Traditional densely hand-embroidered pure silk kantha shawl scarf or throw. Kantha or the hand-embroidery of an item in thousands of tiny running stitches is a tradition from undivided Bengali history. It is still practiced in the rural villages of the divided countries of West Bengal and Bangladesh.  

These illustrated online are the only ones I have left. This one is an interesting muted green (see full length shawl photo for correct colour) highlighted with soft pink embroidery in triangles, concentric circles and zig zags and lines of running stitch from top to bottom to give an overall impression of stripes of repeated geometrics.

55cm x 180cm  

I bought these stunningly completely hand embroidered pure silk kantha (running stitched) shawls/scarves in Kolkata (Calcutta), West Bengal when I went to immerse myself in the goddess Durga festival that takes place for 9 days in October. I also wanted to track down the chant villages in rural West Bengal. Unfortunately everyone was on holiday as the Durga festival is a very holy festival. I thought I would find kantha-stitched pieces everywhere but found only one stall in the main city market of Kolkata.

The kantha on these shawls is worked on silk ranging from natural undyed silk to strong red, royal blue, purple, emerald green, leaf green and black. Some have been worked on a base of a hand painted design. All are densely hand embroidered and the work is extraordinary.

There are 3 main designs:

1. Geometric designs in stripes, triangles, zig zags, circles and squares

2. Floral/leaf/plant designs

3. Intricate village life including people, animals, plants, houses and domestic items

Traditionally cant covered cloths were made to be used as bed covers for cloths or sitting on or used to wrap special objects. The world renown Gurusaday Museum in Kolkata holds the largest collection of 19th and 20th century kantha cloths/wraps in the world and was a very special highlight of my trip. See gurusadaymuseum.org