Gift of Conquerors: Hand Papermeking in India

Paper is undeniably a vehicle for flowering of Indian art, literature, history and religion, but where did it come from? Who made it and how? What was their inspiration? How has this ancient craft survived in today’s India? Comprehensive and detailed, this book traces the nearly thousand-year history of hand papermaking in India from the ancient sites in Gilgit and the Himalayas, through the heartland of Mathura, Agra and Daulatabad to the western sites in Rajasthan and Gujarat, to Pondicherry on the Bay of Bengal. Illustrated with numerous colour photographs, the story is revealed through India’s visual art: books, miniatures, drawings, scrolls, talismans, papier mache and folk papers. Interwoven with religion, political conquest and repression, the discovery of papermaking ruins, and formulas, methods, memories and migration routes recalled by kagzi, traditional papermaking families, Gift of Conquerors, creates a rich historic picture not seen before. Readers see ancient birch bark papers, luminous mountain papers, fibrous pundit papers, the mysterious snake and deer "paper", the classic Muslim cloth, jute and hemp papers that supported the tradition of India’s great miniature paintings, the Deccan’s unique marble paper works, pigeon post and paper stencils, and learn of ancient paper recycling. The final chapter focuses on the craft renaissance in which India possesses one of world’s largest work force of hand papermakers. List of papermakers throughout India, recipes and methods and a bibliography make this book a rich resource for libraries, historians, artists, paper devotees, crafts people, bibliophiles and collectors.