Nakshi Kantha: Tradition and Identity in Every Stitch

What is nakshi kantha embroidery?

Conventional nakshi kantha are quilts made by women in rural Bangladesh. They derive their name from the Bengali words nakshi (artistic patterns) and kantha (quilt)—although the Sanskrit word kontha is perhaps more fitting: It means “rags.” The quilts are made from several layers of old saris, adorned with designs that reflect everyday life, folklore and personal memories. The craft is handed down from mother to daughter and has evolved over centuries as trends have shifted and the materials used and needs of the artisans have changed. 

According to Maleka Khan, a social worker and author of a book on nakshi kantha tradition, the embroidered quilts have humble beginnings—they were made for warmth during winters and monsoons. Over time, though, the designs became more and more filled with meaning. The quilts became repositories of family history, woven with threads of love and memory.

For local communities, nakshi kantha is a significant form of art. “European markets have always yearned after Bengal’s cotton and silk for their fine quality. Rural women declined to just throw them away. Rather, they reused them in ingenious ways,” says Khan. “Even the colorful borders of the old saris were torn off and put away for safekeeping. Then the threads were wound around needles to be used later.”

Paging through her book, she points out several early-19th-century kanthas that have vivid scenes drawn from contemporary life, myths and legends. Many depict chronological narratives of chariot processions, wedding rituals and nocturnal blossoms, with stitching following centerpieces of conch shells, lotuses and blazing suns, depending on the story the maker is trying to tell. 

Khan explains that the old cloths also had a magical purpose, as they were believed to ward off the evil eye, keeping the user safe from harm and that whatever the motif, no two kanthas are ever the same. “That is where the magic is,” she says. “I’ve never seen this kind of artwork anywhere else in the world.”

History of nakshi kantha

Kanthas can be traced back to the pre-Vedic age (earlier than 1500 BCE). A written record can be found in Krishnadas Kaviraj’s book Sri Chaitanya Charitamrita, in which he wrote about how Chaitanya’s mother sent a homemade kantha to her son residing in Puri in India. 

Bengal was ruled by various empires, including the Maurya, Gupta and Mughal empires, and later became a key colony under British rule. In 1947, when British India was partitioned, Bengal was divided into two parts: West Bengal (part of India) and East Bengal (which became East Pakistan). Tensions between East and West Pakistan led to the Liberation War of 1971, resulting in the independent nation of Bangladesh. 

It is in Bangladesh that the tradition of nakshi kantha remains strongest, and as time has changed the borders of Bengal, so too have nakshi kanthas morphed over the centuries. The emblematic stitch remains—but these days the designs are simpler overall. 

During the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971, Khan says, nakshi kantha played a surprising and unsung role. When millions of people fled to India to escape the brutality of the war, their personal belongings were bundled in knapsacks fashioned from nakshi kanthas. Moreover, the kantha was used as a tool for occupational therapy during the war. 

Khan, who was working as a social worker at the time, describes how many of the women of Bengal were left numb with trauma after their experiences in 1971. She and her team worked with recovering women and girls and often found that though they couldn’t—or wouldn’t—talk about their ordeals, they found relief in stitching. “By making kanthas together, we eventually helped some of the victims to become stronger. By occupying them in an everyday skill that they enjoyed, it allowed their subconscious minds to cope and overcome,” she says. 

Nakshi kantha today

Today, nakshi kantha has witnessed a stellar revival, with commercial demand soaring both locally and globally. But it is more likely to find them made with new cotton cloth as opposed to reused saris. While the single stitch remains the root of the art form, designs are often stenciled onto the material and then stitched over, allowing quicker and cheaper production. 

Yet the old ones still exist. In rural towns, one can still find nakshi kanthas complete with decades of patchwork and stories seeped into the layers of cloth.

Jamalpur, the district in Bangladesh where Begum and her friends sit and stitch, is just one of several hubs of nakshi kantha production across the country. As in other such hubs, entrepreneurs employ up to 100 women in nearby villages to produce the quilts for them—providing them with the already stenciled cotton material and thread and paying them for a returned quilted piece. They in turn wash, package and distribute the finished products farther afield. 

Sultan Mahmud is one of these entrepreneurs. He arrived in Jamalpur 30 years ago with empty pockets. “I just had the lungi [men’s garment akin to a sarong] I wore and one shirt. I started my business very slowly,” he states. His business now prospers, and today he serves as the joint secretary of the Jamalpur Cooperative for Nakshi Kantha and sells, at a minimum, 5,000 kanthas a month.

As the demand for nakshi kantha has increased, so too has its contribution to women’s empowerment and employment across the country. Mitu Bashphor, who lives near Jamalpur, uses her spare time to make kantha for Mahmud. “I’m able to send my kids to school using the money I make from selling kantha, which feels good,” she says. In a country where women are often not financially independent, this opportunity to contribute to the family is crucial. 

At NGO Basha’s head office in Bangladesh’s capital, Dhaka, women spend their weeks laying out material and embroidering while their young children are offered child care and school lessons, taking this burden off the women while they earn. Retailers buy from the NGO online, and their products are sold globally.

According to Robin Seyfert, founder of Basha, part of kantha’s revival in the past decade has been a global surge in customers wanting less commercial, ethically produced products. “The fact that each kantha is unique, so far from the mass-produced items filling shelves in most stores, is their appeal,” she says. 

The recycled aspect is a bonus. Eco-friendly sells. Basha’s products are sold almost exclusively online—from Estonia to Hong Kong, the United States to Singapore. It sells the traditional kantha—but has also modernized the concept and sells other such embroidered products as jackets and bags. “It’s easier to connect and send products around the world than it used to be,” says Seyfert.

Whether vintage or contemporary, nakshi kanthas remain a beautiful symbol of the Bengal region and its people, preserving a rich heritage while adapting to modern trends and changing markets.