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Gulabi meenakari, black pottery, ittar, Kashmiri carpet among PM Modi’s gifts for world leaders at G7 Summit
New Delhi, June 28
For foreign dignitaries, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has often chosen gifts that showcase India’s rich cultural and artistic traditions and it was no different this time as he picked a variety of products for the heads of governments at the G7 Summit.
It was distinct artistic products identified with different regions of Uttar Pradesh and other states which featured heavily in his choices, with the US president receiving ‘gulabi meenakari’; a GI-tagged artform of Varanasi, cufflink set and brooch and the German chancellor getting metal ‘marodi-carving matka’; considered a masterpiece from Moradabad, official sources said on Tuesday.
Modi gifted black pottery pieces from Nizamabad in Uttar Pradesh to Japan’s prime minister and platinum-painted tea set with handwork to his British counterpart, they said.
He gifted ‘ittar’ (perfume derived from natural sources) bottles in a ‘zardozi’ box, crafted in Lucknow, to the French president.
Noting that the tradition of hand-weaving is passed down from a mother to her daughter in Senegal, sources said Modi chose ‘moonj’ baskets and cotton durries (heavy run) for the country’s president.
The practice is considered a vehicle for cultural expression and family livelihood driven by strong women, the sources said, adding the products have origin in Uttar Pradesh’s Prayagraj, Sultanpur and Amethi districts.
With Ramayana tradition being an enduring part of the Indonesian culture, Modi gifted lacquerware ‘Ram Durbar’ to its president. The GI tagged lacquerware art-form has its roots in the temple town of Varanasi, which is incidentally the constituency Modi represents in the Lok Sabha.
The prime minister gifted hand-knotted silk carpet, a signature product from Kashmir, to his Canadian counterpart, the sources said.
‘Dokra’ arts with Ramayana and ‘Nandi’ themes were his gifts of choice for the South African and Argentinian presidents, respectively.
Dokra art is a non-ferrous metal casting art using the lost-wax casting technique, and it has been in India for over 4,000 years, they said, adding both products are from Chhattisgarh.
Modi on Tuesday left for the UAE after attending a productive G7 Summit in Germany and interacting with several world leaders.
Sharing details of these different artworks, official sources noted that in ‘gulabi meenakari’, a piece of pure silver is moulded into a base form and the chosen design is embossed on the metal. The embossed shapes are then filled with great dexterity with crushed ‘meena’ glass mixed with intriguing natural ‘anardana’ (pomegranate seeds) glue. This is then fired to transform into a translucent coloured patch.
What distinguishes it from other ‘meenakari’ is a layer of white ‘meena’ which acts as an opaque canvas for hand-painted motifs, they said, adding that they primarily use the colour pink (Gulabi), which lends its name to the craft.
The cufflinks were prepared for US President Joe Biden with a matching brooch for his wife, the sources said.
The ‘ittar’ carrying ‘zari zardozi’ box has been hand embroidered on khadi silk and satin tissue in colours of the French flag, they said.