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Craft Profile |
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Handloom
The textiles of India are as diverse as its culture. Nearly four million handlooms are engaged in weaving fabrics of some 23 different varieties. The Handloom Census of India, undertaken in 1987-88, places the number of handloom textile workers at 65.3 lakh persons, making them the single largest group of artisans in India. Providing direct and indirect employment to more than 30 lakh weavers, handloom production is the largest economic activity second only to agriculture in India. Handlooms contribute nearly 23% of the total cloth produced in the country. The Handloom Act passed by the parliament in 1985 aims to shield handloom weavers against power loom and textile mill operators by reserving certain textile articles (presently eleven in number) for exclusive production by handlooms.
India has one of the richest textile traditions. Among its plain or loom-patterned fabrics, its cottons have been described by local and foreign writers for at least two thousand years, as being of the sheerest texture and quality. Most surviving fabrics date from the nineteenth century or later, and are testimony of the skills of spinners and weavers across the sub-continent. The weaving device - the loom - has been subject to constant hostile threats of being overtaken by the highly mechanized, organized, machinery-dominated textile industry for over a century and in recent decades, by the advent of the power loom. If the handloom has survived, it is because of its highly elastic range of adaptation in meeting communities’ needs and in its ability to produce exquisite fabrics that mills cannot produce in spite of all their sophisticated technologies.
For centuries both the spinning and weaving processes were traditionally carried out by hand on a cottage industry basis – in most parts of the country weaving by men and spinning by women. By the end of the twentieth century, mill-spun yarns had almost totally replaced hand-spun yarn. While there are a few vestigial centers of hand spinning of a high order still existing in parts of the country, for the most part hand-spun cotton yarn is now only used for khadi fabrics (the term khadi is used for hand-spun, hand woven fabric).
Chanderi - Chanderi is a small town in the newly formed Ashoknagar district of Madhya Pradesh. It is around 230 kilometers from Bhopal, the capital of the state. The nearest railway station is Lalitpur in Uttar Pradesh (on the Delhi-Mumbai railway line) which is around 40 kilometers from Chanderi. There are trains to Lalitpur from Delhi at regular intervals, and transportation is easily available from Lalitpur to Chanderi.
Chanderi is a town of looms. The major concentration of the looms is in the older part of the city called Bahar Shahar (the outer town) where the streets are filled with the noises of the looms working. On an average, today there are more than 2500 looms in Chanderi which are owned by the artisans. Normally each artisan has two to four looms in his/her home where all the family members work.
The artisans get the raw material from the big traders on the basis of weight, the designs and the order to produce the sari. They take it home, work on it and bring the finished product back to the trader who pays them agreed wages which is based on the number of meters of cloth woven.
Ikat - It is widely believed that Ikat weaving in Andhra Pradesh developed around the turn of the century, if not earlier. No written document is available to ascertain the exact origin of the Ikat technique in this region. The Telugu word for tie and dye is chitki, which either comes from the word chit for dot or the common Telugu word chitti for small or tiny (the early chitki patterns were largely small dash-like forms). The oldest center, Chirala (in today’s Prakasam district), was once known to produce the famous cotton telia rumals, woven in pairs measuring 55 to 75 square centimeters.
The Ikat technique of weaving has been in the Nalgonda district for the last 35-40 years. The origin of this technique is not very clear, but it appears to have been learnt and was not indigenous to the region. According to one version, weavers from Chirala who migrated to Nalgonda brought this technique of tie and dye with them. Another view holds that the nizam settled a few weavers of Mashroo (brocaded cloth, with cotton inside and silk outside) here and that the Ikat technique developed out of that. Old weavers in the region remember that experts from HYCO, Weavers’ Service Centre and Pochampalli had come to train them in Ikat weaving decades ago. Ikats received a fillip in the 1960s, when the Government began encouraging the export of such fabric. The Festivals of India in the 1980s are also said to have fueled export interest in Ikats.This gave Ikats a clear-cut niche in markets, including export markets. Some say that local weavers went to Chirala to learn the technique, but found it difficult to execute the double Ikat weaving.
Jaquard weaving - The jacquard loom traveled to India probably during British times and soon became the preferred choice of weavers as they could create complex designs with much less labour. It also reduced the cost of cloth and brought it within the reach of the lower classes. Today, the jacquard loom is used in various parts of India to produce cloth for products like tapestry, upholstery, saris, etc.
Khadi - magic woven by hands. Khadi is hand spun and hand woven fabric made largely out of natural fibers like wool, cotton and silk. Mahatma Gandhi, Father of the Indian Nation, made khadi the fabric of millions. In urging the people of India to wear khadi, Mahatma Gandhi was not only calling for self-reliance, but creating a symbol to prove the unity of India. Khadi came to represent the resurgence of India’s rural industries. Today, khadi remains a vocal representative of Indian cottage industry.
Maheshwari - Maheshwar, after becoming the capital of Devi Ahilya Bai Holkar’s state, witnessed many development efforts by the state. This included construction of new temples, ghats and other structures. Devi Ahilya Bai also invited weavers from various princely states like Hyderabad, Mandav and many more to settle in Maheshwar. She supported these enterprises by purchasing a lot of their products for herself as well as for gifting to visiting dignitaries, a move that took the reputation of Maheshwari handloom to distant parts of India. The weavers were asked to follow the designs inscribed on the walls of the fort. Even today these designs can be found on the borders of Maheshwari saris. Thus, the handloom operations adopted since are being followed till date, including the use of only the natural fibers.
Mangalgiri Textiles - A community of weavers in Mangalgiri was engaged for generations in weaving saris considered coarse and thick. These were the saris worn by the farming community or the rytulu within Mangalgiri, woven in counts of 40s, 20s and occasionally in 60s. Dejected by the dwindling demand and bleak prospects, weavers from Mangalgiri started migrating to nearby towns in search of alternative livelihoods, ending up working in gold shops or hawking on the streets. In 1984 some designers from Delhi recognized the superior quality weave of the Mangalgiri textile and encouraged weavers to adopt finer counts and a wider range of colors. This led to the famous multicolor stripes and checks of Mangalgiri textile. Since then Mangalgiri has become a national and international name for a textile known for vibrant colors and fine quality.
Mangalgiri is also known for what may be called a ‘success story’ in the handloom sector |
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