The Barpali Days: handlooms

Showing posts with label handlooms. Show all posts

Aug 1, 2020

handlooms 8:51 PM

Mathmatics Saree

These days above video of Vidya Balan is going viral in the social media. She could be seen wearing a Sambalpuri ikat saree with all the mathematics equations. She is the lead actress of the upcoming movie Sakuntala Devi that has been filmed on the biography of a famous Indian mathematician.

The master mind behind the sketch of this design is Dibya Meher, who himself is a software engineer and now working with HCS at Bangalore. Dibya is the nephew of Sant Kabir awardee Late Bhagabana Meher of Barpali. Bhagabana was not that literate so Dibya draw the design by collecting all the mathematical equations from his engineering text books. There were four original pieces produced way back 2017 out of which two pieces were sold to Priyadarsini handloom store, Bhubaneswar with the title “Engineering” saree for 25,000/- INR each.

[Amrita of Sabat Exports,

Bhubaneswar]

But later this idea was borrowed by Copycat Meher of Sonepur. He as well started producing mathematics sarees in black and blue colour just by altering some equations. Exactly this is how the ikat weavers carry their age old vocation.

If the master weaver Bhagabana Meher would have alive he might have filed a suit in the court.

E.Kiran Mohan(The Writer)
kiranbima@gmail.com
WhatsApp# +918249314972
S/o.Dr.E.R.Rao(M.D)
Main Road, Near SBI,
At/PO : Barpali-768029
Dist.Bargarh,Odisha, India

E Kiran Mohan 2

Dec 20, 2019

sick 7:40 PM

Jema Meher: Even deaf and dumb can speak out loudly through their work

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Jema Meher is a 16 years old girl of Kusanpuri village. She is the youngest daughter of Saptama Meher. She along with her other two elder sisters all are deaf and dumb since their birth. It's a genetic disorder. As Saptama he himself is an illiterate he never took her children to any hospitals for medical treatment.

They belong to cooli Meher community. But Saptama and all the family members have undertaken the job of weaving handloom textiles. His son Sushanta collects the tie and dye yarn from the Bhulia community. They got two handloom machines at home. Saptama along with his son and three daughters weave the handloom fabrics at their home.

The eldest sister is Namita who is 25 years, whereas the second sister Nilendri is 23 years. While Jema is a 16 years old girl. None of the three siblings can either speak or hear. None of them attended any school as there are no schools for differently abled children. Jema is willing to study further, but her father Saptama neither have got the knowledge, nor the resources to impart education. Instead Jema is attending Kushanpuri High School. She is a student of Class 9th of Odia medium. It's a co-educational School. She is supposed to attend a disability School, but since her parents are poor and illiterate they never able to make any provisions to send her to such School. Jema is sincere in her studies and willing to study further. In school a few boys boys mocks her, whereas most of the girls pay due regards.

Saptama inherited the knowledge and the technique of ikat handloom weaving from his father instead of attending any training or workshops organised by the department of textiles. Likewise he descended this knowledge to his four children. The master weavers of the tie and dye handloom clinch the State and National Awards but the weavers of this community never got the due recognitions.

The eldest and the youngest daughters get the handicap pension of 700 INR a month whereas the second daughter gets 500 INR a month that is all. The old father worries thinking who will look after his three spinster daughters when he will no more here on the surface of the earth. Those who are willing to help her may speak with her brother Sushanta Meher at:

WhatsApp# +918917691670

Jema Meher

D/o. Saptama Meher

Kusanpuri-768029,

Dist. Bargarh, Odisha, India

PLEASE SUPPORT- GOOGLE PAY: +91 8249314972

PhonePe: +91 8249314972

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kiranbima@gmail.com
WhatsApp# +918249314972
E.Kiran Mohan(The Writer)
S/o.Dr.E.R.Rao(M.D)
Main Road, Near SBI,
At/PO : Barpali-768029
Dist.Bargarh,Odisha, India

E Kiran Mohan 2

Feb 21, 2014

personalities 8:38 PM

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

[Alpana - single ikat saree in silk]

[Barada Budha - extra weft wall hanging in silk]

[Boita Bandana - single ikat saree in silk]

[Boita Bandana - single ikat wall hanging]

[Chakra Bandha - single ikat saree]

[Dasphulia : single ikat saree in silk]

[Dasphulia : single ikat saree in tassar]

[Double ikat saree in blue]

[Double Tree - ikat saree]

[Flower Vase : fira firbi silk saree in black]

[Flowering Tank : fira firbi yellow saree in silk]

[Jhuti : single ikat saree in cotton]

[Konark : single ikat wall hanging]

[Kunja Kumuda : single ikat silk saree]

[Lakshmi Puja : ikat saree in silk]

[Lalita Kunja : single ikat saree in silk]

[Radha Kunja : a fira firbi saree in silk]

[Sampurna Bruksha : a single ikat wall hanging]

[Sapta Bruksha : a single ikat saree in silk]

[Saptaparni : a single ikat saree in silk]

[Sindhu Kanya : a single ikat saree in silk]

kiranbima@gmail.com

E.Kiran Mohan

C/o.Dr.E.R.Rao (MD)

Tehsil Chowk,

At/PO. BARPALI – 768 029

Dist. Bargarh, Orissa, India

Cell # 91-99-371-20565

E Kiran Mohan 10

Apr 5, 2013

personalities 10:58 AM

Dayalu Meher – The Whole Circle of ikat handloom fabrics

It was the good fortune of Dayalu Meher to be born to a Bhulia family which has contributed immensely to bring the ikat weaving of Odisha to the global map. He is the eldest son of the legendry ikat weaver Late Shilpiguru Padmashree Kunjabihari Meher. He fondly recalls the golden era of Barpali ikat which he witnessed in his own life time. In the year 1975 he was carrying a piece of Bharat Ratna cotton saree made by his father and exchanging it for a tola (11.664 grams) of 22 carat gold with Meher Handloom Emporium at Sambalpur. So now you could judge the worth of our ikat handloom fabrics which was traded at par with the price of bullion.

It was not only his father but the paternal grandfather Braja Mohan Meher of Budapali too was a reputed weaver of the yester years. In the early decades of last century there was a folk lore in the entire Western Odisha about his grandfather. There was a popular saying in Oriya :

“Baraj bhuliar kapta pate, aur kapta pateke maheji gute”

Which in essence means, wearing a piece of “Kapta” of Braja Mohan Meher was so much dignifying, but the price was so expensive that equal to the cost of keeping a woman at home. 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. A kapta was made of only cotton. The length of a piece of kapta was of nine hands, which was roughly 13.5 feets. Whereas the length of a saree as on this date is 12 hands or 18 feets. But a kapta used to have double anchal, while a sari do have only single anchal. A saree could be wore only one way. The anchal or the polu of it goes to back of the lady from over the shoulder. On the other hand a kapta was having double anchal, so could have wore from either end.

At a young age he learnt the basic techniques of weaving of ikat handloom fabrics under the stewardship of his father. His father always wanted to make him a perfect artist to draw the different figures, flora and fauna. One ought to be an artist to be a successful ikat weaver. His father asked him to draw a circle on a blank paper with a pencil. And he instructed him “the day you able to draw a wholesome circle without the help of any geometric instrument, you would be a perfect artist”. This unconventional technique of teaching imparted a great lesson to this budding artist. The weaver needs to draw the design on the paper. Then he needs to tie the knots on the bunch of yarn before its dye for producing the ikat fabrics.

It was ridiculous as until the 1990 the Sambalpuri Bastralaya was making the Mahima saris at Bagbadi carrying the Konark Chakra (wheel) of hexagonal shape. It was Dayalu who invented the technique of tying the yarn in such a way so as a whole circle could be created. He created Sudarshani saree with circular Konark wheels and supplied to this cooperative society. The saree has been titled so because the Konark wheels appeared to be as wholesome as that of the Sudarshan Chakra of Lord Bishnu. This design proved to be an instant hit in the market and widely being accepted by the consumers.

It’s a tough job to be a sibling of a great father. And he able to assess even how tough it is to withstand the name of his father Late Shilpiguru Padmashree Kunjabihari Meher. He always had the inner urge to develop the new designs and the motifs for the ikat fabrics. During the early 80’s of the last century one foreigner of the American Friends Society forwarded him a ramshackle old book by the title “Designs from Orissan Temples”. This big volume was printed by Thacker’s Press & Directories Ltd. at London with an introduction given by Kim Christen. This rare manuscript carried many images in black and white of the rock sculptures from the temples of Orissa built during the medieval period. Our weaver Dayalu Meher extracted the designs from this book. Consecutively he made several trips to the Sun Temple at Konark; Jagannath Temple at Puri; Lingraj temple, Kedar Gauri temple, Rajarani temple and Mausima temple at Bhubaneswar to observe closely these great works of sculptures and the architecture. He compiled many of these designs and developed a silk saree titled “Kalasiromani Devangana”. For this design he bagged the National Award in the year 1993 from the then President of India Dr.Sankar Dayal Sharma. In a year at most he able to reproduce just two pieces of Kalasiromani Devangana because so intricate and complex is its design.

He had the privilege to participate in the Surajkund International Crafts Mela five times and to bag the prestigious Kalanidhi Award from the Government of Haryana. Beside it he attended Master Creation Program at Dilli Hat seven times. It is not only Dayalu Meher but his spouse and two sons as well bagged the National Awards.

He regrets while looking at the current scenario of the handloom industry. The new genre of weavers are opting the easy way out to make quick money from this trade, instead of developing the new designs.

kiranbima@gmail.com

Cell# +918249314972

E.Kiran Mohan(The Blogger)

C/o.Dr.E.R.Rao (MD)

Tehsil Chowk,

At/PO. BARPALI – 768 029

Dist. Bargarh, Orissa, India

E Kiran Mohan 3

Aug 23, 2012

handlooms 12:28 PM

What is IKAT

Ikat means the “tie and dye” technique of weaving which has been invented by the mankind since time immemorial. The word “ikat” likely to be originated from the Indonesian language “mangikat” which literally means tying a bunch of yarn to dye, before its weaving. This method of weaving is popularly known as “Bandha” in Odisha where as it is called “Bandhni” in Gujrat.

The procedure to weave a length of any cloth is to firmly interlace the yarn horizontally and vertically. On the other hand in the ikat weaving the yarn is tinted at the needed places prior to it’s weaving. The yarn when loaded vertically into the handloom machine it is called warp (tani), while the horizontal yarn which shuttles in between the warp is called the weft (buna). The warp is the tightly stretched length wise core of the fabric which tends to be stronger and coarser, while the weft is woven between the warp threads to bring various patterns on the textile. Mostly the resist dyeing is done on the weft yarn which is loaded in a shuttle. But even a more complex work is done by double-ikat, where both the warp and the weft undergo the resist dyeing. The double-ikat fabric got the same design at both sides of the cloth. This unique feature could never be possible on any cloth manufactured in a power loom, despite the fact so much advances made in the technology ever since the industrial revolution a century back.

To produce an ikat saree entire family members are engaged for a week to four week time depending upon the intricacy of the design. So you could assess how labour intensive is this industry which in fact provides livelihood to thousands of families nationwide.

[Single ikat]

[Double ikat]

Before the weaving the yarn is pre-fabricated with colour by resist dyeing technique. As per the design the bunch of yarn is tightly tied with the cotton threads at the needed places and then drenched in colour. The confiscated area of the yarn retains the original colour (white) while the remaining portion of the yarn absorbs the colour in which it has been soaked. When the yarn is dried, the knots are opened with hands and then it goes through a series of hand operated tools like asari, upharna, badhikatar, punraa, kamancha, kamda, rahata(called charkha in Hindi), phani, nari(shuttle), nalli (bobbin) before entering monga. Monga is otherwise popularly known as khatkhati for the echo “khat khat” which is generated from the wood while the handloom machine is operated.