Pampa: A survey exhibition in Hampi honours the lesser-known textiles of Karnataka

At Hampi in northern Karnataka, the ancient temple ruins, palaces, and even the precariously balanced boulders whisper secrets of its antiquity and resilience. Amid this backdrop, an exhibition, ‘Pampa: Textiles of Karnataka’—curated by Lavina Baldota, Mayank Mansingh Kaul, Pragati Mathur, Nupur Saxena, and Priya Saxena—attempted to weave a tapestry of tales through a visual representation of the state's lesser known textiles. 

The showcase, part of the Abheraj Baldota Foundation’s longstanding commitment to heritage conservation, artisan empowerment, and socio-economic development, became the nucleus of a bheti, as Kaul calls it, or gathering, to spotlight the craft and the community behind it. 

The 17th-century Mantapa Photo Exhibition Centre—flanked by the Virupaksha Temple on one side and steps leading to the other temples on another side—was abuzz with weavers, textile practitioners and enthusiasts from March 1-11, 2025, to witness the diversity of pieces on display. 

Before stepping into the exhibition, the curators set aside an hour to visit the 7th-century Virupaksha Temple dedicated to Lord Shiva. Baldota was quick to fire up our curiosity when she said, “It's connected to the exhibition. You will know the reason behind it shortly.”

The hand-painted murals on the ceiling of the Virupaksha Temple were replicated through the Nayaka Kalamkari panel, created especially for the exhibition by Sriyasmita Mishra and Vipin Das of Chennai-based Aksh Studio. 

Kaul explains, “The Nayaka panel is a fitting introduction to the exhibition. Vipin and Shreya have been working on reviving processes like the artistry of resist painting on cotton using natural dyes. One of the biggest challenges they faced was maintaining a balance between the resist and colour, making it difficult to control the process.”

With a credit poster right at the start of the exhibition, where names of artisans were mentioned in the same space as designers, it became clear that the purpose of Pampa was beyond a showcase. 

“The whole idea of this platform is collaboration and conversation. We aren't scholar-focused but more maker-oriented. They are the ones who know the real stories and are at the core of everything we do,” says Baldota. 

A sneak peek 

The Pampa exhibition has been two years in the making, shares Baldota. The team travelled to clusters across Karnataka to look at collections, understand the know-how, talk to revivalists, and document the state's textile heritage. 

The outcome of this research led to the presentation of 108 textiles drawn from private and governmental collections, depicted through nine sections or stories, as Baldota calls it, at the exhibition. 

“These stories are either region-based or yarn-based. We kept visiting weaver societies and picked pieces. Guess what? We had to bring it down to one-fourth of what we had. In the end, we chose one of each kind—which was the best representation,” mentions Baldota. 

A walkthrough of the exhibition peeled back many layers of communities and their cultures through the display of natural fibres, sarees, khann tradition conventionally used to create blouses, Ilkal, traditional and contemporary representations of kasuti embroidery, embroidered textiles of the Lambani community, the Molakalmuru repertoire, brocaded textiles and traditions used to furnish homes. 

The fibres they employed included indigenous varieties of cotton, silk, wool, and from other natural sources such as bananas and water hyacinths. 

Each of the garments rested against bamboo structures, paying special attention towards not damaging the heritage monument in any way.

Weaving a cultural narrative 

While there was much to absorb at the survey exhibition, what stood out was the diversity in textiles. 

There were sarees from Ilkal, Mysore, Molakalmuru, Gajendragarh, Udupi, and Gulgedgudd; khadi dhoti and towels from Hubballi; kasuti and banjara embroideries from Dharwad and Sandur, respectively; Kaudi quilts created by the Siddhis, which trace their origins to Africa; handspun sheep wool blankets called Kambli created by pastoralists from the western Deccan; sacred textiles made for Buddhist monasteries and settlements in the region, and the hand woven durries of Navalgund. 

“Together, they convey the evolving meanings and materialities of cloth across diverse cultural-social contexts in Karnataka—from that of courtly and elite patronage to the agrarian and nomadic,” adds Kaul. “Equally, they bring out how fabric has shaped notions of identity across varied geographies, from the mountainous to the coastal.”

While each cluster presented its own struggles, Molkalmuru was the toughest when it came to pinning down its textile history. “It is a dynamic centre, which has absorbed so many influences. There's so much diversity here. From the use of ikat to brocading with metallic yarn, or even finding something strikingly geometric—it was very difficult to understand. We didn't have straight answers,” says Kaul. 

What also stood out was that the textiles on display were deeply interlinked to religious or cultural narratives. However, its language of expression was symbolism. “Motifs like gandaperunda (double-headed eagle) can be found, which is the emblem of the Mysore royal family. It's a form of non-verbal language. There's a meaning to the motifs or colours used.”

A clarion call for change 

The purpose of Pampa, as Kaul puts it, was for people to have more conversations with the textile community and outside. “The exhibition was an excuse to have a gathering. We wanted people to publicly say that we want to work together and not in silos,” he says. 

Agrees Baldota, who has previously championed India’s rich craft traditions through landmark exhibitions such as ‘Santati: Then, Now, Next’, which was held in celebration of Mahatma Gandhi’s 150th birth anniversary. There was also ‘Sutr Santati’ that commemorated 75 years of Indian independence and showed at the National Museum in Delhi and later travelled to the Melbourne Museum in Australia and the National Gallery of Modern Art in Mumbai.

Every exhibition eventually benefits the artisan community. “We get so many inquiries from people—there’s no hesitation in sharing their numbers and credits. I don't get involved in any kind of transaction. We are connectors.”