The East is a delicate business, or what the Indian ornament will tell us about

The bright and striking beauty of India's nature has found its reflection in various forms of decorative folk art. However, a significant influence on Indian ornament used for decorating fabrics and ornaments, furniture and utensils was rendered by religion practiced in this or that region of this multi-ethnic and multi-confessional country.

Floral ornament

In that part of India, where the main religion is Islam, the most widespread, as well as in other Muslim cultures, were plant and geometric ornaments. It is due to the fact that in this religion there is a ban on the image of the face of Allah, people and animals. Indian masters have achieved the highest level of skill, creating vegetable patterns. The most loved and popular are the sacred lotus flower, symbolizing the creative origin, carnation and mango fruit, pomegranate. Often the patterns include images of trees - palms and cypress.

So, in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, the main Indian ornament is flower garlands and medallions. And also the Tree of Life, borrowed from Persian culture. Such ornaments and patterns do not only affect everyday objects, they also decorate walls in houses, decorate fabrics and use them in the traditional art of drawing henna - mehendi. Among all the variety of plant patterns, one should distinguish such an Indian ornament as the buta, better known in Europe under the name "paisley".

"Indian cucumber"

Buta is a very important symbol, meaning in the Indian culture a fire. This pattern is loved in India, it is widely used in art and everyday activities. Sari and shawls, adorned with various interpretations of the "Turkish cypress", also called paisley, are worn by women of all faiths. The question of where and when this Indian ornament appeared, whose design is very popular in the modern world and decorates furniture, clothes, shoes, jewelry and other items in many countries, is still open. For the championship, India and Persia have been arguing for several centuries. The basis of this pattern is a drop-shaped shape with a curved tip that can be empty or filled from the inside with plant or abstract patterns and elements.

Geometric patterns

No less popular and widely distributed are various geometric Indian patterns and ornaments, among which one can distinguish "gyasir" - fish scales, "dzhali" - lattice. Often when creating patterned motifs, simple lines and angles are used, triangles directed as a top up and symbolizing the male beginning, and downwards - personifying the female. On the tissues you can see the squares, diamonds and circles that can be filled with both geometric and plant elements. Indian ornament often uses the sword pattern and swastika motif as a symbol of divine fire and sun. To this group of patterns can be attributed and religious, depicting the obligatory attributes of the gods - tridents (trishul), various drums (damars) and such a common ritual drawing, as tilak - a tick with a dot in the center. When decorating clothes, images of scenes from the divine life of Ganesha, Shiva and Krishna can be performed.

Animalistic images

In Central India and Rajasthan, where most of the population professes Buddhism and Hinduism, the decor uses vegetative and geometric patterns. And also images of animals such as elephants, camels and lions, and birds, usually parrots and peacocks with loose tails - symbolizing well-being and prosperity. It should be noted such a feature of Indian art, as naturalism and almost complete lack of stylization when creating animalistic patterns and ornaments.