Siddipet Batik Seeks GI Tag, Expo Showcases Legacy

Hyderabad:Yasala Prakash was in Class VII when his father, late National Awardee Yasala Balaiah, first taught him Batik. Three decades later, the state award-winning artist is still working with wax, dye and cloth, but the circle of artists around the form has grown much smaller. The five-day exhibition of 52 works by father and son at the Chitramayee State Gallery of Art, Madhapur, comes at a time when Siddipet Batik is seeking geographical indication recognition and Prakash is trying to inspire another generation to learn a process he fears is disappearing.

“Nowadays, this art form is vanishing. There were quite a few big artists then. My father continued the tradition, but others moved to different fields,” Prakash said.

A state award-winning Batik artist and government art teacher, Prakash learnt the technique directly from Balaiah and has worked in the medium for about 30 years. The exhibition places Balaiah’s canvas paintings beside Prakash’s Batik works, allowing visitors to see where the son has stayed close to his father and where he has moved away. “My style is a little different, with fine lining, texture, bigger themes and mixed compositions,” he added.

One of Balaiah’s pieces that Prakash particularly wanted visitors to notice is based on Burrakatha, the oral storytelling tradition of village communities. The horizontal work situates the performance within a wider rural scene. Farmer couples, bulls, goats and other elements of village life recur elsewhere in the collection, alongside Dashavatara, Buddha and spiritual subjects.

Balaiah, widely known as “Batik Balaiah”, died in Hyderabad in December 2020 at the age of 81. Born in Ibrahimpur, Siddipet district, in 1939, he began his career as an art teacher in 1962 and spent decades working with Batik and canvas. He received the National Award for Teachers from the President of India in 1994 and was later honoured as a veteran artist by AIFACS in 2003.

Prakash has kept the technique but widened its scope. “I am adding more themes, bigger works and wall hangings, stoles, dupattas and masks. I am also adding products according to current trends,” he said.

Keeping Batik relevant, however, is only part of the challenge. “When people come and learn the dipping and removal in boiling water, they feel the labour involved is difficult. But they are very interested in the texture and ask how it comes,” he said. “A few people ask me whether I can train them. If there is a bigger platform where people can come on weekends and learn, more people will take up this technique.”

The concern about continuity has also acquired a geographical identity. Siddipet Batik Paintings is currently before the Geographical Indications Registry. The application, filed by the Siddipet Batik Paintings Society on December 15, 2025, is at the pre-examination stage.

The Madhapur exhibition opened on Saturday with support from the Telangana Department of Language and Culture. William Frederick Durr, co-founder of Dharmavana Nature Ark, inaugurated the exhibition, while S.M. Basha, executive director of TGHDCL, attended as chief guest. Ramana Reddy, HAS president, and Nandini, Craft Council chairperson, were guests of honour. Visitors can see the exhibition from 11 am to 7 pm until August 12 at the Chitramayee State Gallery of Art.