If one poses a riddle, ‘what is warm in winter and cool in summer’, the right answer would be ‘Gongadi’, and it would come from people familiar with the rural life of Telangana.
This thick, coarse woollen blanket wrapped over the head and shoulders of aged shepherds sitting on their haunches was also the favourite theme of artists aiming to depict Telangana’s rustic life on canvas.
‘Gongadi’ had almost disappeared owing to near-extinction of ‘Nalla Gorre’ or Deccani sheep, but is being revived of late thanks to efforts by the sheep-rearing community through the collective ‘Deccani Gorrela Mekala Pempakamdarla Sangham’ (DGMPS), a member of Food Sovereignty Alliance-India.
“The blanket can be made only from the wool of Deccani sheep. In its enthusiasm to promote meat, the government of Andhra Pradesh had introduced Red Nellore breed of sheep which grew fast, but hardly produced any wool. Interbreeding between these two varieties resulted in drastic disappearance of this local breed,” says Chiguru Yellaiah, treasurer of the DGMPS.
DGMPS has been working over a decade for reviving ‘Nalla Gorre’ and bringing back the blanket weavers who had migrated to urban areas in search of work, besides exhibiting the products in metropolitan cities so as to make the vocation profitable.
“We have created a revolving fund, and been providing breeder-rams to weavers. After they successfully create a herd, we seek a ram in return, which will go to another beneficiary,” says general-secretary G. Yadaiah, explaining the programme.
The efforts have paid off, with 150 women spinners, 30 weavers and nine ‘kada’ weavers sustaining through this art in five to six mandals of Medak district.
The process begins with shearing of sheep and carding of wool.
Women are involved in carding and spinning, while men weave them into weft and warp threads, before placing them on loom pasted with tarmarind gum and weaving a blanket. Kada, or border weaving, in itself is an art very few specialise in.
There are five kinds of kada, each depicting the community’s bond with nature and agriculture in a certain way.
So far, the collective has organised ‘Gongadi’ exhibitions in Bangalore, Chennai and Delhi, apart from Hyderabad. Each best quality blanket is priced at Rs.7,500 to Rs. 8,000.
“At Delhi, all the 40 blankets we took along were sold by the second day,” beams Mr. Yellaiah.
Another exhibition is scheduled at ‘Daram’ outlet in Begumpet on November 27 and 28.
