India · Surface Design / Block Printing
बाग छपाई (Bagh Chhapai)
Bagh block printing is a natural-dye hand block printing tradition from the village of Bagh, Dhar district, Madhya Pradesh, practiced almost exclusively by the Khatri community of Muslim artisans. The technique uses hand-carved wooden blocks to print geometric and floral patterns on cotton or silk cloth using natural dyes — primarily red (alizarin from madder root) and black (iron mordant) — in a resist-and-mordant process requiring multiple dyeing and washing stages in the Baghini river. The river water's specific mineral composition is considered essential to the color quality — Bagh print cannot be authentically replicated elsewhere. Master printer Ismail Sultan Khatri and his family are the primary custodians; Ismail received the Padma Shri in 2018.
Risk level: Critically Endangered · Not inscribed
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