The handmade paper making in India goes as far back as to the 3rd century BC. Handmade paper making is a traditional art that has been practised by a particular class of people for generations together. This art has been passed on from one generation of craftsmen to another. These craftsmen are known as "Kagzi's". Their name is derived from the Urdu word 'kavas', which means paper. The size of this community has dwindled over the years. There is a small settlement of 'Kagzi's' in Sanganer near Jaipur, where a section of this community settled thousands of years ago. They claimed that they were originally from Turkey and from there moved to China and then finally settled in India.
In Sanganer the 'Kagzi' community is the primary owner of the handmade paper industry in the town. Their history goes back to the 14th century when the ruler was Feroze Shah Tughlaq. Even in those days the royalty used handmade paper made by them for official documents, miniature paintings, calligraphy, and to make copies of the Holy Quran and to maintain account books. In the 16th century the then ruler of Amber, Raja Man Singh brought the Kagzis to Sanganer and settled them on the bank of the river Saraswati, where clean water was easily available. Thus the town emerged as one of the biggest paper producing centers in north India.
With a long history of royal patronage, Jaipur has an impressive tradition of craftsmanship that produces the most extravagant goods for everyday uses – whether gold and silver jewellery, decorative textiles, brass and silverware, leather goods, or even handmade paper. We decided that paper – given the importance of stationery in our lives – would be an interesting topic to explore, so we set out on a trip to Kagzi paper production factory, which began its life producing paper for use in the royal court, and now produces for both the domestic and global markets. During this brief tour of their facility, we learned about the history and methods of traditional papermaking in Jaipur.
We were surprised to learn that this method of papermaking was brought to India during the 16th century by invaders from Central Asia. In prisons in Bokhara and Balkh, Chinese inmates had already demonstrated their skill in producing paper from natural waste. The fact this paper proved to be strong, durable and resistant to alteration or forgery, and could be produced in large quantities, led Babur – the first Central Asian invader to settle down in India and create what came to be known as the Moghul Empire – to encourage some of his men to learn this skill from the Chinese prisoners for use by the Moghul court in India. All court papers came to be prepared on the paper so produced as also, gradually, manuscripts and other related articles used by the educated citizenry. Prior to this introduction of paper, writing in India was carved on stone (e.g., Emperor Ashoka’s edicts), handprinted or painted on fabric (e.g., pattachitras), or etched on palm leaves (e.g., Hindu and Buddhist manuscripts).
The present-day Kagzi family in Jaipur (the name kagzi itself means “paper maker”) traces itself back to the settlers who travelled to India with Babur’s army and who had learnt the craft from the Chinese. Papermaking requires an unlimited supply of water and solid raw materials. Initially located in the district of Alwar (a little south of Delhi, in present day Rajasthan), the Kagzi family moved to Jaipur when water in Alwar became a scarce resource. They were also encouraged by an invitation from the kings of Jaipur who promised them court patronage and an abundant supply of water (the Dhundar region of which Jaipur is a part has always been a well watered one). The kings of Jaipur had entered into an early peace treaty with the Moghul court of Delhi, which resulted in a considerable amount of cultural exchange between the two kingdoms.
The Handmade Papermaking is a traditional industry of India. Innovation of papermaking was taken in 105 AD by China but there is a controversy on that issue. However, recent researches have given credit to India for this innovation of Paper from cellulose fiber even in third century B.C. The Handmade Paper Industry has been recognized as traditional craft of village industry under Khadi & Village Industries Commission (KVIC) Act-1957". KVIC provides special assistance to this industry for the development of rural craft and artisan work. In India it has been developed as cluster based industry.
The most effective clusters are situated at Kalapi(Uttar Pradesh), Sanganer in Jaipur(Rajasthan), Mahaboobnagar( Andhra Pradesh) Pune (Maharasthra) Kurukshetra (Haryana) and Gujarat.Apart from these clusters there are some small clusters spread in all over India.
The KVIC has developed separate programme for Handmade Paper (HMP) industry during last fifty years in the association with Khadi and Village Industries Board and other Khadi Institutions.
Development of Handmade Paper Industry by KVIC
Initial Phase-I
A period of 1925-1953 &1955-56 is the first phase of development of Handmade Paper Industry. In the first phase KVIC itself was established by Govt. of India. The main objective of Phase-I was providing assistance to traditional kagazis (Traditional Paper Maker) in different production areas of Handmade Paper. In that period industry has small size of production and sales. The numbers of production units were less than forty and employees were not more than one thousand. It was era of craft, and that's why the industry became popular in next phase.
Pro-Phase-II
The second phase is a period of 1956-57 to 1966-67. In this phase Handmade Industry has got better position in production. The cooperative societies and registered institutions entered in this field through KVIC and KVIB's assistance programe. In this phase the numbers of units were increased. Production was more than rupees 39 lacks and employment generated five times as against first phase. At the end of this phase the actual numbers of working units were 149 and annual installed capacity was 3870 metric tons. It was the age of development in this phase all kagazis and artisans were motivated for producing craft paper and they innovated the different types of handmade paper using botanical fibers.
Middle Phase-
Since 1967 -68 to 1991-92 We can divide it into three phases. The period of 1967-68 to 1976-77, 1977-78 to 1986-87 and 1987-88 to 19991-92 were III, IV & V phases respectively. In all the above phases hand made paper industry was flourished and got good sales position. In the period of 25 years (1967-1992) of development the size of industry became large, more than 350 production units were established in India in different states and 7000 employees / workers directly and indirectly involved in to this.
Liberalization Phase-
The sixth phase of development was the period of 1992-93 to 1998-99. This was an age of accelerated growth of individual and private entrepreneurs. In this phase KVIC and other developmental agencies concentrated on research and development of hand made paper industry. In this era KVIC started survey and study of international market and domestic market and organized workshops, seminars and exhibition of hand made products. Government of India organized UNDP project on this industry titled Strengthened the handmade paper industry in India (1991-98). UNDP-KVIC-Project emphasized at consumer behaviour and value addition in hand made paper industry. At the end of sixth phase this industry had more than 415 production units in India and the production grown up to Rs 30 carores and generated employment for 10,000 skilled and unskilled people.
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