In the 16th Century, the art of ajrakh block print was brought to India by the Khatri community of Sindh, Pakistan. This community migrated to areas in both Gujarat and Rajasthan. They settled in the city of Barmer in Rajasthan, where they continued to excel at creating the marvelous print.

The origin of the ajrakh print’s name is highly speculative as some scholars say it is derived from a Persian word, while some argue that it is Sanskrit, or even Hindi. It has different meanings in all languages, but most importantly, it stands for keeping the age-old tradition of Ajrakh printing alive.

Traditionally, Ajrakh refers to the name of a block printed fabric dyed a beautiful crimson red or indigo with white jewel-like symmetrical motifs that are symbolic of natural elements like leaves, flowers, and stars.

An important motif found in this print is called trefoil, which comprises three joint sun discs representing the cohesive unity of the sun gods, water, and the earth.

Ajrakh printing is often labeled a tedious and time-consuming process since different stages of printing, washing, and natural dyeing are involved. Usually measuring around 2.5 to 3 meters in length, the method of resist printing is used to create this print, which prevents absorption on areas that are not supposed to be coloured. 

The specific stages involved in Ajrakh Block Printing process are saaj, kasano, khariyanu, kat, gach, indigo dyeing, vichcharnu, and rang.

Saaj

In the first stage, saaj, starch is removed from the fabric by washing and soaking in a mix of camel dung, soda ash, and castor oil. It is then left to dry partially in the sun before the entire process is repeated over eight times until foam is produced. After that, it is finally washed in plain water. 

Kasano

The second stage involves washing the fabric in a solution of myrobalan, the first mordant used in the dyeing process. Once it has been washed, it is dried from both sides in the sun, and the excess myrobalan is simply brushed off. 

Khariyanu

In the third stage, babool tree resin and lime are resist printed on the fabric with wooden blocks to outline the designed motif in white. Rekh is the term used to describe white outline printing.

Kat

Next, jaggery and iron scraps are kept in water for twenty days to make the water ferrous, leading to which tamarind powder is added to the mix and boiled together. This creates a thick paste called kat printed on both sides of the fabric.

Gach

In the next step, babool tree resin, alum, and clay, are mixed to form a paste used for resist printing, and at the same time, babool tree resin and lime are also printed on the fabric. This combined phase is what’s known as gach. To shield the clay, finely ground up sawdust or cow dung is spread on the printed material, and it is left to dry naturally for 7-10 days. 

Indigo Dyeing & Vichcharnu

Then, the fabric is dyed in indigo twice to ensure it has been appropriately coated before vichcharnu, where it is thoroughly washed to remove the residual resist print and excess dye. 

Rang

The last stage is where the fabric is boiled in alizarin, a synthetic madder that helps yield a bright shining red colour. Alum is added as a mordant to seal the colour, and grey areas from black printing become a deeper tone. When it comes to other colours, the fabric is boiled with a different dye - henna gives a light yellow-green, madder root gives an orange, and rhubarb root imparts an orange tint.

In ajrakh printing, a longer time duration before moving to the next stage certifies a better end result which is vibrant, rich, and accurately represents the benefits of making this print using traditional methods.