The hand painted craft of roghan is today the rarest of the painted and printed crafts of Kutch and in most danger of becoming extinct. It is practised by one family of Khatris in the village of Nirona in northern Kachchh. Formerly it was produced in Chowbari in Eastern Kutch and the larger cities of Ahmedabad, Baroda and Patan in Gujarat. The process involves applying a thick paste of boiled castor oil mixed with pigments to create the colour, and applied using an iron rod, or kalam. The name roghan refers to the paste that is used and is the Gujarati term for resin. This gives the pattern a relief effect on…