The process of batik is tedious. Before the application of the design, the fabric undergoes several washings to free it from starch or any other sizing it may contain. It is then soaked in oil which acts as a color-fastening agent besides making the cloth soft and supple. Wax is then applied to pattern, that is to resist dyeing in a particular color. It is subsequently waxed and dyed several times till the design is dyed in required colors. It is then crushed to give the cracking effect.
Here is shown the elephant-headed Ganesha. This is an iconographic image of Ekdanta, or Ganesha possessing only one tooth, which was broken off in an encounter with Shiva. Ganesha used his broken tusk as stylus when acting amanuensis to the poet Vyasa. Wearing a bejeweled headdress, this pot-bellied deity carries symbols held by only him- a broken tusk, a modak, an axe and a lasso. from under his left arm and across his girdle is a serpent in place of the brahmanical thread. His mount, the mouse is prominently placed. Ganesha himself is encompassed in the symbolic Aum.
This description by Renu Rana.
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