The art of papermaking was brought to India in the 11th century following the invasion of Mahmood Gaznavi and was well developed in Kalpi (near Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh) by 1158. However its production increased substantially during the Mughal period starting in 1526. The craft may also have reached the Himalayan foothills from Tibet. Papermakers in Arunachal Pradesh, as in neighboring Bhutan and Nepal, still use the floating mould technique.    The Mughals, especially Akbar, encouraged the migration of papermakers, setting up kagzimohallahs in many cities. The word kagzi, spelled in many variants,2 means "papermaker" and can be traced back to Tashkent (on the Silk Road, now in Kyrgistan), although it may have a Persian or Chinese origin. A kagzimohallah (or kagzipura) is a neighborhood where papermakers live and work. Even after handmade paper faded away, the kagzi families tended to stay in their neighborhoods and to retain "Kagzi" as part of their name.   Generally speaking they used worn out woven cloth�made from fibers such as cotton, sunn hemp (Crotalaria juncea) and jute�and old papers (naddi). Preparation of the fibers included soaking them in water and lime and beating them with stampers (dhenki). These procedures could be very extensive.3       The kagzi dispersed the prepared pulp in water in a vat sunk into the floor, next to which he either squatted or stood in a pit. The forming surface of the mould, the chapri, was of laid construction with khus grass (or sometimes bamboo) held together with horsehair twists. Skilled craftspeople still make chapris, apparently unchanged in detail, in Junnar, Sanganer and possibly elsewhere. A rigid frame (sacha) supported the flexible chapri and the kagzi dipped it vertically and completely into the stuff. He brought the chapri level before lifting it to�but not significantly above�the surface of the water. The wave traveled away from the kagzi and he threw it off before inducing a side shake by lifting first one hand and then the other.   In some respects this technique resembled the traditional European sheet forming method. However, the chapri remained in contact with the surface until the sheet was set and only then did the kagzi lift it fully away. As most of the water drained away while the chapri and its support nearly floated, this formation method required far less physical effort than the European one.   The kagzi couched and pressed the sheet in a way very similar to the Japanese technique although he usually separated the sheets with cotton calico cloth. Traditionally papermakers dried the sheets by brushing them onto plastered walls, sized them with starch and burnished them with an agate stone. No-one today employs every stage mentioned above, although Mohammed Hussain Kagzi (of Sanganer near Jaipur) differs only in not using a stamper.    Competition from British machine-made papers nearly destroyed Indian hand papermaking by the early twentieth century. However the leaders of the independence movement were determined that independent India would revive the skills, dignity and income-earning capacity of village crafts. At about this time, Douglass Morse Howell sent samples of his paper to the Mahatma Gandhi, who responded, in part, "I have received your letter with specimens of your workmanship. Such work is fairly common in India, but I must warn you against thinking that by itself it promotes spiritual brotherhood."4    Gandhi invited Professor J. C. Kumarappa, a leading economist, to set up a program to encourage the revival of rural industries. This led to the establishment in 1956 of the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC), which continues in operation today. Among other industries, KVIC supports the manufacture of Khadi, hand spun, hand woven cloth, which now, once more, involves hundreds of thousands of people.    KVIC also encourages the production of Hath Kagaz (handmade paper), another major craft. In 1953, only three papermakers still worked at this craft in the great center of Kalpi. Annual production in the whole country was a meager 204 tons. Making paper by hand has many advantages in a country such as India that has not only limited capital, raw material and energy resources but also a large pool of under-employed people. In these circumstances, paper can be made by hand with far lower investment per unit of capacity and greatly reduced consumption of energy and chemicals. This also reduces pollution (or the complexity of treating it) provided simple precautions are taken. By contrast, larger mills often have inadequate effluent treatment, which, combined with their scale, can have a devastating environmental impact like much large-scale industry.    KVIC supported the development of new techniques such as the autovat. Requiring less skill than      dipping, it has been used throughout India, often successfully. In another major change, KVIC aided the formation of co-operative societies and the concentration of production into small factories. Supported by soft loans and grants, Indians established several hundred handmade paper units in the 1950s and 1960s.5 To ensure full use of production capacity, many states introduced regulations requiring the use of handmade paper and board for file folders and some stationery. The states also subsidized the price of discarded government records, which they sold as a raw material.   For some years, the program flourished but by the early 1980s KVIC acknowledged that not all was well. Many units had problems. Effectively these units were financially unviable and produced paper sporadically. In addition, KVIC recognized severe quality shortcomings. These included severe weight variation (over 30% from standard, even using the autovat conceived to overcome this problem), dirt, creases, poor sizing and variable color.    What had gone wrong? Could it be put right? In 1981 Mr. S. N. Singh (then responsible for handmade papermaking in Uttar Pradesh) wrote an article, "Paper Shortage: A New Horizon," that came to the attention of Dr. Manfred Judt of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). Dr. Judt was responsible for UNIDO's world-wide program to advance papermaking in developing countries. His projects included straw pulping in Turkey, desilication of black liquor from rice straw pulping in India and mills in many other countries�but all producing machine-made paper. Nevertheless, he shared an interest with Mr. Singh, as both were dedicated to the use of non-wood fibers. They met in 1982 and 1983.    With the help of KVIC and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), New Delhi staff, an initial investigation was commissioned in 1984. They invited me to undertake a fact-finding mission and to make recommendations on improving quality and productivity. Initially I proceeded cautiously because Indian entrepreneurs had been approaching Barcham Green for years, determined to learn our skills and copy them. They were not unique in this; Westerners had been doing the same at least since Dard Hunter's time. However, having secured the right to protect our own business interests, I was keen to help people in their struggle for self-sufficiency. With hindsight I found that neither our interests nor those of workshop scale imitators who in the early 1990s sought to prevent the participation of other Western consultants were ever in jeopardy.   In January 1985 I left behind the delights of a grey English winter and set out on my first journey to India. (Nine more have followed to date.) It proved to be a fascinating voyage of discovery and a chance to participate in what has become an Indian success      story. In just over two weeks, I visited twenty units in seven localities. The wide diversity of methods and organizations struck me. In Sanganer, near Jaipur in Rajasthan and Junnar (Maharashtra) papermakers used traditional sheetforming, though with many amendments. In Pondicherry, the Sri Auribindo Ashram had brought the autovat system to a high level of accomplishment and exported their paper all over the world. And in Kalpi, thirty units now used a fascinating combination of Islamic forming technique with modified rigid European-style moulds. Despite their success in training nine hundred papermakers over thirty years, I became convinced that the concept of eliminating skill from the hand craft was fundamentally flawed. I noted the very minimal quality standards (partly due to the guaranteed government market for low value products like file folders, irrespective of the quality provided). By turning papermaking into an unskilled activity through use of the autovat, they took away any motivation for the papermakers to do a first class job. This led to even poorer quality than if they had used insufficiently trained people with the traditional technique.   I made a number of detailed recommendations following the 1985 mission, including the establishment of a national research and demonstration center. Although I did not anticipate a rapid response, by the time five years had passed, I concluded that the project would go no further. How wrong I was! During 1990, KVIC exhumed the report and, with UNDP, formulated the Strengthening Handmade Paper Industry in India project. The program included the new center, overseas study tours and fellowships as well as missions from a number of international consultants in marketing and technical areas. They recruited me once more, this time as Chief Technical Adviser. My initial mission, in September 1991, started in Vienna, headquarters of UNIDO, with a briefing from Mrs. Rosalie M. V. Assumpcao, who had recently taken over from Dr. Judt. Mrs. Assumpcao's previous career was as Technical Director of a very large pulp mill in Sao Paolo State, Brazil and we soon found our perspectives differed in many ways. We debated the relative skills of workers making machine-made and hand-made paper. In her view, the latter were virtually unskilled. (In fact this is often true, but not desirable!) Despite our occasional differences, we formed an unusual alliance over the next few years.    KVIC dispatched me next on another fact finding trip around much of India, visiting units in ten locations and holding conferences with papermakers in eight major cities. During the course of this tour, I also set planning in motion for the Kumarappa      National Handmade Paper Institute. I had been delighted to find that this was to be located in Sanganer, one of the healthiest traditional papermaking areas, in Rajasthan, one of India's most colorful and culturally exciting states. I was less enthusiastic about the proposed site, situated in a partially built industrial park immediately next to a marble machining factory. The site itself covered only 8,800 square feet while I calculated that the building should be about 15,000 square feet, largely on one floor.   Fortunately we overcame this problem. The Rajasthan Housing Board, who also introduced us to two young architects, Punit Sethi and Veejay Garg, made available a superior three acre site. By this time Alexandra Soteriou had joined the project to develop some distinctive papers for export and she also rendered excellent advice and support in defining the building specifications. The resulting design combined traditional and modern elements and has proved to be an efficient layout, very pleasant to work in and relatively cool (in a climate where temperatures reach 110�F in the shade). Facilities include physical and chemical laboratories; a pilot plant with production scale vats of several Indian, English and Japanese designs; a Hollander beater; and a small cylinder mould machine with associated equipment. There are also fiber preparation, drying and product conversion areas, a library and offices. The Institute has its own tubewell and effluent plant.   During 1992 four Indian papermakers and I embarked on a technical study tour of Japan, Finland, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Italy, France and England. Our outstandingly hospitable hosts in each country provided a wealth of information. Subsequently eight fellows spent two months each in Japan, the Czech Republic, England and the Philippines. Timothy Barrett and Mina Takahashi undertook brief missions to Kalpi and Sanganer in 1994. Marketing activities in India, Europe and the USA supplemented these technical studies.   During the last five years, major changes have taken place in the Indian hand papermaking industry. It has grown, employing 8,000 people in 1995 (in 233 units) compared with 6,000 in 1991. Sales have doubled to over five million dollars per year, about half from exports. In addition, the variety of products has increased enormously. These include stationery and greetings cards, printed carrier bags, paper covered boxes, lamp shades, shoe leatherboard, laboratory and automotive filter papers, coasters and fans. Working conditions in the leading units have improved enormously. For example, Salimuddin Kagzi's new mill, which employs 235 staff and has 28 vats, is light and airy and has good drainage. All the vats are tile lined, the staff are now well trained and cheerful and child labor has been eliminated. By contrast, in 1985 the old factory had been dirty, ill-lit and poorly ventilated and some of the thirty-five workers had been very young. Other units in the area are following suit and one (named Kalpana, after the owner's daughter) even irrigates its own flower nurseries with dirty water from production. The flowers provide petals for inclusion in some of the unit's papers.   Many of the successful units are now very productive, with a two person vat crew making about 600 sheets in eight hours. Apart from chapri techniques, autovats and the hybrid method also found at      Kalpi, the units in Sanganer tend to use moulds with deep deckle boxes lifted by two people working face to face, a technique very productive for heavier weights. The poor formation does not matter because the units largely make carrier bags, wrapping and box coverings from these papers.   KVIC is also encouraging smaller units. For example, it has provided a $4,000 grant and loan package to Mohammed Hussain Kagzi and his family.6 Several years ago, I doubted whether this family would be able to continue with traditional sheet forming, wall drying and agate burnishing techniques. However, Mohammed Hussain Kagzi's son has now joined his wife and daughter-in-law (who makes the chapris) in the business. The investment will pay for a building extension and a small Hollander beater.    A new national program, which aims to increase employment to 25,000 people in more than 450 papermaking units, includes specific support for tiny (i.e., cottage scale) units. Mr. Singh has been working closely with papermakers and state officials in Arunachal Pradesh (in the Eastern Himalayan foothills) to revive and expand the local traditional craft, which utilizes bast fiber from abundant Daphne papyracea.7 Until recently KVIC did not even know of the survival of papermaking in this area.   Throughout India groups of traditional kagzis who have not made paper for decades desperately want to resume their trade. A particularly poignant example is in Ghosunda, near Chittorgarh in South Eastern Rajasthan. Alexandra Soteriou contacted the Beg family in Ghosunda some years ago while conducting research. In the 1960s, KVIC encouraged these kagzis to establish a co-operative and helped them erect a fine building with a dozen vats and two good beaters. Unfortunately, marketing, financial and other problems brought the venture to a halt. Creditors closed down the operation and sold all the metal components, including the beater bars and roof sheeting, for scrap. A drought, which has continued for some years, exacerbated the agricultural problems of this village. (I went there in 1992 and 1996 and found it one of the poorest communities I have ever visited.) Legal restrictions on the use of water stopped even backyard papermaking for a while.   Papermaking skills still exist in the village but bringing the craft back to life will not be easy. As the next steps, the family will select the best site, prepare a business plan, secure financing and build a new unit, perhaps based on the old one. They can develop a market for their paper since the village is not far from Udaipur, one of the most beautiful cities in India, popular with both Indian and foreign visitors. This affords considerable opportunity for souvenirs, hotel stationery and similar items. In some ways, Ghosunda typifies what the entire program hopes to achieve and also illustrates some of the problems involved.       The Kumarappa Institute itself continues to develop new and improved papers, particularly using virgin fibers such as sunn hemp, bhang (Cannabis sativa), banana (Musa sapientum and related species), ach (Calotropsis procera) and various types of straw and other agricultural wastes. It has already trained more than one hundred entrepreneurs, artisans and technicians and offers several different courses. It recently purchased eight apartments nearby for trainees and plans to convert one of these as an international hostel.   One fifth of India's huge and complex society of about one billion people are considered middle class. Despite room for more export, in competition with many other developing countries, there is even more potential for growing and sustainable sales to the home market. Whilst United Nations involvement in the project will soon end, those of us who have assisted hope that the Kumarappa Institute will grow and strengthen its efforts to support the industry, both technically and with marketing and business advice. If it succeeds, it will create many jobs producing useful and attractive papers from waste fibers with low environmental impact.   I am indebted to Mr. S. N. Singh for his help in preparing this article. Mr. Singh has worked in the handmade paper field for over thirty years and, without his unstinting efforts, this program might never have started and certainly would never have flourished.   The Kumarappa National Handmade Paper Institute welcomes visitors and can also provide information about handmade paper units nationally that may be visited. Please contact the National Project Co-ordinator, Mr. S. N. Singh, well in advance of your visit. The address is: The Kumarappa National Handmade Paper Institute, Ramsinghpura, Sikarpura Road, Sanganer, Jaipur, Rajasthan, 303902. Telephone and facsimile number 00-91-141-552015.         Notes   1. Hunter, D., Papermaking, The History and Technique of an Ancient Craft, Alfred A Knopf, Inc, New York, 1943, p. 223.   2. There is considerable inconsistency in the transliteration of Indian words into English, which partly results from fluctuations in the actual words themselves both in differing Asian languages and regionally. Indians in the industry are generally not pedantic about technical spelling and I have followed their example.   3. See: Clapperton, R. H., Paper, An Historical Account of its Making by Hand from the Earliest times down to the Present Day, The Shakespeare Head Press, Oxford, 1934; Premchand, N., Off the Deckle Edge, A paper-making journey through India, The Ankur Project, 1995; Soteriou, A., The Gift of Conquerors, Hand Papermaking in India, Mapin Publishing Pvt. Ltd., 1997.    4. From Douglass Howell Collection, as cited in Douglass Morse Howell Retrospective, (exhibition catalogue), American Craft Museum, 1982.   5. The term "unit" is invariably used in India, where "mill" is associated with huge, industrial factories.   6. See Green, S. B., "Tradition Survives in Rajasthan," Hand Papermaking, Volume 7 Number 2, Winter 1992, pp. 7-8.   7. Also known as Daphne cannabina. In reality there are a number of closely related species including Daphne bholua (called lokta in Nepal) and Edgeworthia papyrifera (called mitsumata in Japan) growing in the Himalayan foothills and it is often difficult to identify exactly which is being used. This is not helped by the frequent changes in name, resulting from trends in taxonomic fashion!

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