The Barpali Days

Padmashree Chaturbhuja Meher – Draping the nation with his ikat fabrics

“Om Sai Ram”

In post independence era though Odisha could not make a farm base in handloom textiles as compared to the magnitude of the states like Rajasthan, Gujrat or Uttar Pradesh, but at individual level over here we got world’s finest craftsmen. It is Padmashri Chaturbhuja Meher who stands apart from the rest of the weavers for the past six decades. He is the pioneer of ikat handloom revolution of Odisha. He hails from Sonepur district of Odisha. He was born to a Meher’s family of Bhulia community in the year 1935 at Sonepur. Chaturbhuja Meher had a devastated childhood. At the tender age of barely nine years his mother left for the heavenly abode. Soon after, his father was bed ridden with paralysis, waist downward. His family lived under abject poverty. But his father never wanted to surrender to the given circumstances of his life. Neither he begged a Rupee or a morsel of grain from any of his relatives. He worked while being laid on his bed. Chaturbhuja as a kid used to assist his father to cut the yarn. By the time he turn eleven years his father too expired. He grew under the shelter of one of his uncle Golek Meher. Chaturbhuja did not had the privilege to attend even a primary school. He learnt the alphabets of Oriya in a black-slate with a chalk piece from a teacher living next door. It was not only the childhood, but the entire life of Chaturbhuja Meher at every stage was a saga of difficulties and his struggle to survive it.

[Mahatma Gandhi with his spinning wheel]

Chaturbhuja as a kid was greatly influenced by the Quit India Movement. He followed the words of Mahatma Gandhi “kuti khao, kati pindha”. That means, one should grind the grains on his own self to eat his food, on the other hand he should cut the yarn to wave his cloth. Gandhiji asked the mass to observe this simple principle to make the nation self reliant and to free it from the clutches of imperial British. Chaturbhuja went to assist the weavers in his village. He undertook the job of doing the kumbha or the pots design on kapta. Until the pre-independence era of India “kapta” was wore by the women of Western Odisha. A kapta was a women wardrobe that was shorter in width and wore from loin to the length of the knee. Chaturbhuja was earning a meager Charanna or 25 paisa i.e. one quarter of a Rupee in two days to accomplish the job. As on this date a kid won’t even get an orange candy with this meager 25 paisa.

Chaturbhuja believes on the existence of the almighty, without whose wish nothing going to happen. He recounts a celestial event while he was a young man. After the arduous work of farming and milking the cows in the shed, one day he was working on his handloom till late night in a low luminosity with the help of a kerosene lantern. It might be one past mid night, there appeared three ladies at the door. They asked for the where about of Kali Patra, the person who migrated from Berhampur and settled over at Sonepur. Even without a thought he showed the finger toward the road to walk ahead. When the ladies left it strike his mind, how does these ladies came from the other part of Odisha at the dead of the night, even when there run no buses. He got up from his seat and went to street and looked. Lo and behold the narrow road was empty. There was no trace of those three ladies. He went to his bed with a puzzle state. Next day morning he woke early and went to the home of Kali Patra to enquire. But Kali told nobody reached his home last night. Then Chaturbhuja started feeling uneasy thinking it to be a nightmare. But Kali Patra consoled him saying, how fortunate you are. He told in the Patra Sahi there is a Budhima goddess temple and in the night hours heavenly bodies roam on the street. And from that day onward the life of Chaturbhuja Meher has been stable and he progressed phenomenally in his vocation of ikat handloom weaving.

[a tribal design of Odish on single ikat]

Barely at the age of eleven years during 1945 he started working at the Sonepur Weaving Factory. It was a project which has been set up by the erstwhile king of Sonepur Late Sudhanshu Sekhar Singdeo to generate the employment avenues. After the constitution of republic of India in the year 1956 along with other weavers he setup Ramoji Weavers Cooperative Society at Sonepur. For long two years he hold the position of the Chairman as a honorary, without any basic remuneration. He had to work in the society as a worker for two to three hours to get the daily wage.

[Shrusti fira firbi wall hanging]

In the year 1956 with the recommendation of cultural stalwart Pupul Jaykar the Government of India formed All India Handloom Board (AIHB). This Gujrati lady was the cultural ambassador of India and a close compatriot of the then Prime Minister of India Late Indira Gandhi. Under this Board they setup Weaver’s Service Centres (WSC) one at Calcutta and the other at Bombay. In the year 1959 our bunakar Chatturbhuja Meher joined the Calcutta office as a Grade-II weaver at a basic remuneration of Rs.160 a month. The objective of setting up of these WSC’s are to develop new designs and to provide them to cooperative societies nationwide for production. Later he got transferred to its Mumbai and Imphal offices as well. While working in other states Chaturbhuja acquired the techniques and methods used by those weavers, on the other hand he dissipated the hereditary knowledge that he possessed. He had given his best efforts to sketch new designs on paper and developed those designs on to the fabrics. While serving in other states, he had the inner urge to return to his birth place and contribute his knowledge for the growth and prosperity of his community and the state.

[Chandra Balikunja silk saree]

Chaturbhuja though a virtual ill-literate person, but he had a great vision to accomplish. Unlike his fellow weavers he did not want to restrict himself to the job of weaving handloom fabrics just to make a living. Early in life he had seen famine, unemployment and deaths of the poor fellow beings in Odisha. Then weaving industry has been largely restricted to the echelon of the Bhulia community. To eradicate the poverty and hunger deaths of his villagers he wanted to create employment avenues for them. By breaking the age old social norms of this region he employed the un-touchable poor Schedule Caste and Schedule Tribe people. Irrespective of caste and creed, he trained the untouchable people to weave the cloths and later on employed them in his weaving unit. And brought these lesser fortunate people to the main stream of the society. This man turn out to be the greatest social entrepreneur we ever had in Western Odisha, as thousands of families got sources of livelihood and succour to support their families. Later on he worked under the aegis of Late Padmashree Krutartha Acharjya of Bargarh during the initial stages of setting up of Sambalpuri Bastralayas. Being a Bhulia himself Chaturbhuja was armed with the in-depth knowledge of products and its production. Immensely he contributed his knowledge for the growth of this apex institution to this stage.

So far this grand old man of Indian handlooms has innovated a large number of new designs and motifs. His hand woven fine count Bichitrapuri and fine Bomkei saris able to create an niche in the market. These saris became widely popular in the state and the nationwide.

[standing at the entrance of Bayana Bihar]

In the year 2000 he set up one of the biggest Handloom Park of Odisha called “Vayana Vihar” at village Manamunda in Sonepur District of Odisha. It’s a massive handloom research and development centre where hundreds of unemployed youths are being imparted with training and later on employed irrespective of caste and creed. Vayana Vihar has been equipped with 100 highly furnished modern looms. Separate departments for winding, tying, dyeing, sizing, weaving, drawing, designing are being managed over here. In Odisha he is the first person to modernise the traditional handlooms by fixing the sophisticated modern gadgets like jacquards to streamline and maximise the production of fabrics. It has got a sophisticated research and training wing as well.

[a model in double ikat saree]

Vayana Vihar, his brain child at Manmunda, Sonepur turn out to be an important pilgrimage centre for all those ikat handloom devotes who got the curiosity to know about this ancient technique of handloom weaving. Often day buyer’s and tourists from the world over throng to this little town. And those of you who can’t afford time to come Sonepur may check his outlet Meher’s Collection at Shriya Square, Bhubaneswar. This outlet was set up by his second son Shankar Meher. While his elder son Palasty Meher looks after the production at Manmunda.

[Mehers Collection, Sriya Square, Bhubaneswar]

And all this has been done by someone who is virtually an illiterate person. It needs a great spirit of enterprising skills to build-up the business of this magnitude. Even a pass-out of MBA from a premier university will not be able to manage the business of this short, because till date handloom sector in Odisha is largely un-organized.

[ UNESCO Award ]

The art that has been hidden in someone, over the time comes to the surface in terms of the skill. In return it brings recognition. In the year 2005 he has been bestowed with one of the highest civilian Award of Government of India i.e. Padmashree. This coveted award is given to the citizens of India for the exceptional performance in the fields of arts, education, literature, science, sports, medicine, industry, social service and public affairs. Apart from this he has been honoured with the title of Shilp Guru by the Govt. of India in the year 2006. This award is conferred by Govt. of India to the master craft persons for the highest level of quality and skill in the traditional Indian Handicrafts.

Roti, kapda and makan (food, cloth and shelter) are the three vital needs of life. Out of these the kapda or the cloth for which the life of Chaturbhuja Meher stands for. His life is a mission with sole objective of development of handloom industry of India.

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PS : You may ask this writer [E.Kiran Mohan] to make your travel plan and guide you to Manmunda, Sonepur in case you want the help. You may check the related topics at :

What is ikat

Ikat Tour of Barpali by a French Lady