Srikalahasti and Pedana Kalamkari: How It Is Made, Where to Buy

Photo: rajaraman sundaram, CC BY 3.0 (cropped), via Wikimedia Commons

Srikalahasti on the Swarnamukhi river, and Pedana near the port of Machilipatnam, Andhra Pradesh.

In Srikalahasti the cloth is drawn line by line, in Pedana it is printed block by block, and in both towns it waits on the sun and the water.

Pattachitra of Odisha: Raghurajpur Village and How to Buy It

Photo: Sumit Surai, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped), via Wikimedia Commons

Raghurajpur, a painters’ village near Puri, in the morning.

A village where every veranda is a studio and every wall tells a story.

Channapatna Toys: How They Are Made and Where to Buy Them

Photo: Subhashish Panigrahi, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped), via Wikimedia Commons

Channapatna, on the old Bengaluru–Mysuru road, on a working weekday.

In Channapatna the colour is not painted on; it is melted onto the wood while it spins.

Kantha Embroidery of Bengal: Where to See and Buy Real Kantha

Photo: Hiart, CC0 (cropped), via Wikimedia Commons

A kantha quilt spread flat on a bed in Bengal.

Old saris, layered and stitched until they become something new.

Bandhani of Kutch: How It’s Made and Where to Buy

Photo: RubyGoes, CC BY 2.0 (cropped), via Wikimedia Commons

A courtyard in Kutch, Gujarat, in the morning sun.

The pattern is tied in before the colour goes on.

Banarasi Saris: How They Are Woven and Where to Buy Them

Photo: Selvaganesh17, CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped), via Wikimedia Commons

A weaving room in Varanasi, mid-morning.

In this room, a gold border is measured in days, not metres.