Digital revival of traditional Indian floor painting designs for textile applications: A pathway to empowering women through entrepreneurship

India, a land of cultural diversity has a rich artistic heritage including traditional floor paintings created by women on auspicious occasions and festivals using natural pigments at home entrances and religious places. These temporary artworks passed down through generations, reflect regional identities. However, urbanization and changing lifestyles have led to their gradual decline, with limited documentation further threatening their survival. This study explores the adaptation of Indian floor painting motifs for textile surface enrichment through digital technology. Ten traditional Indian floor paintings of different states namely Aipan, Alpona, Chita, Chittara, Gond, Kollam, Mandana, Muggulu, Onapukallam and Rangavalli were analyzed for motif selection. Five hundred motifs were collected and refined digitally using Adobe Photoshop to enhance intricacy and adaptability. Through systematic design development in CorelDRAW 2021, one hundred innovative designs were created by combining two to four selected motifs. Ten selected designs i.e. one from each painting based on expert evaluation underwent digital simulation, exploring five placements and colourways each. Expert assessments determined the most preferred placement and colourway for textile application. Integrating traditional Indian floor painting designs into textiles offers a sustainable approach to preserve endangered art forms while promoting India's cultural heritage. This adaptation enhances the visibility of folk floor arts globally and creates opportunities for women entrepreneurship by empowering women practicing this craft to establish small-scale enterprises. Additionally, extension programs and capacity-building initiatives can utilize these designs to train artisans and promote socio-economic development, supporting cultural tourism and community participation.