Bangladesh · Embroidery / Textile / Narrative Craft
নকশী কাঁথা (Nakshi Kantha)
Nakshi kantha (নকশী কাঁথা — 'patterned kantha') is the pictorial narrative variant of kantha (CRAFT-0627) — distinguished from ordinary kantha by the deliberate composition of figurative scenes drawn from Hindu mythology, rural Bengali life, and floral motifs arranged in concentric registers reading from a central sun motif outward. The defining technical knowledge is the register proportioning system: nakshi kantha uses a concentric register layout where each outer register is exactly one-third wider than the inner register — assessed by a simple thread-measure: a thread stretched from center to the inner register edge, then folded in thirds — the outer register edge is at two-thirds of the full span. 'Thread folded in thirds gives my register width.'
Risk level: Endangered · Bangladesh national ICH list; cross-border with West Bengal Indian tradition
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