Block – Printing of Bela, Gujarat

An endangered tradition Bela block printing takes its name from the village of Bela that is located 30 km from Rapar in Bhuj. In the past it was on the trade route from Sindh and had an active tradition of printing as its products were dispatched to bigger towns along the trade route. After the 1947 partition the trade route was no longer used and with climate change the Saran river around which the village was based has since gone dry. With a low demand for block-printed textiles the workshops slowly closed down.

There is now only one practitioner of Bela block-printing who continues the tradition using the distinctive madder red and black. No longer located at Bela as the river has dried up he practices his craft in Bhuj with his old wooden blocks.