We have many rituals to protect us and to counteract this evil eye. Camphor, pepper seeds, dried chilies, lemon, coconut, and crystal salt are used in rituals to redirect this negative energy. I have fond memories of my grandmother performing these rituals whenever she visited us during summer breaks. Recently, I sent off my children to college with a similar ritual, my way of wishing them a wonderful semester :)
Have you seen the drishti bommais hanging outside homes and shops? These scary face masks are also believed to serve the same purpose of deflecting the evil eye.
How about lovely babies with big black dots on their cheeks? These are nothing but drishti pottus for the same effect of warding off the evil eye.
I was inspired by these memories to design Mayil's drishti necklaces. An odd (albeit beautiful) bead for an asymmetry to deflect any drishti coming your way. While a black bead seems to fit in perfectly, I have also used copper, silver and coral beads as a variation in these necklaces to create a visually pleasing asymmetry as well.
Send someone a drishti necklace to wish them well as they begin a new journey and offer them your blessings. Click on images below to shop the collection. Create your own drishti necklace. Pick your favorite combination of gemstones and drishti beads and I will make it for you. Just start the conversation - mayil@mayilscarves.com
Check out Mayil's drishti necklaces here
Mayil's notes - drishti is alternatively defined as a "gaze" in yoga nomenclature. The symbolism and concept of evil eye is also found in many cultures and religions.
]]>I fondly recall my mother's one and only Pochampally sari in a rust brown, black and gold. Her sari featured a “koburam” (temple) design, a Pochampally characteristic. I have since then learned (due to my recent interest in all things textile) that triangular and other geometric patterns, like the “koburam,” are unique to the Pochampally type of weave - all hand loomed in and around Bhoodan Pochampally, Nalgonda district, Telangana State, India.
Google describes Pochampally as a cluster of eighty villages, which have been traditional weaving villages for over a century. Pochampally saris and dress materials are woven using the “ikat” technique and are therefore sometimes referred to as Pochampally ikats. Google some more, and you come across descriptions of Pochampally which include not so familiar words like double ikat, warp, weft, resist dying, bindings and lots of reference to the Bhoodan movement.
In the ikat weave the thread is dyed in an intricate pattern using the resist dye technique. With the resist dye technique, certain parts of the unwoven thread are covered and bound so that the dye only adheres to the exposed parts. This dyed thread is then woven. The ikat technique offers an intricate and mind-boggling alternative to traditional dying in which artists add color to pre-woven fabric. For an ikat design to work, the weaver must line the thread up in precisely the correct manner - imagine the amount of intricate planning required to weave even a simple triangle, let alone a small blue peacock! The complicated ikat technique results in completely reversible fabrics, and a characteristic “blurriness” in the colored design.
My own trip to this historic village started with an hour and a half drive down a rural highway from Hyderabad to Pochampally. A mere few turns after we left the highway, our driver casually told us “this is Pochampally.” There was no grand fanfare announcing this famous village. It consisted of one long street with shops on both sides displaying multicolored saris, all immediately recognizable by their characteristic Pochampally weave. The weavers’ houses were behind this main street of shops. We started our shopping at the Pochampally hand loom weavers’ society, which sources from a cooperative of about 160 weavers. There was a lovely selection of cotton, silk and silco (silk cotton blend) fabrics and sarees. After buying a few sarees we asked to look at the weaving process. The weavers were more than happy to oblige. Pots of hot dye boiled and long strands of yarn dried outside their yards. Inside, we found looms with ikats in different stages of completion. The entire length of one small side street was taken up by drying pre-dyed yarn. The weavers explained the process to us and let us take some pictures. We continued shopping up (or was it down?) the main street, entering shops where either the display was appealing or the shop owner eagerly invited us in with “great selections and good prices madams.” We returned to Hyderabad after a visual treat, loaded with saris and yards of soft silk, cotton and blended fabrics, all hand woven with traditional ikat patterns perfected over the course of a century. Scroll down and check out pictures and click through to Mayil Scarves' pochampally ikat collection.
Winter, summer, friends and fun - anytime is a good time to wear pochampally ikat scarves by Mayil
Read more about the Bhoodan movement here.
Read our traveler's note here.
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The Boodan Movement
Before the 1970s, Pochampally mainly produced cotton ikats, and the color came from all natural sources. With the 1970s introduction of silk into the fabric, the Pochampally sari became famous, as did the tiny village of Pochampally. The Pochampally village is also historically famous for the Bhoodan movement which took root there in 1951, post Indian independence. Acharya Vinoba Bhave, (a well-read scholar, broadminded writer, often considered a successor to Mahatma Gandhi) while travelling across the country to spread the message of non-violence and human rights, met with landless poor villagers from Pochampally. Bhave’s talk convinced a local landlord Shri Vedre Ramchandra to donate 100 acres of his own land to the poor villagers. Out of this one instance sprang the Bhoodan movement, in which zamindars and rich farmers were urged to provide land to poor farmers. Pochampally was renamed Bhoodan Pochampally !
Traveler’s notes for Pochampally
It is better to carry cash to these weaving villages for easy transactions. No fancy restaurants, so take lunch and water for sure. We didn’t even bother looking for a bathroom so cannot share info about facilities. There were a few small local street cafes (we didn’t want to risk it) but we found one bakery which sold amazing egg puffs and cake - protein and sugar sufficient for more hours of shopping. I realize now that we missed the Pochampally Handloom Park Ltd., a government factory with around 200 craft workers. A reason to return to Hyderabad.
“Cotton Sari – Pochampally” a Design Resource on Tie and Dye Weaves by Professor Bibhudutta Baral NID R&D Campus, Bangalore, gives a very detailed description for those who wish to know more.
You can check out videos on YouTube but I’m hoping that my pictures will weave a story for you as well.
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Symbolism of Ganesha
Ganesh Chaturthi is an annual festival which honors Ganesha and is celebrated in late summer. I fondly recall the ritual of shopping for a clay idol of Ganesha at the bazaar the evening before Ganesh Chaturthi, to symbolize welcoming Ganesha into our homes. We then enjoyed decorating the clay statue and eating yummy kolukattai (sweetmeats). On the third day we immersed the statue in the well behind our house (clay is returned back to earth). In many parts of India the festival is celebrated for 10 days.
How did Ganesha get his elephant head?
Ganesha’s story starts with Shiva’s return from his journey to resolve disorder in the world. When Parvati heard about her beloved Shiva’s return, she prepares to welcome him and gets ready to bathe. Since there were no guards available she crafted a boy from turmeric sandalwood paste, named him Ganesha, and told him not to let anyone disturb her. When Shiva arrived, Ganesha did not recognize him and therefore did not let him pass by. In anger, Shiva chopped off the boy’s head. Parvathi was inconsolable at the loss of her child, so Shiva sent his ganas (attendants) to find a replacement head. They searched for the first living thing sleeping with its head lying to the north (devotees of Shiva look towards his abode in Mt. Kailash in the north). The ganas returned with the head of an elephant, and Shiva used this head to reconstruct Ganesha - leader of ganas.
Since then, he has been revered as the god of success and remover of obstacles; and is regarded as the guiding force behind intellect, learning and wisdom.
In my family, we call upon Ganesha as our guide whenever we start something new. We pray to Ganesha when we face obstacles and remember that all will be well in the future. A few years ago, as I explored my roots my aunt told me about our ancestral Vinayagar temple in Kottar, Nagercoil, Tamil Nadu. This temple, which my great grandfather was instrumental in building, is called sendra thisai vendra vinayagar koil (winner of all chosen paths and directions). It’s my favorite now, and I visit every time I travel to India. This temple of my ancestors makes me feel that Ganesha is with me whichever direction my life takes me.
Send someone a Ganesha to wish them well as they begin a new journey. Send a Ganesha to offer wisdom and well wishes. Click images below to shop.
*our very famous Patriots quarter back is rumored to have a picture of Ganesha in his locker.
My most recent trip was to Sri Kalahasti of the kalamkari fame. Kalamakari is a ancient art form of hand drawing and painting on cotton fabric. The word kalamkari originates from Persian, where kalam means pen and kari means craft. The art is more than 3000 years old. Sri Kalahasti is in Andhra Pradesh, about a 2-3 hour drive from Chennai off the Calcutta highway. It is famous for its Sivan Koil (temple) and hand painted cloths with temple themes. Motifs of Indian gods and goddesses, animals, birds, trees, and vines are hand painted on cotton or silk fabrics. The process is performed with all natural dyes.
There are many steps to making a kalamkari design. Artists first stiffen the raw cotton cloth (gadda) by soaking in buffalo milk to make it more absorbent to dyes. This unfortunately does leave an odor of raw milk in the fabric, but I’ve found the smell can be removed by soaking the cloth in vinegar.
The illustrator then uses a pointed bamboo stick to hand draw the motifs, using fermented jaggery (raw sugar) to leave black outlines. The drawings are then filled with different dye colors, and are washed in the river and dried in the sun.
Here are pictures - before and after - of a classic kalamkari Mayil duo.
I bought lots of kalamkari fabric to design scarves. Here below is a blue scarf with vine and flower motifs.
And check out this kalamkari goddess Lakshmi painting which am sure will look beautiful once framed.
Interestingly, there is another common style of kalamkari art made in the ancient city Masulipatnam, also in Andhra Pradesh. Here the fabric is block printed instead of hand painted – this is definitely a place on my list to visit next time!
Here’s a video I made of this artistic process
Check out Mayil’s kalamkari collection and wear a piece of hand drawn and hand painted art today!
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I asked "G" (my husband), who grew up in a rural village in India, if he recalled bartering. He said it was quite common in his village, mainly grains, fruits and vegetables in exchange for the labor of harvesting. For example coconuts were cut down by especially skilled coconut tree climbers, who in return for their labor went home with a bounty of coconuts. Farmers and fisher-women traded for fresh produce and fish.
Why the sudden interest in bartering other than it being an origin of money? It began with Mayil scarves barters at bazaars. I often barter scarves for other vendors’ creations. It’s so fun to barter and take home pieces of jewelry, knitted mittens, soy candles and more. I have also bartered Mayil's scarves for design services, photography sessions and more. My most recent barter was on Etsy for a beautiful mandala design magnetic scarf button in exchange for Mayil’s black tie-dye scarf. Bartering is still alive. It has found a new venue on the world wide web, in the form barter exchanges, handmade goods exchanges, auctions and swap markets. Looking forward to more bartered loot this fall festival and fair season.
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Mayil’s kolam print scarf brings back fond memories. The blue and white “kolam” print scarf can be worn with a white shirt and blue jeans. Add some déjà vu to your outfit this summer
Try these kolams. They took me sometime to draw, but the skill came back and I had fun. How about "kolam for your brain" (just like Sudoku or Lumosity). Share your favorite kolam or kolam flashback.
Note - A kolam is not the same as a Rangoli. Kolams have pullis (dots) and nellis (curves) and are drawn with white kola maavu (powder), A Rangoli is more colorful and may use colored powder, colored rice and even flowers and is not restricted to dots and curves.
]]>Queen Isabelle II (1833-1868) of Spain popularized the mantilla style of draping a silk or lace shawl over one's head and shoulders. Scarves and shawls ascended to their status as popular fashion accessories during Queen Victoria’s (1837-1901) time. Queen Victoria herself crocheted eight scarves and gave them to soldiers as a special award for heroism during the Boer war.
Empress Nur Jahan (1577-1645) whose name means “light of the world” was a highly influential and favorite queen in Mughal Emperor Jahangir’s court. She took an active role behind the scenes, encouraging trade, fashion and the arts. During her time, Nur Jahan and the ladies of the Mughal court wore expensive silks, brocade and fine muslin embellished with gold, silver and precious gems. Rani Lakshmibai (1828-1858) the famous queen of Jhansi, fought against the British when they tried to annex her kingdom. She was an excellent swords woman and horse rider. Even during battle she wore a sari, but draped like a dhoti (‘Nauvari sari’) and a scarf on her head.
Gone are the days when a scarf used to be just a sweat wiping cloth (a sudarium) worn by Roman soldiers. Embrace your inner queen with scarves!
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