Kelantan Batik Motifs and What They Mean: Flowers, Leaves, Awan Larat and Roses

Spread out a length of Kelantan batik and look at what is drawn on it. Almost all of it is plants: flowers, leaves, shoots and curling tendrils, framed by geometric bands at the edges. People and animals rarely appear, and when they do, they are simplified. That choice has a reason. This post explains the main motifs in batik from Kelantan, a state on Malaysia's east coast, and how D'Rose Batik uses them in its own designs.

Why plants, not people or animals

Malay decorative art grew up in a Muslim society. Islamic teaching discourages realistic images of living beings, so Malay woodcarvers, songket weavers (songket is cloth woven with gold or silver thread) and batik makers turned to plants and geometric shapes as their main material. You can see the same principle in the carved panels of a traditional Malay house, in songket (cloth woven with metallic thread) and in batik.

When an animal such as a butterfly or a bird does enter a pattern, it is usually drawn so simply that it reads as ornament rather than a picture of the creature.

Flowers and leaves

Flowers are the most common motif in Kelantan batik. The bunga raya, or hibiscus, Malaysia's national flower, is often drawn large with its petals open. Other flowers are drawn smaller and set among leaves and shoots. Kelantan batik makers tend to draw big flowers with open background space around them, so each bloom reads clearly from a distance.

Most of these flowers carry no fixed, official meaning. Makers choose them because the shapes are familiar and take colour well. Readings such as "flowers stand for fertility" or "leaves stand for growth" do exist, but they are general interpretations, not rules every maker follows.

Awan larat: the unbroken scroll

Awan larat is a scroll of plant tendrils that curls and joins up, with leaves and flowers growing along it. The name means, roughly, drifting or spreading clouds. The motif comes from Malay woodcarving and was later taken up in songket and batik.

In the carving tradition, awan larat usually grows from a single root and runs on without a break. Many people read that continuous line as a sign of life carrying on. In batik, awan larat often fills the space between large flowers or runs as a band along the edge of the cloth.

Geometric borders and the layout of a sarong

A batik sarong has a set layout. The kepala kain (head of the cloth) is a panel patterned differently from the badan kain (body), and the edges are framed by border bands. This is where geometric motifs do most of their work.

Pucuk rebung, a triangle taken from the shape of a bamboo shoot, is common on the borders of both batik and songket. Zigzags, lozenges and small dots also mark off one part of the cloth from another. The layout is practical: when the sarong is wrapped, the head panel sits at the front or the back, depending on how the wearer wants it.

D'Rose Batik's five rose designs

Datin Nik Rosmawati binti Nik Yusoff opened D'Rose Batik at Bazar Buluh Kubu, Kota Bharu, in 2001, and its workshop draws its own rose motifs. The rose follows the same tradition as the other flowers in Kelantan batik: a plant motif, drawn large, with leaves and tendrils around it.

Five D'Rose rose designs carry copyright notifications with the Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia (MyIPO) under the Copyright Act 1987, applied for on 8 January 2024:

• Ros Kembang Tiga
• Ros Asmara Dana
• Ros Kembang Bertiga
• Ros Kembang Sekuntum
• Ros Tiga Serangkai

The names use ordinary Malay flower vocabulary. "Kembang" means blooming, "sekuntum" means a single bloom, and "serangkai" means a spray joined on one stem. The copyright notifications record the founder as owner and author of these designs, so nobody else may copy them without permission.

D'Rose cloth is also made under one rule, "satu rekaan, satu pemilik", meaning one design, one owner: a pattern is drawn once and sold once, so no two customers wear the same cloth.

How to see or ask about our designs

You can see the rose cloths at our shop in Bazar Buluh Kubu, Kota Bharu, Saturday to Thursday, or ask on WhatsApp at +60 12-679 7137. The copyright certificates for all five designs are on our recognition page.