Dastkari Haat Samiti
Dastkari Haat Samiti
Weaving communities
Old cultures in India have always been deeply interlinked. Each group belonging to a special identity and profession needs the services of another, irrespective of the differences of their religion or customs. A weaver needs a carpenter to make his loom, an embroiderer needs cloth to embellish her veil, and everyone needs milk, butter and ghee for their food from the herder. The herder needs cowbells for the cattle, and blankets for protection from the cold.
Dhabla Weaving (2017)Dastkari Haat Samiti
Handloom weaving in Kutch was traditionally linked to specific communities. The weaver wove particular products in particular designs for his different markets.
Dhabla Weaving: Detail of Meghwar woman's shawl (early 20th century)Dastkari Haat Samiti
The textiles he produced were not just functional objects, they were closely tied to the identities of the different communities, and indeed to different stages of life of the individual wearer.
Dhabla Weaving: Traditional shawl made with local wool being woven for a special order from the village (2017)Dastkari Haat Samiti
Wool was the basic raw material, and was hand spun from the fleece of the animals kept by the nomadic pastoralists.
Heritage textiles from communities of Bhujodi
Changing times brought to people goods and materials from factories with which they had no personal or cultural connections. Old ties were broken. Production processes were disrupted. A prosperous village community makes Bhujodi a living example of a still relevant, shared value system of a people who would otherwise have been isolated and out of tune with the changing world.
Dhabla Weaving: Shamji showing old pieces that were traditionally made for local communities (2017)Dastkari Haat Samiti
Award winning weaver Vankar Vishram Valji’s family have preserved traditional pieces – reminders of the age-old ties that bind them to other communities; and a repository of their design heritage.
The success Shamji Vankar and others in his village have achieved makes them conscious of their responsibility to those with whom they shared relationships and values systems for centuries.
Dhabla Weaving: Detail of Meghwar woman's shawl (early 20th century)Dastkari Haat Samiti
Other communities in Kutch - the Meghwals, Ahirs, and others - are touched by them in age-old ways.
Dhabla Weaving: In Shamji Vankar's showroom (2017)Dastkari Haat Samiti
Over centuries, Kutch pastoralists have integrated with weaving community and in return, they are given turban cloths, blankets and shawls.
Shamji can be seen displaying saafas or turban cloths of Debhariya Rabari community from his collection.
Dhabla Weaving: Traditional men's shoulder shawl made for Rabari herders (early 20th century)Dastkari Haat Samiti
The Vankar family has preserved traditional pieces like this Rabari man’s shoulder shawl, as reminders of the age-old ties that bind them to other communities.
Dhabla Weaving: Detail of Debhariya Rabari widow's shawl (early 20th century)Dastkari Haat Samiti
Each community had its own design and style, like this Dhebariya Rabari widow’s shawl.
The Vankar family's collection also acts as a repository of their design heritage.
Dhabla Weaving: Detail of a Rabari woman's shawl (early 20th century)Dastkari Haat Samiti
A two-generations-old Rabari woman’s shawl exemplifies the ties between the different communities connected with a traditional textile. The weavers wove the fabric to the required specifications.
It was then given to the Khatri dyers, responsible for getting it tie-dyed in the exact patterning and colours worn by Rabari women.
The male dyers got the tying for the design executed by specialised women artisans. The hand woven tie-dyed textile was returned to the Rabari family.
Dhabla Weaving: Detail of a Rabari woman's shawl (early 20th century)Dastkari Haat Samiti
The woman would have herself then joined two lengths of the fabric with colourful stitches to make the larger sized shawl she desired, and also embellished it with embroidery and mirror work designs typically worn by women of her life stage in the community.
In the old days, each weaver was connected to a Rabari family, and this relationship carried on through generations.
Maintaining age old ties
Shamji Vankar believes that the communities need to be included in the benefits he found by engaging with a wider world. As his social consciousness increased, his community of people working on producing shawls and fine weaves grew in number. His knowledge of the preferences of faraway markets was shared and helped others to improve the quality of their work.
Dhabla Weaving: Rabari women hand spinning yarn from wool (2017)Dastkari Haat Samiti
Over time, with new materials and technology, exposure and mobility, many of the old ways have changed. The Vankars now weave mostly for an urban customer with whom they have no personal links.
Dhabla Weaving: One of Vishram Valji's senior most Rabari associates (2017)Dastkari Haat Samiti
However, some weavers, like Vankar Shyamji Vishram and his family of Bhujodi village, while successfully negotiating the new markets, have also tried to maintain and nurture their old ties.
Dhabla Weaving: Some of the woven products get a touch of hand embroidery from local Rabari women artisans (2017)Dastkari Haat Samiti
They have encouraged Rabari women to hand spin local wool for them again, and have also got them to embroider details on the woven textiles.
Dhabla Weaving: The warp is stretched out in front of the loom, the remaining portion wrapped in bundles and opened out as the weaving progresses (2017)Dastkari Haat Samiti
Shyamji values individual requests from local buyers in the village, even if these are harder to produce.
Sourcing and dyeing traditional raw materials in small quantities, and setting a warp for one or two pieces does not fit with the modern, more efficient ways of production.
Dhabla Weaving Dhabla WeavingDastkari Haat Samiti
Pieces woven for village customers are not as remunerative as those made for people in urban centres.
Dhabla Weaving: Traditional shawl made with local wool being woven for a special order from the village (2017)Dastkari Haat Samiti
Yet he feels it is a privilege to honour customary ties and be able to sustain old relationships.
Dhabla Weaving: Detail (1974)Dastkari Haat Samiti
Read more about the Dhabla Textiles here:
- Heritage Textiles
- Weaving Process
Text: Aloka Hiremath and Jaya Jaitly
Photography: Suleiman Merchant
Artisans: Shamji Vankar and associates in the community
Ground Facilitator: Aloka Hiremath
Documentary Video: Suleiman Merchant
Curation: Ruchira Verma
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