Chikankari Embroidery in Lucknow/India: Embroiderers and Their Way out of Dependency

Indians love clothing adorned with embroidery. The famous chikankari embroidery, the most well-known Indian style of embroidery, is thus extremely popular. It comes from Lucknow, the capital of the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, and is also known as shadow work embroidery. The densely embroidered motifs on thin fabrics allow very little light to shine through. This makes them look like shadows next to the unembroidered parts of the fabric. Particularly fine textiles are even worked across their entire surface. It takes millions of stitches to fully cover, for example, a sari measuring six meters in length and 1.20 meters in width with embroidery. Chikankari embroidery was originally only carried out with white thread on white fabric (fig. 1 – 3). Women, in particular, embroider such fabrics on behalf of individual, usually male, traders. They embellish saris, shirts, blouses, tablecloths, pillowcases and much more, now even using coloured threads on dyed fabrics.

Chikankari as Cultural Heritage

The city of Lucknow shows how proud it is of this over 400-year-old tradition of embroidery everywhere you look. Chikankari is even advertised on large billboards and with huge close-ups at the airport and in the halls of the new Hazratganj metro station in the inner city (fig. 4 – 5). There are stores with chikankari clothing everywhere, small simple and large modern stores in markets, malls, small alleyways, and busy shopping streets (fig. 6 – 8). According to an official report from 2020, more than 2500 entrepreneurs are involved in chikankari production and the national and international sale of these fabrics. In 2008, chikankari gained the official status as the traditional embroidery of the city of Lucknow.

Fig. 8: Chikankari with lots of stitches, Ada (photo: M. Blechmann-Antweiler, n. d.).

The Female Embroiderers’ Dependency on the Entrepreneur

A chikankari entrepreneur usually has several retail outlets in Lucknow, elsewhere in India and often also worldwide. He is in control of many working steps within the “chikankari industry” (fig. 9).

Fig. 9: System of the Chikankari industry (diagram: M. Blechmann-Antweiler, 2024).

First, he commissions designers to draw the motifs that are currently popular. He gives these drawings to wood carvers, who carve printing blocks out of solid wood based on these motifs (fig. 10 – 11).

The entrepreneur passes these blocks on to block printers. These printers can be found in small open rooms all over the inner city (fig. 12 – 15).

They use the blocks soaked in soluble inks to print the motifs onto fabrics supplied by the patron. The entrepreneur then passes the printed fabrics on to the embroiderers, who mostly live in villages in the surrounding area. They embroider these fabrics according to the printer’s outlines (fig. 16 – 20).

The fabrics are sewn into shirts or other clothing by tailors either before or after being embroidered. Once the fabrics are embroidered, the trader takes them to launderers on the River Gomti, who wash out the ink, dry the fabrics, and then iron and fold them for collection. The entrepreneur finally takes the fabrics to his store, where his employees check them square centimeter by square centimeter and then package them for sale (fig. 21 – 23). Although the entrepreneur takes a risk as he invests a lot of money in the artists and craftspeople before he makes any sales, he has complete control over all of the working steps and all of the wages.

Fig. 23: Chikankari transparent (photo: M. Blechmann-Antweiler, 2016).

Apart from the embroidery, all other stages of production are done by men. The embroidery work is almost exclusively carried out by women. The men primarily work in the city and can come to agreements if necessary and serve other customers, so they are relatively independent of the chikankari product line, unlike female embroiderers. The female embroiderers each only work for one trader and live scattered in various villages in the wider Lucknow area. This makes their situation particularly difficult. They are not networked with each other, so they are unable to agree on higher wage demands or organize themselves into unions, for example. They call themselves independent, but have hardly any direct access to the market and also no financial security. This was particularly evident during the COVID-19 pandemic, when many female embroiderers were without work. They are also solely responsible for equipment and the working environment. They embroider highly complex patterns with difficult stitches, which are passed down from mother to daughter, thereby handing down the craft that makes Lucknow famous. For customers, however, they are barely noticeable.

A Way out of the Embroiderers’ Dependency on the Trader

In a study from 1979, UNICEF found that female chikankari embroiderers are exploited to a much greater extent than in any other craft in the non-organized sector. They are extraordinarily badly paid and there has only been a gradual change in recent years.

Social workers founded an autonomous organization, “The Self Employed Women’s Association” (SEWA), in Lucknow back in 1984 together with female chikankari embroiderers. Female embroiders network with each other here, undergo training in management, managerial skills and accounting, etc., and ensure that they receive a fair wage without middlemen by setting up their own stores in the city and selling their products there. They also receive social benefits such as education, health and other rights-based facilities for themselves and their children, and much more. More and more organizations are gradually being created, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic. They work with the same or similar goals. The Indian state and the city of Lucknow are also interested in this, as an important Indian tradition is being continued in chikankari that attracts many tourists. It generates a great deal of sales, which bring in a lot of taxes.

Perhaps all female embroiderers will finally find their fair wages, the attention they deserve, a good education for themselves and their children, social networking and market access, and come out of their economic dependency on businessmen.

Organizations that Promote Women within Chikankari Production in Lucknow:

ODOP – One District One Product, a government organization founded in 2018 to promote regional craftsmanship. Chikankari was the pilot project.

Skill India Mission Initiative – A state program introduced in 2015, which aims to train the country’s youth and create qualified labor, with a focus on women and handicrafts and with a guarantee of employment.

NHDP – National Handicrafts Development Program, founded in 2022 by the Ministry for Textiles, with an emphasis on women

IGSS – Indo-Global Social Service is a recognized non-governmental organization based in Lucknow, which has been campaigning for a change in society for years, particularly the advancement of women

Stand-Up India – an initiative for business start-ups, for financial assistance by means of loans, especially for women, since 2016.

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Further Reading

Mahapatra, N. N., 2016. Sarees of India. Havertown: Woodhead Publishing India PVT. LTD.

Manfredi, Paola, 2017. Chikankari: a Lucknawi tradition. New Delhi, India: Niyogi Books.

Gupta, Rinku, 2023. Wage determinants of creative industry workers: a quantile regression analysis of traditional Indian embroidery (chikankari) industry workers of Lucknow. In: Regional science policy and practice: RSPP. Amsterdam/Oxford. Bd. 15 (2023), 5 (Juni), S. 1008‒1018.

Singh, A., M. Gahlot, and A. Rani, 2013. Giving a new dimension to Chikankari: An amalgamation of Aipan and Chikankari. Saarbrücken: LAP LAMBERT Academic Publishing.