India · Painting / Decorative Arts
રોગન (Rogan)
Rogan is a textile and surface painting technique practiced exclusively in Nirona village, Kutch, Gujarat, by the Khatri family — now reduced to a single family of two brothers, Abdul Gafur Khatri and his brother. The medium is rogan — a thick paint made by boiling castor oil until it reaches a rubbery, highly viscous consistency, then mixing with natural mineral pigments. The resulting medium is applied to cloth (or paper) using a metal stylus: a blob of rogan is picked up on the stylus tip and drawn into thin threads by stretching — never touching the cloth directly. The thread is guided onto the surface by the reflected image in the stylus, creating sinuous floral and geometric patterns of extraordinary delicacy. The tool never touches the cloth: the entire painting is executed in air, with the rogan thread placed by controlling the angle and movement of the stylus. This contactless painting technique — unique in world craft — produces patterns of elastic three-dimensional quality that lie on the cloth surface rather than penetrating it. Rogan is believed to be a tradition of Persian origin, arrived in Kutch approximately 300 years ago. It is now practiced by two people.
Risk level: Critically Endangered · Not inscribed; recognized by Government of India
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