DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.3906#0090
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riinga, gum, glue and chalk and stamps the pattern right off. After it dries
he rubs the cloth over with a piece of wood called muhra and this gives
a gloss to the surface of the inferior metal. This class of chhipi is purely
a labourer earning about Ks. 4. per mensem.
The second chhipi is the stamper of patterns on tanzeb, muslin, &c, for
chikan-workers. He uses the same wooden thappas as other chbipis aud the
colored fluid which he uses is a thick solution of gerii or of mabawar (red color
extracted from lac). The rate of remuneration it will be seen, is very low
when it is stated that a than for a doputtah 10 yards long and 14 girahs wide
is stamped for from 2 as. to 4 as., the chhipi supplying the color. A chhipi of
this class cannot be fairly charged with License Tax.
The third chhipi is the printer of cotton fabrics in fast colors used as dulai,
toshak, lihaf, palang-posb, janamaz^ dastarkhwan, &c. He also stamps chintzes.
This is a staple business of Lucknow and the fabrics produced in this city are
famed throughout the whole of India. Great difficulty has been experienced in
getting any information regarding the process of manufacture but all that has
been ascertained is as follows :—■
Wholesale cloth-merchants supply chhipis with nainsukh which is stamped
and returned by them: but the proprietors of large factories purchase webs
themselves and stamp them and supply goods wholesale to bazzazes. The first
process is oiling (tel chalana). This is performed by dhobis. The web is 20
yards long and is cut in four pieces (fard). These are steeped in oil (til or
rendi) and sajji (carbonate of soda). The latter is dissolved in water. The
fards ai-e placed in an open earthen vessel (mind), and two men take, the one a
vessel of oil and the other a vessel containing the solution of sajji. They pour
these on the fards from a height such that the spreading streams cross each
other as they fall and produce a froth. They then press the fards in this mix-
ture and wring them out. They then tie them up in a large cloth for a night and
dry them next day. This process is repeated until the smell and gloss of the
oil is not perceptible. Then the dhobis wash out the pieces in the river.
The next process is to produce faint lines to guide the printers. The out
most edge of the four sides, what I may call the border of the pieces, is marked
with black (siyahkar). This is called bel. Within this is an inner frame
marked on four sides called hdshiya. This is marked brown (uda-kar). The
whole of the inner surface is called hauz. The lines to guide the printer in
this space are marked red. These lines are extremely faintly marked so that
they are imperceptible except to a practised eye, and are of fleeting color.
The next process is to bail in water in a large pan (karahi). When it is at
boiling point blossoms of the palas tree (tesiij are thrown in. This is called
pdniphdriid. Then manjith is thrown into the karahi which is kept boiling and
the pieces are placed in it and stirred round and round. After a time more
manjith is thrown in and finally the fards are taken out, wrung out and dried.
This makes the marks previously stamped fast, and the pieces come out clear
riinga, gum, glue and chalk and stamps the pattern right off. After it dries
he rubs the cloth over with a piece of wood called muhra and this gives
a gloss to the surface of the inferior metal. This class of chhipi is purely
a labourer earning about Ks. 4. per mensem.
The second chhipi is the stamper of patterns on tanzeb, muslin, &c, for
chikan-workers. He uses the same wooden thappas as other chbipis aud the
colored fluid which he uses is a thick solution of gerii or of mabawar (red color
extracted from lac). The rate of remuneration it will be seen, is very low
when it is stated that a than for a doputtah 10 yards long and 14 girahs wide
is stamped for from 2 as. to 4 as., the chhipi supplying the color. A chhipi of
this class cannot be fairly charged with License Tax.
The third chhipi is the printer of cotton fabrics in fast colors used as dulai,
toshak, lihaf, palang-posb, janamaz^ dastarkhwan, &c. He also stamps chintzes.
This is a staple business of Lucknow and the fabrics produced in this city are
famed throughout the whole of India. Great difficulty has been experienced in
getting any information regarding the process of manufacture but all that has
been ascertained is as follows :—■
Wholesale cloth-merchants supply chhipis with nainsukh which is stamped
and returned by them: but the proprietors of large factories purchase webs
themselves and stamp them and supply goods wholesale to bazzazes. The first
process is oiling (tel chalana). This is performed by dhobis. The web is 20
yards long and is cut in four pieces (fard). These are steeped in oil (til or
rendi) and sajji (carbonate of soda). The latter is dissolved in water. The
fards ai-e placed in an open earthen vessel (mind), and two men take, the one a
vessel of oil and the other a vessel containing the solution of sajji. They pour
these on the fards from a height such that the spreading streams cross each
other as they fall and produce a froth. They then press the fards in this mix-
ture and wring them out. They then tie them up in a large cloth for a night and
dry them next day. This process is repeated until the smell and gloss of the
oil is not perceptible. Then the dhobis wash out the pieces in the river.
The next process is to produce faint lines to guide the printers. The out
most edge of the four sides, what I may call the border of the pieces, is marked
with black (siyahkar). This is called bel. Within this is an inner frame
marked on four sides called hdshiya. This is marked brown (uda-kar). The
whole of the inner surface is called hauz. The lines to guide the printer in
this space are marked red. These lines are extremely faintly marked so that
they are imperceptible except to a practised eye, and are of fleeting color.
The next process is to bail in water in a large pan (karahi). When it is at
boiling point blossoms of the palas tree (tesiij are thrown in. This is called
pdniphdriid. Then manjith is thrown into the karahi which is kept boiling and
the pieces are placed in it and stirred round and round. After a time more
manjith is thrown in and finally the fards are taken out, wrung out and dried.
This makes the marks previously stamped fast, and the pieces come out clear