. Materials used are a mostly Bright colored material with contrasting white, yellow, or green thread. If the base material is white, a contrasting color like blue-black or steel blue threads is used. Also, the motifs are geometrical in shape.
This art form is particularly famous in Mithila region where young girls from various caste. The main theme for them is the religious and folk with many other motifs like elephants and fishes, with lines, stripes, leaves, and flowers as borders.
This popular art form has been a gem for Bihar. Although not too popular and mostly taken over by other popular embroidery artforms, the artisans have kept it alive and fresh. The time ahead for them and the related artform is always going to take upward stride from here.
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