Explained: What is the Rogan painting that PM Modi gifted Japan’s Kishida

New Delhi, May 25: Prime Minister Narendra Modi who attended the Quad Summit in Tokyo earlier this week presented Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida with a wood hand carved box with a Rogan painting.

This is an intricate art from Gujarat which is the home state of the Indian Prime Minister. The stunning Rogan painting was a great display of craftsmanship with a beautiful gold and white design painting on a green cloth. This was planned on a hand carved box that was deep brown in colour.

The PM had also gifted the painting to the Queen of the Kingdom of Denmark during his three day Europe visit earlier this month.

What is a Rogan painting:

A Rogan painting is an art of cloth printing practised in Kutch District of Gujarat and in this craft the paint is made from boiled oil. Vegetable dyes are laid down on fabric using either a metal block or a stylus.

The artists place a small amount of paint paste into their palms and at room temperature the paint is carefully twisted into motifs and images using a metal rod that never comes in contact with the fabric.

Next the artist folds his designs into a blank fabric and this prints the mirror image. The art which is over 100 years old is now practised only by a single family in Nirona Kachchh. Further a special paste made of castor is used in this craft and the castor seeds are hand rounded to extract the oil and turned into a paste by boiling.

The pastes of different colours are stored in earthen pots to prevent them from drying.

The word Rogan comes from Persia meaning varnish or oil. The process of making is very tedious and requires a great skill set. The craft nearly died in the 20th century with the Rogan painting being practised only by one family.