Mata ni Pachedi

Meaning “behind the Mother Goddess,” Mata ni Pachedi is a portable shrine of the Devipujak and Vaghri communities of Gujarat. For centuries, families historically excluded from temple precincts painted the goddess onto cotton, creating a sanctum that could be carried, hung, and gathered around.

Its making is deliberate and elemental: cotton, harda, fermented iron-black, alizarin red, and the waters of the Sabarmati. At its centre sits the Mata, surrounded by devotees, animals, and intricate narrative borders.

During Navratri Festival, the pachedi becomes a canopy and wall, a sacred space in cloth.

Today, a small number of Chitara families in Ahmedabad continue the tradition. In 2023 Geographical Indication offers formal recognition; its survival depends on the hands that still make it.