The woodblock-printed Kalamkari textile art is struggling for its survival in Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh owing to the absence of black jaggery in the market in the wake of enforcement on its sale and trade by the State government.
Black jaggery is the prime ingredient for extraction of black dye by fermenting it for 21 days with iron and salt water. In Kalamkari art, black is considered as the ‘mother of all natural dyes’ as it is used to extract other colours by adding various natural ingredients.
