weaving practices in siwan

© Adrik Ghosh and Ullas Srivastava

© National Institute of Design, Paldi

© Parivartan

© Takshila

All rights reserverd. No part of this document may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or

by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the

prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical law. For

permissio requests, write to the publisher, addressed.

weavingPractices in Siwan

Authors Adrik Ghosh and Ullas Srivastava

Guided by Swasti Sigh Ghai

Sponsored byParivartan and Takshila Foundation

As a part of our Textile Design curriculum (at National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, India) and in order to gain more practical knowledge in the field of craft, we were required to document a craft practice. The core objective behind the course is to undertake an analysis of the field information and secondary research and thereby acquire a unique and comparative understanding and thus be in a position to appreciate the material and conceptual aspects of the craft tradition.This document has been commissioned by Parivartan. Parivaratan is an NGO based in Siwan district of Bihar. The NGO works on developing the rural sector, primarily around Narendrapur. The organisation facilitates the upliftment of the rural community in education, skill development, social development and entrepreneurship. The brief provided to us was ‘to trace and document the history of weaving practices in Siwan and list down the potential textile related abilities in other crafts practised in the region’.Siwan has been recognised for its immense contribution in the freedom struggle, but little for its textiles.Surrounded by well known textile clusters of the north demonstrating fine and delicate craftsmanship, Siwan a mere coazrse cotton fabric producing district has remained neglected in terms of documentation. The fine muslin from Bengal and the glamorous brocades of Varanasi overshadowed the daily wear and the poor man’s cloth. Siwan has remained the producer of cheap cotton handloom fabric to drape the poorer section of Bihar. Despite the advent of mill-spun yarn, Siwan stuck to catering to the mere basic utilitarian set of textiles, like gamcha (men’s shoulder cloth), dhoti (men’s lower drape), chaddar ( bed sheet), saris etc. The book ‘Saris: Tradition and Beyond’ by Rita Kapur Chisti while mapping the textiles of the state on page 164, recognised the production of motia dhoti and embroidery in Siwan; nothing was written in specific about the place. Another book, ‘Saris of India: Bihar and West Bengal’ by the same author, throws no specific light the other textiles produced in the district. Possibly the absence of a distinct sari weaving tradition did not allow much attention on siwan handloom production.

Parivartan, in its attempts to revive a dying tradition, seeks to understand the origin and history of weaving traditions of Siwan. The district witnessed a decline in weaving practice since 1980s. In order to unearth the past of weaving practices and to also situate those weaving practices in the local cultural context, a detailed documentation is the need of the hour.Prior to the start of the primary research, a proposal was prepared. The secondary research undertaken at the beginning showed a gap in the documentation of craft practices in this region. This meant that we were to rely primarily on the primary field work. We began by conducting informal interviews of the people working at Parivartan. We further listed down the weaving clusters based on the NGO’s initial report by Ravi Shankar Yadav, Weaving Facilitator.In this project we have attempted to collect information (mostly oral history), about the weaving history

Preface

in the district of Siwan and the villages. We spoke to the different stakeholders that are/were involved in the weaving practice. Our goal was to study the history in order to make the current system efficient and suggest the design interventions which are culturally relevant. The document first provides a basic introduction to the place, practice, current situation and methodology. Next it takes the reader briefly through the history of Bihar, its administrative boundary and geographical placement. It then narrows down the focus to Siwan district.; in this part the emphasis is given on the historical significance of the place, it’s district census and cluster boundaries. The document further establishes the sponsoring organisation and its relevance to the study. Back to a macro perspective, in the chapter ‘Weaving in Bihar’, the document narrates about weaving practices of Bihar; from its finest quality commissioned fabrics to the coarse variety. Identifying the importance of handloom and khadi in the district of Siwan, a chapter has been dedicated to sensitize with its ancientness, struggle and revival. The chapter on woven textiles of Siwan lists and elaborates on the different textiles curated on-field and through secondary research. It further provides a table noting down the textile specification of the samples studied. The document would now throw light on the weaving journey of Siwan through the decades. It divides the timeline into three parts: rise of weaving, decline of the practice and the revival of it. This part of the document mostly focuses on the situation in the weaving based villages of Jamalhatha, Hathauri and Banth Sriram. Next comes the analysis section. Here the reader will be provided with a SWOT (Strength Weakness Opportunities Threat) analysis. Next would be a reflection on non-weaving craft practices in Siwan with potential textile abilities. Lastly, it would list down the design suggestions which are an outcome of the study.

AcknowledgmentTo make any project successful, essential requirement is able guidance and references without which project is incomplete. The success and final outcome of this project required a lot of guidance and assistance from many people and we are extremely fortunate to have got this all along the completion of the project. We are very thankful to the villagers, weavers and other craftspersons who cooperated and were gracious to include us in their otherwise busy schedule.They willingly supported our field work with no expectations. We would also like to thank the NGO- Parivartan, which provided us with such an interesting project opportunity..The project couldn’t be completed without the effort and co-operation from Parivartan members, Mr. Sanjiv, Ms Setika, Mr. Satish, Ms. Veena, Mr. Ravi, and also the crafts people, Mr. Riyaz, Mr. Wasir, Smt. Shiv Devi, Smt. Champa Devi. We would like to thank our guide Ms. Swasti, who has provided us with an opportunity and motivation to gain knowledge and to allow us to acquire a position of respect and empathy vis a vis the craft traditions, to the creative genius of craft processes, to the dignity of human labour, and to the dedicated and simple life of the makers. Last, we would like to express our gratitude to our friends and respondents for support and willingness to spend time with us.

Contents1. Introduction2. Bihar3. Siwan4. NGO- Parivartan5. Weaving in Bihar6. Handloom and Khadi in Siwan7. Woven textiles of Siwan8. Details of Textile Manufacturing In Siwan9. Rise and Fall of weaving in Siwan 10. Support from Parivartan11. SWOT12. Other potential textile related abilities 13. Design suggestions 14. Glossary15. Bibliography

IntroductionAn eastern state of India, Bihar gets divided into two unequal halves by the river Ganges. The annual tragedy of flood in these plains, not only brought richness to the soil but disrupted the human settlement leading to widespread poverty. This, in conjunct with stringent feudal system led to the masses being able to afford coarse textiles. handspun handwoven

low-count coarse cotton fabric. The weavers emphasised on strength and durability of the wearables keeping in mind the climatic conditions and affordability of the commoners. Such craftsmanship is reflected in the combination of counts, reed-picks, texture, restrained ornamentation if any, and limited number of natural colours. These wearables were

put under a broad umbrella called ‘Motia’. Following such a weaving tradition, Siwan, a district on the western side of Bihar, originally a sub-division of the Saran district emerged as a major production hub for utilitarian textile goods in early 1930s .Spinning and weaving have always constituted a major sector of the economy, sometimes as

Scenery en route to Narendrapur

1

1

a parallel and complementary occupation to agriculture. In other situations, weaving used to be the only occupation of a highly skilled community of craftsmen who were an integral part of the village economy, making it a self-supporting profession, providing articles of daily use locally or for bartering in weekly markets and creating thereby a well-knit pattern of social exchange. Unfortunately, with the advent of the British, the balance of this equilibrium was disturbed by the introduction of machine-made products.

For almost 90 years the artisans have dedicated themselves to the production of handloom. Ever since India adopted the concept of open market and free trade, the handloom sector of India has been affected adversely. Not just the did powerloom increase the production level economically, but also significantly led lesser skilled men to take up the job; such transition happened due to the mechanisation and digitalisation of once hand-

crafted intricate motifs. Such situations and policy changes not just affected the weaving practice but also changed the pre-production processes and customs. Charkha got mechanised and spinning mills started emerging; the fineness of cloth changed. The material library saw a significant change as well; cotton was no longer the only preferred fibre in both handloom and powerloom sector. Siwan narrates one such unique story of transition and their methods of adaptation.In a very short span, Siwan not just became a major producer but also became an alternative trade centre for Mao and Gorakhpur, two cities located in the eastern part of Uttar Pradesh. The intense demand not just created job opportunities but also led to a significant development in the standard of living; such that when weaving practice stopped in Siwan, the weaver’s family would not hesitate to send the younger generation away for studies and eventually work. This transition of profession worked

2

well for the villagers as there was an increased remittance.To understand a cluster and work further on them, one needs to understand the context and subtext. To establish a context, one must be aware of the past as much as the present. To make an intervention in any traditional practices, every parameter which defines it needs to be understood, hence studied. The document focuses on understanding the course of action which led to the establishment of the

weaving practices in Siwan and excavating the ideas which forms the core of the cluster. The document records every possible stakeholders and incidents which we feel played an important role in deciding the fate of the weavers of Siwan. The document takes you through the start of weaving in Siwan, to its flourishing era and then to fateful decline in trade. It further focuses on the present scenario and the consequences of the design interventions. The document further suggests probable areas of mindful intervention and other crafts which can be developed through the textile related abilities of the local women.To go about with the study, we first drafted a research proposal to create a clear idea of the research opportunities and to reason out the need of this research. We started the field research with the descriptive method of research but transited to quantitative, qualitative and empirical methods to strengthen the information base. Snowball sampling helped us understand

A weaver in Jamalhatha weaving plain-weave white cotton yardage for Parivartan

3

and connected to the NGO helped us to understand the socio economic scenario. Semi-structured interviews with state government officials helped us understand the role of the government and the effect of government policies on the district of Siwan. The research covered seven villages, namely Jamalhatha, Hatauri, Santhu, Banthu, Raghunathpur, Bhaurajpur and Hussainganj. The on-field research was completed in a duration of 21 days.While absence of substantial secondary data led to a feeble base to start; we consider our primary research as a fresh start. When we entered Narendrapur, where Privartan has its campus, we fell upon Ravi’s initial report to get an idea of the villages which are continuing to weave, even if with one weaver. Our journey thus started with a visit to a local village- Jamalhatha. This was the perfect place to start because the number of active weavers were much higher than that of any other villages in Siwan district. Also

the history of these clusters and list other villages that shared the same practices and trade links. We created initial informal questionnaire to serve as a guide through the interviews, most of which were semi-structured. We also started maintaining log books, maps, timeline and kept adding information as and when required.Since physical samples and secondary data were unavailable, we had to rely on oral history. We leaned on general interview guide approach to address our concerns about the authenticity of the data collected. To document the incoming data, physical as well oral, we chose photography, videography and audio recording. After exhaustive data collection, we found voids in the data sets. These were restricting us from visualizing the situation of the past. So, we implemented the empirical method of research to fill those gaps with probable links which fit the context. However, these have given rise to possible areas of further study. Case studies of the weavers both independent

4

Contrary to the weavers of Jamalhatha, the ones we met in Hatauri, mainly Waris ji, was more enthusiastic about showing us the samples he had since the time of his father. It was the first time we got to study a physical evidence. As we were reviewing our research on field mid-way, we encountered major data voids. Many pieces of the jigsaw puzzle were still amiss. That is when we started viewing Siwan through a macro perspective. We started analysing the parallel events happening in Bihar as well as the nation to draw links and reason out the course of actions which took place in the weaving villages, thus was the resolution of the third challenge. The next challenge was the weavers’ explanation. During the interviews, the weavers would mention certain technical details which was difficult to translate to our understanding of weaving. Their colloquial vocabulary and our western terminologies, it was a total mismatch. For example to mention the presence of lino in

with the organisation’s social development initiatives in the village and the goodwill it has developed over the years, we felt it would be easier to break the ice and gather our initial set of data. There, a conversation with Riyaz Ahmed gave a vivid image of the glories of the past. While narrating about the affluence in trade, one could sense the pride and excitement in his voice. The second challenge to the field research was the unavailability of samples. We were still trying to conjure images of the textiles woven earlier- with hardly any physical samples to give clues for our imaginings.. Even though the utilitarian textiles were known to be durable, they aren’t usually preserved with care- like heirloom pieces are. So these would fade with use- barely living beyond 3 to 4 years. Moreover, the weavers never considered archiving their work as what they produced was immediately sold off. The ones which remained with them would be used by the household.

5

mosquito netting ( the possibility of this weave structure dawne don us post field work) was merely explained as use of four threads instead of two; and by two threads they meant a mere plain weave. Fifth and the final challenge was locating old practitioners. We had travelled half a day to reach villages only to find that the older weavers have migrated or have passed away because of age. It was only in the Jamalhatha village that we met a 100 year old weaver, Haffizulla Ansari who could give us information about the origins of weaving practices in that region. Even though the skill has been passed down the generations, the stories of the arrival of weaving in that local area, has slipped out of people’s memories-. the earliest some could recollect was just two generations prior them. As much as the transfer of skill and aesthetics are important to preserve and sustain a practice; the stories of its origins, the myths surrounding it and the beliefs affecting it; all play a

“Every house in these lanes had looms and every member of the household would be involved in weaving” - Riyaz ji reminiscing the 70s in Jamalhatha

6

major role in shaping the identity of the particular tradition. During the third week of the study we decided to focus on the government organisations and other institutions, in order to understand how they have been facilitating the weavers of Siwan.We have given our best to bring to light the various layers of the past weaving practices.Before we proceed, we would like to clarify our understanding of a few key terms which we will be using throughout the document.

67 years old Champa Devi, a spinner in Santhu, petting her grandson.

7

Who is an artisan?

We derive our understanding of who a `craftsperson’ or `artisan’ is, based on the articulations in “India’s Artisans A Status Report” by Stuti and “Visvakarma’s Children- Stories of India’s Craftspeople” by Jaya Jaitly’. We define as artisan, in a developing nation like India, where craft practices are continued to be used for production and exports, along with industrial goods; as “An artisan is a producer of a product that is handmade, and involves a skill that is not a part of a mechanical chain of production”. Today the artisans and craftspeople are divided into various categories- the wage worker, the skilled master craftsman, the self-employed artisan, the village artisan- producing wares for local use, the part time artisan whosecrafts activated supplement his merge earnings. Though craftspeople belong to a caste or tribe, religious community or professional group, yet each worker has an individual identity with his or her own past and particular hopes for the future. Rajeshwati Ji’s daughter in law, showing us some sikki basketry.

8

What is a cluster?

According to United Nations Industrial Development Organisation,” Cluster can be defined as concentration of micro, small and medium enterprises in a given geographical location producing the same or a similar type of products or services and these enterprises face similar type of opportunities and threats. The cluster is known by the name of the product being produced by principal firms and the place they are located in.”

9

What is a village?

The basic unit for rural areas is the revenue village, which has definite surveyed boundaries. The revenue village may comprise of one or more hamlets but the entire village is treated as one unit for presentation of data. In un surveyed areas, like villages within forest areas, each habitation area with locally recognized boundaries is treated as one village. [source: DCHIB- Siwan, Part A, 2011]

A loom shed infront of the house of Aataullah Ansari

10

BiharLying in the rich Gangetic plains at the foothills of the Great Himalayas, the state of Bihar (latitude 24°-20’-10” N ~ 27°-31’-15” N and longitude 83°-19’-50” E ~ 88°-17’-40” E) has been blessed with an abundance of resources both natural and human. Bounded by the Kingdom of Nepal in the north, state of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh in the west and Bengal in the east and Orissa by the south; Bihar covers approximately 5.3 percent of the Indian territory.

The dominating Ganga river witnessed the glory of the empires of Mauryas and Guptas, followed by Tughlaqs, Lodhis and Mughals. Bihar separated as an administrative unit from the Bengal Presidency in 1912 under the British Raj and formed the modern day administrative boundaries under Linguistic Recognition of Indian States in 1956. Bihar was an important trading center in India, right from ancient through medieval to early nineteenth century. Chisti mentions how the Ganges river was the lifeline of the region, providing the main route for early trade in “...indigo, grain, muslins and Tussar silks in the form of running fabrics, turban cloths and saris”(Saris of 26).She later ascribes this very trade route and arrival of mill made fabrics through it, to the central Bihar, as the reason for demise of weaving practices in this region, as early as the early 90s.1

12

Siwan district(26.2098° N, 84.3634° E) has much importance in the Indian history, not just the modern context but historically as well. Siwan served as the epicenter of Bihar in the Independence movement, especially the Civil Disobedience Movement and Non-Cooperation Movement. It was the foremost centres of freedom struggle and was noted for the bravery and fighting spirit of the locals who included Maulana Mazharul Haue and Dr. Sayyad Mohammad. Siwan being the hometown of Dr. Rajendra Prasad, the first president of India, enjoys a special place in the history of India.It is believed that Siwan got its name from the name of a Bandh king whose successors ruled the region for a long time. The name of the king was Shivan Man and hence the name Siwan. According to another story in Bhojpuri, Siwan means ‘border of a place’ (it forms the southern border of Nepal). Siwan was a part of the Banaras Kingdom during the 8th century. In the

17th century, initially it was the Dutch that ruled Siwan, then followed by the English. After the battle of Buxar, in 1765, Siwan and those surrounding it were made a part of Bengal Presidency.The town was economically and stable due to the presence of sugar and jaggery mills. Subsequently, it emerged as a powerloom hub, and supported the state’s textile industry. When these units shut down, both industry and agriculture were badly affected.Considering its importance in the state handloom sector, the Government of Bihar has identified Siwan as part of a seven-district cluster with considerable potential for growth. Siwan’s major handloom products are bed sheets, towels, lungis, and shirting. Weavers here majorly use cotton as raw materials. Siwan, according to Rita Kapur Chisth in ‘Saris: Tradition and Beyond’, in the past has also been witness to fabrics with embellishments done off loom. It, along with its neighbouring districts from Uttar

SiwanPradesh have traditionally been recognised for its production of Motia dhotis.According to the census of India 2011-19, the population of the district is 33.30 lakhs, with sex ratio being 988 per 1000 male. Weavers Service Center (WSC), Bhagalpur identifies Siwan as one of the 12 handloom clusters of Bihar. According to Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) report of 2016 (Brief Industrial Profile of Siwan district) there are 9 micro enterprises of manufacturers of

13

textile. According to a 2007 report submitted to the Dept. of Industries, Govt. of Bihar, there are estimatedly 1850 weavers and 1550 handlooms in the district. The main weaving villages of the district have been Jamalhatha, Chakia, Sultanpur, Lagghi Chowki, and GhanautiSiwan district is surrounded by

some of the well known weaving clusters of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. In the south-west lies Varanasi, creating intricate ‘weft patterned’ cotton and silk fabrics including exotic pieces heavy in use of zari; in the west, Mubarakpur brags of its high quality cotton fabric production since the Vedic times. In the

north-east lies the Raxaul cluster in East Champaran which has also received recognition from the Weavers Service Center (WSC), Ministry of Textiles.

Rajeshwati Devi showing her daughter-in-law’s embroidary work. The women in the family together hand-make household items like bedsheets, curtains and wall hangings to give away as dowry in their daughters marrige.

15

Make-shift house made of wild grass, hay and bamboo in Bhaurajpur. It was observed that Harijan community reside in these houses in the outskirts of the village because they legally don’t posses any land

16

Parivartan is a Siwan based NGO, established in 2011. They emphasise on rural development and enhancing the overall well-being of rural people. They believe in holistic as well as heuristic development. The organisation works through various domains such as crafts, livelihood, agriculture, women empowerment, community theatre, sports. Parivartan builds upon local resources, rural values and synergistic effects of multiple activities across diverse areas of work.Their vision is “to inculcate a sense of commitment, and responsibility towards our ecological and cultural resources as well as build a capacitated, skilled and inclusive society which motivates, nurtures and inspires people to dream of future life goals. The idea is also to create opportunities for growth based on individual interests, choices and cultural traditions. In realizing this vision, we seek to strengthen, motivate and partner with the local bodies engaged in the same objectives. Through joint efforts, they hope to create respectable means of living and livelihood so that the deprived communities are duly empowered.”

Parivartan

17

A summer work organised by Parivartan at its Narendrapur campus for the local villege children.

18

Weaving in BiharThe state of Bihar has always had a rich history of weaving, right from the ancient times. A wide variety of fabrics ranging from coarse low count cotton fabrics, to fine madhubani khadi were native to the weaving traditions. One of the prominent reasons for such a contrasting variety of quality to be woven was because of the availability of locally found raw materials and the wide ranging needs of the local populace.The rich and affluent could afford finer types while those less privileged could access only the coarser varieties. However, there were few rich families and Chisti writes that “...a large majority of its population lived on the very brink of survival, at least for the last two hundred years” ( Saris of 26). She identifies seven regional types of saris in Bihar, some of which will today be part of Jharkhand state.She further laments the loss of access to older woven sarees and holds the demise of weaving practices in 1930s and 40s as one of the main reasons for it. This was compounded

by the fact that these sarees were woven for the locals, and not sold outside the region. The saris of north Bihar were mostly plain, patterned with block printing or simple tie-dye. However the weavers of south-central Bihar seem to have taken the time and effort to pattern the rather plain. Since there was a tradition of the washerman (dhobi) applying fugitive dyes to the saree, each time it was washed, Chisti ascribes the use of the term “ dhoti” for sarees, to this practice (Saris of 28- 29). Bihar’s identification with the plain handwoven fabric inspired Gandhiji to recognize the importance of the spinner weaver. The range of coarse fabric acquired the social respectability during the freedom movement as it was given the name of Khadi by Gandhiji.Historically, it is possible to discriminate two streams of development within the Indian Textile industry. First, that of weavers who were meeting the local need for coarse cotton fabrics. Secondly, of weavers

19

who were under the social patronage of local nobility producing finely woven fabrics for the urban elite. [India’s artisans a status report, Stuti, NID, Section II Boonkar, pg-32]The commonly made fabric Motia, derived from the word ‘Mota’ which means ‘coarse’, was made of handspun cotton yarn on handloom. Despite its coarseness, the fabric was woven closely and catered to an immediate and local market. The weavers also made lungi, gamchha, rumal (handkerchief), dhoti for men and saris for women. The weavers gradually moved to finer count fabrics. The shift came with the handloom corporation which began supplying yarn for the Janta sari and fabrics.Bhagalpur is renowned worldwide for its silk production and is acknowledged as Silk City. The silk industry is around 200 years old and many generations of silk processing communities exist here that have been producing silk for generations. In Nalanda district in south-central Bihar, we find the appearance

Close-up of twill chaddar woven in Jamahatha

20

of Rita Kapur Chisti and Pradeep Pillai & Hitesh Rawat as project designers.3

In the year 1948, BISHCOTEX (Bihar State Handloom Weavers Cooperative Union Ltd.), was started as an organisation to create new opportunities in rural areas with an objective to change lives throughout the state. Today, the organisation provides both forward and backward

linkage to the Handloom sector for a sustainable source of livelihood. BISHCOTEX supports the whole value chain of production including marketing and providing raw materials, training, designs and marketing. The different products that the organisation gives order for include Satarangi Chaddars for hospitals, curtain cloths for government offices, white

of ornamentation on the body and aanchal(end piece), as well as in the borders in the form of the Baavanbuti2 (52 motifs) sari worn on special occasions. [Saris- Tradition and beyond, Rita Kapoor Chishti, Bihar, page 166]. The Baavanbuti was revived by Asian Heritage Foundation, with the aid of the World Bank and Japan Development Social Fund under the design consultation

Weavers employed by Riyaz ji to keep up with the production order.

21

Weavers employed by Riyaz ji to keep up with the production order.

bedsheets and pillow covers and Turkish towels for Indian Railways and Guest houses of Bihar.In 2011, Women Development Corporation (WDC), established in November 28, 1991 under Society Registration Act 1860, collaborated with Fab India to create ‘Survi Bighi Line’ with an order of 7500 metre. The product line mainly used extra-weft technique for patterning. The collaboration intended on generating employment for weavers and revive the dying handloom cluster.Spinning and weaving have always constituted a major sector of the economy, sometimes as a parallel and complementary occupation to agriculture. Though weaving used to be the only occupation of a highly skilled community of craftsmen who were an integral part of the village economy, making it a self-supporting profession. The products consist of articles of daily use locally or for bartering in weekly markets and creating thereby a well-knit pattern of social exchange.

22

Handloom and Khadi in SiwanThe story of Indian handloom fabric goes way back into history, the ruins of Mohenjo-Daro remind us of a civilisation which had reached a fairly advanced stage even during 2500 B.C. From the discovery of many artefacts, such as spindles, clay figures clothed in some sort of apparel in the excavated houses, it is evident that spinning and weaving was very common. The Vedas further reveals the existence of some kind of spinning wheel. It was during this period that the charkha had already begun occupying a most sacred place besides the

plough in the Vedic homes.Hand woven Indian textile gain popularity across the world for its translucent quality, during the medieval era. Greek writings of those days also mention ‘Sindon’ (Sindhu) and Gangetika (Ganges) fabrics.A few paintings in the Ajanta caves in Maharashtra depict the process of separating cotton fibres from seeds (called ginning) as well as women spinning.In pre-i n d u s t r i a l

times, all clothes in India were handspun and handwoven. The concept of unstitched cloth dominated a significant part of or textile history. India’s handloom fabric reached the zenith of its career during the Mughal period, but soon faced a tragic decline and ruination at the hands of the British. Beginning from the landing of Vasco da Gama in Calicut, from where calico cloth acquired its name, the story of indian fabrics takes a wide sweep. The English

t e x t i l e

23

Handloom and Khadi in Siwanmanufacturers got jealous of the increasing popularity of exported Indian clothes which affected the sales of mill-made fabric of Manchester.

The replication of Calico fabrics locally in England failed because labour wages were higher than that of India and the local product could not compete with the manufacturing cost. According to Chaudhuri4, India’s abundance of skilled labour, along with indigenous tacit knowledge which has been transferred through generations gave her an added advantage over mills of Manchester to produce the fine calico. With the establishment of the East India Company, the Calico Act of 1721 banned the sale of calico products in Britain. The coming of the Industrial revolution in England in the middle of the 18th century was another factor which dealt a mortal blow to the handloom industry. With the revolution came the flying shuttle, the spinning-jenny, the power-loom

and the steam engine, which brought rapid changes. The cost of spinning and weaving in England was cheapened incredibly that within a short period, India not only ceased to export, but began to import cotton textiles in large quantities.With the tremendous national upsurge because of the partition of Bengal in 1905 and Gandhi’s return to India from South Africa in 1914, started a new chapter in the nomenclature of Indian fabrics.Gandhiji had visualized the power of hand spinning with Charkha, as the panacea for the pauperization of the Indian masses and a powerful weapon of national freedom.

Bihar’s identification with the plain handwoven fabric inspired Gandhiji to recognize the importance of the spinner weaver. The range of coarse fabric acquired the social respectability during the freedom movement as it was given the name of Khadi by Gandhiji. ‘Khadi’, the term is said to have been derived from

“An Act to Preserve and Encourage the Woollen and Silk Manufactures of this Kingdom, and for more Effectual Employing the Poor, by Prohibiting the Use and Wear of all Printed, Painted, Stained or Dyed Calicoes in Apparel, Household Stuff, Furniture, or otherwise, after the twenty fifth Day of December one thousand seven hundred and seventy two”

- Walter, J (1787). An Historical and Chronological Deduction of the Origin of Commerce, from the Earliest Accounts. Logographic Press. pp. 646–647

Left: Khadi cotton hanks waiting to be wind on a bobbin.

24

handspun and handwoven khaddar, which appeared coarse and unprocessed in comparison to the finer mill spun fabric of the British mills. M K Gandhi portrayed Khadi or khaddar as a symbol of purity, untouched by the western concept of mechanisation and spread the idea of self reliance through self sustenance.Khadi is the only widely known term after ‘Calico’ which brought most of Indian fabrics under one umbrella. Gandhi emphasised Khadi to be a handspun hand-woven cloth made of natural fibers. Khadi was Gandhiji’s answer to poverty and inequality. He has said “ The charkha (spinning wheel) represents the enlargement of the human conscience, the invasion of the economic and political spheres by the ideals of religion. For the first duty of any religion is to its poor. The mills never help in equitable and even distribution of wealth in the land. They localize production.” The charkha and Khadi became the symbol not only of political independence but also the concept of individual self-reliance. Such was the influence that the charkha found place in the flags adopted by the Indian National Congress in 1921 and 1931. Khadi was such an integral

25

Box charkha displayed along with a hank of spun yarn and unspun cotton. A one Rupee coin is kept for visualising scale

part of India’s freedom struggle that it is hard to separate the two ideas. Gandhi’s Swadeshi movement—centred on the idea of keeping foreign products, especially textiles from Manchester, out—slowly created an entire handmade industry in India, built on the need for masses.

In this milieu, Motia saree was one of the main produce of Siwan to have gone through the transition of nomenclature and to be put under Khadi. The people of Siwan embraced the idea of khadi and developed a smooth inter-village system for its production. With time, khadi was imbedded in their sociocultural activities. For example, the women of Santhu and Banthu would come together and spin. One might look at it from a patriarchal standpoint and say that this system was only generated to keep women engrossed in some form of work and restrict them from loitering around. However, on the other hand, this gave these women an opportunity for conversations, gave them a sense of belonging, and mobilized them to help each other.Though it is evident that the production of fabric with mill-

27

A woman spinning cotton yarn on a box charkha

spun yarn led these villages towards economic flourishment; one has to admit that khadi helped them structure their ideological and sociocultural identity. The Khadi and Village Industry Commission (KVIC), established under the Act of Parliament, ‘Khadi and Village Industries Commission Act of 1956’ started protecting the handloom sector with subsidies and other relevant policies after Independence. The objectives of KVIC were to create self-reliance amongst the poor and building up of a strong rural community spirit by providing them employment opportunities.The major functions of KVIC are planning, promotion and implementation of programs for the development of Khadi and other village industries in the rural areas. They also need to build up a reserve of raw materials and implements for supply to producers. They also encourage and promote research in the production techniques and equipment in Khadi sector and providing facilities for the study of the

Mohan Ji, owner of Khadi Bhandar in Raghunathpur showing one of the handloom twill chaddars woven in the village.

29

epitome of self reliance and preservation of indeginous identity and craftsmanship, the establishment of KVIC institutionalized the idea to a mere technique. KVIC recognises khadi as fabric made of natural fibers, handspun or spun on semi-mechanised charkha with a content percentage of manmade fiber being maximum 40% and handwoven; as per the joint director, KVIC Patna. Such strict definition diverts us from the core ideology of it being democratic and restrain the entry of automated machines.From being the symbol of a new India, khadi has turned into a lethargic and cumbersome legacy.The 1990s brought drastic changes in KVIC policy and a substantial reduction in Central-government subsidies, leaving the already economically tight Bihar government overburdened. This, in turn, led to a badly maintained khadi industry. Even then it has the immense economic potential of a real handspun-handwoven fabric, which could ensure its

future, both here and in the world market, if it can begin to be treated as a rich resource in human and technical terms.

problems related to it. KVIC is also provides financial assistance to institutions and individuals for development of Khadi and guiding them through supply of designs and prototypes and other technical information.With the establishment of the Central government’s second five-year plan, the status1 given to Amber charkha further led to a boost in khadi production. Post independence era saw a transition in the definition of khadi; from it being the

Close-up of the twill chaddar.

30

Woven textiles of SiwanWeavers in Siwan used to produce a wide range of low-count fabrics which were known by the broad generic name of Motia. Motia is derived from the word ‘Mota’ which means coarse. The hand spun and handwoven fabric catered the immediate local market.Traditionally Motia sarees were woven in 6s to 20s count hand spun cotton on throw shuttle pit looms. The reed for the sarees was 32s for a 16s to 20s count saree and the fabric was closely woven. Motia was made as fabric lengths varying from 10-40 yards (9.14mt to 36.57) and 0.75mt in width. The motia saree with dimensions of 5 yard by 1.5 yard (4.57mt X 1.4mt) was woven in natural white, but was also dyed yellow in turmeric for marriages and other festivities or woven coloured borders and end pieces. The borders were not more than three fingers wide which was either plain or laid out in fine stripes. Some women had their sarees printed with hand blocks to make them more attractive. The saree was woven with four ends per dent

in the selvedge and weighed not less than 1.8 to 2.7kg.The weavers also created utilitarian textile products such as cotton twill blankets, bedsheets and cotton mosquito nets. The bedsheets that they

33

wove were made in reference to the Chowki(75 inches by 40.5 inches). Hence, the width of the cloth that could be woven on the looms was at maximum five feet. They used to weave in bedsheets in plain weave with a simple play of weft and stripes, in different colours.They also used to weave plain saree with solid color border and coarse dhoti (also referred as Janta Dhoti) for the poorer section of the society. Janta Dhoti was an initiative by the Handloom Corporation in the 1970s to promote handloom. The scheme was to provide subsidised yarn to the weavers to handloom weaving. Unfortunately, because of ill-implementation of the scheme and unavailability of subsidised yarn production of Janta cloth suffered greatly. The ones they wove could not sell in the open market without government subsidy as the price point rose when they tried to sell it independently. The products could not compete with the ones existing in the market by price as well as quality. The

government failed to resolve the market distribution and sales of the products and mostly focused on highlighting the number of weavers working under the scheme.While on one hand Madhubani khadi was said to be so fine that it could pass through a ring, on the other hand in places like Jamalhatta and Hathori, coarse khadi and handloom products gained popularity in the market. Twill chaddars that were woven were of 2-40s count with an average EPI (Ends Per Inch) and PPI (Picks Per Inch) of 45. The products made in and around Siwan saw a boost in trade in 1960s with hardly any competition in the state. “It captured the entire state market and spread to the Northwest namely UP and Punjab and entered Nepal”, claimed Riyaz Ahmed, a master weaver in Jamalhatha.The textile manufactured in Siwan district can be broadly divided into two parts according to the time they were developed; 1930-1990 and 2014-present.

One of the only survving pitlooms in Jamalhatha. The first ever sample woven with the assistance of Parivartan and Srijani Foundation in 2014 was on this very loom.

34

The older products (1930-1990) were woven in lower count and were much coarser than the products developed in recent times(2014-present). With the advent of Parivartan and Sirjani Foundation, the fineness of fabric produced changed drastically. The recent products cater to the more niche market and required to move towards 2/100s yarn count. As discussed above, the region was known for its affordable range of textiles; their skill sets for generations have remained confined to the coarser version.The weaves were usually plain and twill. “A plain weave construction, sometimes referred to as ST (single thread) for some varieties may be extended by doubling, or occasionally tripling the ends and picks to yield a basket weave. This is usually tightly-woven yielding a sturdy, yet pliable, fabric for apparel and twill weave for varieties such as khes and denim. Small quantities of khadi are even woven in a terry pile construction for towel clothes.” [Khadi The fabric of

An excited Ansari family flaunting a handwoven extraweft piece which they wove in support of their favoured political party. They wish to gift it to him someday.

Left Bottom: A kinar dhoti woven in Maharajganj. Kinar literally transltes to border. Kinar dhotis are plain yardage fabric with an inch long border of simple motifs

35

freedom, Weaving and Finishing Processes, page 51]Twill chaddar (single bedsheet) of Siwan was apparently popular among the villagers because it acted as a light shawl for the daytime in winters but could also be used as a cover to sleep for nights during summer. Twill structure made the fabric thicker than those woven in plain weave; the material being cotton made the chaddar usable during summers as well. The combination of the weave structure and the material made it versatile for Bihar’s ‘humid subtropical’ climate. Even though most of the older textiles are out of production, twill chaddar and gamcha are still being woven by some weavers on handloom. The older products focused mainly on basic commodities like dhoti, gamcha etc., while the newer range focused on more luxury items like stoles, jacquard woven bed sheets etc.The entire product range of Siwan region is woven handloom. The modern interveners in the cluster respected the absence

of powerloom and carried out the product development on handloom.

36

Twill Chaddar

Count/ denier

Production since/ till

Motif/ patterning Commissioned by

epi - ppi

Material Weave specification

2/40s 1930s - pres-ent

Diagonal pattern-ing with play of weft

Khadi Gram Udyog, Sirjani foundation

36 - 48

Cotton Diagonal twill; dou-ble cloth is woven sometimes

DETAILS OF TEXTILE MANUFACTURED IN SIWAN

37

DETAILS OF TEXTILE MANUFACTURED IN SIWAN

Cotton Mosquito Net

Count/ denier



epi - ppi


1930s-1980s Diagonal pattern-ing with play of weft

Khadi Gram Udyog, Sirjani foundation

36 - 48

Cotton Diagonal twill; dou-ble cloth is woven sometimes

38

Gamcha

Count/ denier



epi - ppi


20s sin-gle

present Ombre dyed weft yarn along with thin stripe pat-terning in warp

Self 40 - 36

Cotton Plain weave

39

Cotton Stole

Count/ denier



epi - ppi


2/80s – 2/100s

2014- pres-ent

Minimal geomet-ric patterning

Sirjani Founda-tion

Cotton Discontinuous Ex-tra-weft technique used

40

Jacquard

Count/ denier



epi - ppi


90s single2007-2010 Moderately intri-

cate motifs

Self 50 – 44

Cotton, polyester

Complex patterning

41

Cotton Saree

Count/ denier



epi - ppi


20s sin-gle

present Ombre dyed weft yarn along with thin stripe pat-terning in warp

Self 40 - 36

Cotton Plain weave

42

Count/ denier



epi - ppi


2/20s 2016- pres-ent

Satrangi- seven days, seven co-lours

Govt. of Bihar 44 - 30

Cotton Plain weave

Hospital Linen

43

Cotton Stole

Count/ denier



epi - ppi


2/80s – 2/100s

present Minimal geomet-ric patterning and play of weft

Parivartan Cotton Discontinuous Ex-tra-weft technique used

44

Weaving practice in SiwanWeaving came to Siwan in the 1920s and 1930s, when Mohammad Usman and Sultan Ahmed brought the first loom to Jamalhatha. Three other people accompanied them on their journey from Mau in what is now Uttar Pradesh. One of these was a weaver named Khalil, who helped set up the first pit loom (without a fly shuttle) and trained the villagers in how to use it. The agrarian Ansari community, in Siwan soon adopted weaving in Jamal Hatta.From 1934 to 1939 Siwan, then Saran, witnessed a strong peasant movement initiated by Pandit Rahul Sankrityayan, Pandit Karyanand Sharma and Pandit Ramnandan Mishra and Shri Yadunandan Shama. Parallel to this event, farmers of Jamalhatha started shifting to weaving. One can make a distant connection that the atrocities on the farmers and the glamour of weaving from neighbouring clusters led to the profession shift.They began weaving using just two shafts on a pit loom but

later began to use eight shafts to +---make the thicker chaddar (double cloth). Their weaving was restricted to plain weave and twill, and their play of colour was limited to warp and weft, and hence there seemed to be a need to increase the number of shafts. However, weavers in Hathauri, located just 6km north of Jamal Hatta, went up to 14 shafts when the frame loom was introduced. This reflects an initiation of more complex

patterning.The introduction of the fly-shuttle increased a weaver’s daily capacity from 5–6m to 15–20m. With time, the frame loom was introduced and production increased with the demand and popularity of khadi and handloom.In the mid-20th century, women of Jamalhatha spun cotton yarn and sold it in the form of hanks, in the village market. Spinning was one of the key

45

leisure activities for the women. Agriculture is still practised in villages where spinning was common, because—unlike weaving—spinning does not require extensive amounts of labour, space and time. While most cotton used for spinning came from the western part of India, the fibre was also cultivated in villages such as Surval, Darauli, Puia, Shampur in Siwan.The spinners sold their yarn in a weekly market which used to sit on Thursdays in Thepaha village of Ziradei block and various Khadi Bhandars. Part of their payment came in the form of chaddars, gamchas, palang posh or razai covers, and the rest was paid in cash.As the practice flourished, Marwadi traders immigrated to Siwan and started trading cotton yarn. One former weaver who is now in his late-50s, Riyaz recollected a time when traders would find their way to a weaver’s house if he failed to appear at the weekly market with his goods. It was roughly during this time that jacquard

Clock-wise from top left: Warping in process in Jamalhatha; Modern semi-mechanised bobbin winder; Traditional hanker

46

entered Siwan. Weavers would create their own patterns and get the cards punched in Mau and Gorakhpur. Sometimes, they would buy readymade punched pattern cards. By the late 1960s, Jamalhathahad around 2,000–2,500 looms. Cotton yarn came from Khalilabad and Siwan town. Older weavers—many of whom no longer weave—told us that during this time, trucks would go Khalilabad loaded with fabric and return loaded with yarn. The steadily rising demand resulted in a spinning mill being set up in Siwan in the 1980s. Unfortunately, this did not last long. The introduction of cheaper alternatives to handloom fabric led to a fall in demand, and less work for weavers and, by extension, spinners. Siwan’s spinning mill had to be shuttered a mere 18 months after it was opened. During its golden period, the demand for cotton from Siwan was so high that—despite their proximity to silk centres such as Gorakhpur and Banaras—weavers in Siwan did not need

to venture beyond cotton. In the late 1980s, however, the same weavers briefly experimented with weaving polyester but switched back to cotton since they could not find a market for their polyester products.

Clock-wise from top right: A dilapidated, unused loom kept in Waris Ji’s loom-shed; Dustladen, half-way left gamcha which was being woven by Waris ji; A covered unused pitloom in Jamalhatha. After the introduction of frameloom, pitlooms slowly started disapperaing.

47

Dark Times

One of the reasons for the downfall of weaving in Siwan was labour migration that happened during the early 1980s. The younger generation of weavers left their homes in order to earn more money and thus went to big metropolitan cities and to the middle eastern countries. During the downfall, though some weavers tried to continue weaving, slowly they all gave up because of lack of market. Around the same time, they got a better financial support from their family members who have

settled in other places. Thus, they stopped weaving because of a much more stable source of income. People who stayed back and continued the practice, faced lots of challenges. Lack of market was one of the biggest challenges. The weavers, instead of going to the main market that was Khalilabad, started selling their goods on cycle and going around different villages. The weavers also migrated to the jute industries in Bengal while some migrated to textile mills in Gujarat and Maharashtra or switched to other professions such as started working in other factories. The labours who were involved in the different processes of weaving, also migrated to other cities. Thus, making it harder for the weavers who stayed back to continue their work as they didn’t have the necessary labour power. People who were involved in farming continued, along with their family members migrating to other cities.

48

Weavers: Case Study Waris is a 60 year old, third-generation weaver in Hathauri. However, a series of unfortunate events has led him to give up weaving entirely.He learnt to weave from his father who, he says, was a very skilled weaver, because he could see a pattern and translate it immediately into a weaving graph for the weaving community. He was the one

they turned to for developing new patterns and fixing dobbies and jacquards whenever the need arose.. Explaining about the different products that they used to make, he said the cotton mosquito nets his family wove were different from those woven in nearby villages. He further states that weavers in Jamalhatha wove the net in a loose manner, while

the Hathauri weavers wove a comparatively thicker cloth that went through a process of rigorous washing and sizing to form the net structure. Waris claims that the nets woven in Hathauri are stronger because they used to put “four threads”, as opposed to the two used by weavers in Jamal Hatta. Waris stopped weaving in 1996 and switched to stitching. In 1997, he started working with a net-making company. He worked there for three to four years. However, in 2008, he spent around Rs7 lakh to set up the looms. He also procured a jacquard loom from Panipat. Waris said his father also wove jacquard. He still uses his father’s designs. Waris wove carpets and blankets on jacquard. Waris also told us he was one of 82 participants about a weaving competition organized by the state government in 2008–09. The prize was supposed to be enough money to set up a workshop. While the judges—who included labour minister Renu Kumari Kushwaha—agreed that Waris’s sample was

Waris Ji reflecting back in time when weaving was still a major source of income in Hatauri.

49

sell his looms to a scrap dealer in 2017 and use the money to buy a cow instead. He thinks that it would be very difficult to revive quality handloom products because it will require a lot of money, labour and machinery.

the best, Renu Kumari didn’t believe that he made the sample. She later came to his house and saw his workshop to confirm his claim. Finally convinced, she asked him to collect the prize money from the Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s office (in Patna). Waris and his son went there several times, at a cost of Rs8,000 per trip, over a period of three years but didn’t receive the money. He later found out that the money had been given to a Dalit participant. “Maybe they didn’t give it to me because I am a Muslim,” he said. Even after all this he continued weaving. He took orders from the government for Satrangi chaddars. He even wove bedsheets for a hospital. There were times when he took the orders verbally, without a contract. To complete the hospital order, he took a loan from the bank and bought yarn worth Rs85,000. The hospital took around 150 sheets and then cancelled the order. He had to sell the leftover yarn at a considerable loss. These events led him to decide to

Left: Punching cards for jaquard stacked in a corner in Waris ji’s loomshed turned cowshed.

50

Support from ParivartanParivartan started a revival project in 2013 along with Srijani foundation. They conducted an initial survey on weaver’s population left in Jamalhatha and tried to understand the history of weaving of the village and its adjacent areas by interacting with the elders of the village. It took a good amount of time for them to mobilize, convince and motivate the villagers to set up the handlooms and get into regular production. The drastic decline in weaving practice in 1980s left the weavers in such trauma that they found the initiative by Parivartan to revive weaving absurd and unattainable. Their initial resistance was of such height that the weavers of Jamalhatha unanimously boycotted Ravi Shankar Yadav, weaving facilitator at Parivartan for his constant effort to persuade the weavers to restart weaving. The work finally started on April 21, 2014. The revival started with just 2 looms in Jamalhatha in collaboration with Aataullah

Ansari, who owned the looms. In 2016-17 the numbers escalated to 38 looms; 40 looms in 2017-18 and presently working on 20 looms. The yarn is bought by the organisation from bhagalpur. According to Ravi, the yarn supplier delivers the yarn to Eco Tassar, Bhagalpur, where the dying process takes place. From there the yarn arrives at the narendrapur campus; it is then distributed to the weavers in Jamalhatha as per the order requirement.Parivartan started off with basic sampling, i.e. understanding the potential of the existing weavers and their skills. Their initial goal was to motivate the weavers to start working by giving them orders and providing them a potential client which was Delhi Public School. The weavers wove yardages of plain fabric for school uniforms. The increasing requirement of this fabric and the promise of sustained work order possibly led to more weavers getting involved with the project. Today, the village produces seven to eight thousand meters of fabric every

month. A weaver also makes an average of Rs.350 to Rs.450 per day. To empower women, Parivartan also started a weaver’s training program by the name ‘Ajeevika’, literally translating to ‘livelihood’, under ‘Mahila Sashaktikaran Program’ (translates to Women Empowerment Program), in their Narendrapur campus, so that the women can also provide for their family. Master weavers from Bhagalpur, Bihar and Angara village, Andhra Pradesh were called to supervise the training. The initial handlooms were brought from Phulia village, West Bengal. The training started with around 100 women initially, reduced to approximately 40 in 2016-17 and presently employ 28 of them. The women started their training with bobbin winding, then moved onto warping, drafting and denting and finally weaving. They initially started weaving with 2/40s count cotton yarn in the warp and 20s count cotton yarn in the weft. The training was kept in two batches, one in the morning

51

A trainee practising weaving at Parivartan’s Narendrapur campus

52

and second in the afternoon. This was done to allow and help women to balance their work and household chores, thus have time for both. Each trained women weaver earns from Rs. 2000/- in a month for her three-hour shift. From Feb 15th, 2017, each weaver is paid as per the meters woven. They have also set up a sewing workshop with 32 industrial grade sewing machines, employing around 40 women at Parivartan to stitch the uniforms.This training program was a

very pertinent intervention as Siwan doesn’t have have any Weaver’s Service Center or training stations sponsored by the central government or the state government.To cater to the niche market, Parivartan tried giving order for finer fabric to the weavers at Jamalhatha. They realized that the weavers were unable to handle finer yarn and thus weavers also hesitated to continue working with finer yarns. One of the reasons was that, that they never had

finer fabric in their weaving vocabulary since they had mostly made the utilitarian coarse yarn textile products.

On speaking to the design head at Parivartan, Mr. Satish Poludas we got to know about their current goal. It is to train the women of neighbouring villages in weaving practices and develop an exclusive product line with a textile vocabulary unique to Parivartan’s area of action. They want to set up a centralised production unit, i.e starting from the production of cotton to the final product, everything will be done at one place. This includes the other processes involved like spinning, dyeing, sewing. During the training process of the women, Parivartan focuses on using finer yarns.

Drafting in process at Parivartan’s Narendrapur camps

53

Srijani Foundation was regis-tered in September, 2015 un-der the ‘Societies Registration Act 21, 1860’ in connection with a project titled ‘Weaving for a Living’ with the help of a grant in aid by Tata Trust in January, 2016. The Foundation contin-ues to pioneer its way through the journey of craft revival and community development un-der the patronage of Tata Trust, which is also firmly rooted in the cause of social and economic philanthropy.

Working in the rural villages of Siwan district, we partnered with Takshila Foundation(2016-17) for local logistical support in Narendrapur panchayat for our empowering interventions of skill building in hand spinning on Kisan charkha, handloom weaving and apparel produc-tion for the local rural commu-nities of women. Swasti Sewa Samiti, our partner in Samasti-pur district, has facilitated us in mobilisation of rural commu-nities of women for skill based workshops in hand spinning on Kisan charkha.

Srijani FoundationWe have enjoyed customis-ing hand crafted saris, fabrics, home linen, home decor and accessories for our prestigious patrons like Taneira, Raymonds, Vayu designs, Amrich, Takshila Foundation, Parivartan, Svasara Resort, Weavers Studio, Geru and many more such eminent companies and design labels.

We have therefore decided to work with unskilled women to impart skills, set up systems in hand spinning, weaving, em-broidery and stitching.We would like them to enjoy the experi-ence of skill building, explore, learn, share and enjoy with us as we gradually move forward to work for their social inclusion. It is about s h a r i n g and learn-ing for both of us, a pact to lead a hap-pier life.

Women who walked miles to register at Pariwartan on those cold wintry days of January, 2016 showed in abundance the aspira-tions of rural Bihari women.

End note

1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_Bihar2 For more information about Baavanbuti refer to the mentioned link.http://www.jiyo.net.in/site/content/babanbuti-primary-weavers-swablambi-cooperative-society-ltd

3 Read more at: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/4341455.cms?utm_source=contentofin-terest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst4 Chaudhuri, Kirti N. (1978), The Trading World of Asia and the English East IndiaCompany, 1660-1760, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Swot analysisStrength Weakness Threats Oppurtunities

New Cluster: Liberty to develop an entirely vocabulary

Lack of textile evidence of the past and stories to substantiate the craft

No Geographical Indi-cator to the place

Representation of narratives and local lore through craft

Existing market for handloom and abun-dance of resources; both capital and man-power

Lack of research on indigenous customs and myths

No validation from KVIC; too many com-petitors

Acknowledging tribal tattoos and wall paintings and creating a mo-tif vocabulary on an existing form

Memories of weaving in the village; senti-ments attached

Restrictive in-volvement of local weavers

If the weavers choose to shift to finer count cotton yarn, South In-dia and Bengal would emerge as major com-petitors.

Acknowledging other local mate-rials and forms of craft and trans-lating it to textile products

Weavers have support of NGOs like Parivar-tan to make it to the market

Lack of materi-al knowledge; dependence on weavers from other districts.

The younger gener-ation of the weaver’s family, men in particu-lar are not interested in learning to weave

Organising social support system for underprivileged and neglected weavers.

Lack of skills to work with finer counts and tech-niques

Catering to the ‘sustainable living’ market, by incorporating ideas of zero waste, circular economy, natural dyes and other processes, using green energy, etc.

56

Bamboo Plating/ Braiding

57

Bamboo Plating/ Braiding

58

1. Bamboo splitting

Soaking bamboo in water overnight.

-ability to discern which bamboo to pick

59

2. Slicing thin strips

Cutting the bamboo in thin strips.

- skill in handling the sharp tools- sensibility of slicing strips of

60

2. Slicing thin strips

Cutting the banboo in thin strips.

- skill in handling the sharp tools- sensibility of slicing strips of

61

3. Dying the stripsto create patterns while braiding

-Ability to visualise patterns, right in the head, without any sketches or graph sheets. The pattern seems to be formed

62

4.1. Braiding/ plaiting the strips using the oblique interlacing technique

-sensibility of how to braid linear strips -ability to create flat surfaces - ability to neatly finish a sur-face growing diagonally.

63

4.1. Braiding/ plaiting

ability to create a flat surface.- ability to neatly finish the edges

64

Other Products

Using similar technique they also make tokris (baskets)

66

rice husk mat

67

1. Harvesting the crop

-sensibility to the time of har-vest and understanding the agricultural cycle

69

2. Plying two or more rice straws together for more strength

-making the structure strong and durable even for rough use.-ability to combine the differ-ent pieces in such a way that the braiding pattern looks

70

3.Braiding the plied straws

-ability to translate a linear material into a flat surface

71

3.Braiding the plied straws

- ability to create utilitarian product and making full use of the plant without leaving any waste

72

khop/ bedi

73

charpai weaving

74

Motif is the most basic unit with the help of which a design or a composition is made. Motifs are often in-spired from nature and are also closely linked to natu-ral, cultural, religious and so-cio-economic factors prevail-ing in any society. Motif has a distinct identity of its own in a pattern or design.Stylized Motifs are simplified

variations of natural or man-made objects that are no longer recognizable. These motifs are full of creativity, as they are the result of a de-signer’s interpretation of nat-urally existing things. After talking to Satish, lead designer at Parivartan, and also through our research we found out that Siwan in particular never had any sort of motif vocabulary like Na-landa cluster. Buddhist in-fluence can be easily seen in their vocabulary. During our field visits, we ob-served different types of mo-tif on the doors of the hous-es for decoration purposes. The motifs that Parivartan is using, do not have any rela-tion to the region. Instead, the motifs that people use to decorate their entrances can be used after a bit of refining in the design. This would help them to bring out the local practices and also give them a story to create an identity.

These are the photos of the motifs that we saw on the front wall of the houses.

Design Suggestion

75

These are the photos of the motifs that we saw on the front wall of the houses.

76

Glossary

77

bibliographyTullah, Masoud Bashar. “‘Determinants of Rural Out-Migration: A Case Study of Siwan, Bihar’. SO-CIOLOGY.” CiteSeerX, Indian Journal of Research , Feb. 2015, citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?-doi=10.1.1.682.4380.“Census.” Siwan Census Document Category, Directorate of Cnsus Operations, Bihar, 2011, siwan.nic.in/document-category/census/.Deshingkar, Priya, et al. The Role of Migration and Remittances in Promoting Livelihoods in Bihar. Overseas Development Institute, London, 2006.

Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Ltd. A Report on Diagonostic Survey and Bussiness Plan for Handloom Sector in Bihar. Department of Industries, Govt. of Bihar, 24 Apr. 2007.

Singh, Amar. CLUSTERS IN INDIA. Foundation For MSME Clusters, 2010.

Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises – Development Institute Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enter-prises, Govt. of India. Brie Industrial Profile of SIWAN District. Government of India Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises, 2016.

Shukla, Dr. Rajesh. Handloom Census of India 2009-10. J.S. Bedi, Secretary and Head Operations, Third National Census of Handloom Weavers and Issue of Photo Identity Cards to Weavers and Allied Work-ers, 2010.

CITIZEN’S CHARTER WEAVERS’ SERVICE CENTRE, BHAGALPUR. GOVT. OF INDIA MINISTRY OF TEXTILES WEAVERS’ SERVICE CENTRE KANCHAN GARH, BARARI. Accessed 13 Oct. 2019.

Thakur, Richa. “Changing Face of Financial Openness in India.” I-Manager’s Journal on Management, vol. 2, no. 1, Aug. 2007, pp. 14–18, doi:10.26634/jmgt.2.1.362.

Evaluation Study on Khadi and Village Industries Programme. Programme Evaluation Organisation Planning Commission Government of India, Mar. 2001.

Chisti, Rita Kapur, and Amba Sanyal. Saris of India: Bihar & West Bengal. National Institute of Fashion

79

Technology and Amr Vastra Kosh (1995), 1995.

Chisti, Rita Kapur, and Amba Sanyal. Saris of India: Bihar & West Bengal. National Institute of Fashion Technology and Amr Vastra Kosh (1995), 1995.

Chisti, Rita Kapur, and Martand Singh. Saris: Tradition and Beyond. 2nd ed., Roli Books, 2013.

Khadi : The Fabric of Freedom. Amar Vastra Kosh, 2000.Hutton, J. H. Caste in India: Its Nature, Function and Origins. Oxford University Press, 1980.

Collingwood, Peter. Textile and Weaving Structures.A Source. Book for makers and Designers, 1990.

Bakshi, S. R., and Ritu Chaturvedi. Bihar through the Age 4-Vols. Sarup & Sons, 2007.

80

weaving practices in siwan - Parivartan Bihar

Documents

Transcript of weaving practices in siwan - Parivartan Bihar