The World of Kotpad Weavers

The tribal population of India mostly live near large areas of forest land from where they have access to many kinds of forest produce needed to sustain their livelihoods.

The weaving families live as a closed community where the walls on either side of a house touch the next one.

The community pond in the vicinity serves as the only water body where the weavers community wash their fabric after the dyeing process is over.

The Kotpad Weaver's Co-operative Society Office.

Lord Jagannath, whose temple is situated in the town of Puri, is the most popular and revered deity of Odisha. His image looms over the lives of many.

The weavers' houses have wooden frames with thatched roofs and earthen flooring, which has been smoothened by hand with a layer of cow dung.

Every weaver’s house has a long corridor area to keep the assembled pit looms.

They only work in natural light that comes in through the small windows and doorways.

They seldom use electric lighting for their work.

The weaver and his family inside their home with a finished Kotpad sari.

The inside of a tribal home in Kotpad. Most families occupy two or three small rooms in which they live and work.

All the belongings needed for their daily use are stacked on shelves or hung on the walls of their homes.

Kotpad textiles have provided continuity to their tribal origins by way of both materials and technique.

The weavers in front of their house, displaying a finished Kotpad textile that can be used as a stole or dupatta.

A Kotpad shawl hangs with rest of the textiles, most likely outside a weaver's home.

Indigenous architecture is helpful in hanging yarn for drying.

Spiritually and devotion define their craft work as service to God and society.

The proximity of temples and the need to routinely pay obeisance is an integral part of the lives of most weavers.

Durga Puja coincides with the harvest season, when spring cleaning and sprucing up homes, temples and other community spaces take place.

This is the water resource for irrigation.

Those who cannot go to distant areas, buy their roots, herbs, spices and other such organic materials from tribes who travel regularly for distances of as far as 200 kilometers to collect these materials for sale.

Fish is an important part of the diet. Large fishing nets are seen along the river.

As the river is the main resource of water for irrigation, there are agricultral fields along the water body.

A community gathering for some local entertainment.

Clothes hanging for drying in a community house.

The relative isolation of the tribal communities kept the craft of textile dyeing and weaving in Kotpad true to its traditional moorings.

Seen here, is a community woman holding leaves of the "aal" tree.

Tribal communities like to paint the walls of their homes. These are usually done with organic colours procured and made from forests produce.

The images here are simple geometrically drawn shapes common to many tribal groups. People, hores, elephants, the sun and the moon are recurring motifs.

Paintings depict the multiple activities that take place in the daily lives of the tribal community.

Kotpad weaves began to get exposure to a wider market only in the 1980s, because of the renewed interest in traditional textiles, supported by initiatives of the Odisha government.

Bangles are a very popular ornament in the lives of most women in India. While silver and gold are important to some, the glass bangle seller never fails to draw customers in a small village community.

Read more about Kotpad textiles here:

- Dyeing Process
- Weaving Process