Did you know that in Tamil Nadu around 150 varieties of saris are woven? And that the State contributes to 12% of the country’s handloom production?
There is a lot more to handloom than just weaving. Creativity starts with choosing the yarn: ordinary coarse cotton to materials with lustrous finish, resembling silk. Choice of dyes involves thinking through: chemical dyes and vegetable dyes. Then there is the design — from Kancheepuram silk replicated on cotton to the famous Madurai sungudi apart from region-specific motifs.
Clusters of handloom weavers in small villages across Tamil Nadu have worked hard to create an exclusive collection of designs and weaves.
The Handloom and Textiles department has been training weavers to introduce new motifs not only to keep their looms going but also revive the art. One such effort is the chedibutti design.
Last of the generation
The design has become integral to a cluster of 200 families, mostly men over 50 years of age, in Veeravanallur of Tirunelveli district. They are the last of the generation to carry forward the traditional weaving of artificial silk.
“They are on old-age pension but we are keeping them employed by training them to weave new designs,” said R. Thamizharasi, joint director of the department. “As they are trained weavers all we are required to do is give them the design. Since they are conversant with the patterns they are able to incorporate it easily. We introduced the chedibutti design (a plant like motif with colourful flowers) three-four years ago and is now being woven by these families,” she added.
The State is ranked first in sari production and third in the country in handloom production. It has 3.19 lakh looms providing livelihood to 1.89 lakh families.
On Thursday, a week-long exhibition of cotton handloom saris was inaugurated by the department’s director C. Muniathanan at Sri Sankara Hall in Alwarpet. As many as 15 varieties of saris are on display.
