Block printing has a long history in India. The history of hand printing in India has been over 4500 years. We can find an oldest surviving textile fragment dyed with madder which used for the Ajrakh and a Priest-King statue who wears a shoulder cloth with the outstanding Ajrakh p attern at M ohenjo Daro, w here i s n ow a p art of Pakistan. From there, some artisans migrated to Rajasthan and Gujarat in India. The term “Ajrakh ” has three different connotations. One is from the Sanskrit word jharat, meaning “something does not fade,” one is from Hindi word Aaj rakh representing “keep
it for today”. It could also be a derivation of azrak , meaning blue in Arabic, so blue is one of the principal colours in Ajrakh printing. Presently, Ajrakh is made in Barmer in Rajasthan and Kutch in Gujarat.
Ajrakh is traditional worn by men of the Muslim community as a lunghi, safa turban and shoulder wrap, but now also be used the material for the female skirt, cloth and shawl. The authentic Ajrakh is printed on both sides in combination with block printing and resist dying called Bi-puri, and when printed on one side it is termed as Ek-puri.
The long process of 'Ajrakh ' with many steps is taking days to finish individually. The process to make an Ajrakh , requires more than 12 steps, including washing, printing, resist dyeing, blue and red colour dyeing. Before printing, we need to wash and dry the fabric to make dirt free to get easy colour absorbent. Then we bleach the fabric, and according to the requirement, we dye the fabric as well. India is the first one who introduced the art of dyeing and printing with fast natural colours for the first time.

Indigo and madder are the primary colours that are used for dyeing. The same as black and white. The traditional Ajrakh uses only natural colours (vegetable dyes), but now chemical dyes are also used. However, green and some other secondary colours are also used nowadays.

Ajrakh , worn by the Muslim community, must not depict human or animal figures. All designs should conform to the aniconic nature of Islamic design principles from architectural features, decorative pierced stone window screens. These motifs cover the whole area of fabric. Each motif signifies a particular aspect of nature. Motifs are classified into overall patterns and borders. The foundation of Islamic art is Mizan, which means balance and order. This principle also governs the design and pattern of Ajrakh . Ajrakh printing is usually based on bold geometrical designs in combination
with dates, figs, almonds, grains and wealth of plant-inspired motifs. Styles were influenced by the political rulers of each time.
This paper reviews the historical, technical, pattern aspects of the two kinds of Ajrakh from Barmer and Kucth regions, using a comparative analysis of two Ajrakh block printing on the important similarities and differences between techniques, motif to help understand them better.