rogan art
T raditional Indian handicrafts reflect the culture and history of the place they come from. One such unique art form is Rogan painting. This rare craft is practised by a lone Muslim family in India, the Khatris, who call the sleepy hamlet of Nirona in Gujarat’s Kutch district their home. This family of traditional artists has steadfastly kept this intriguing craft alive for over three centuries, protecting it from vanishing into the folds of history. The Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, gifted a couple of exquisite handcrafted Rogan paintings to the US president, Barack Obama, during his visit to the US in 2014. The word rogan means oil in Persian. In this art form, paint made from thick brightly coloured castor seed oil is used to paint on fabric. Castor is a crop commonly grown in the Kutch region of Gujarat and the artists source it from the local farmers. To prepare the paint, castor oil is heated in a vessel and continuously stirred for more than 12 hours till it catch