Those who buy handloom silk saris in Kancheepuram, Tamil Nadu, could possibly be buying the ones woven actually at Y.N. Hoskote, a few hundred kilometres from the famed temple town. The skilled weavers in this drought-hit village in Pavagada taluk of Tumakuru district have been weaving saris, without any identity or brand, that are sold as Kanjeevaram.
This lesser known handloom weaving tradition, however, has been under stress over the decades because of poor working condition and wages, despite silk weavers getting higher wages than cotton handloom weavers.
Declining numbers
Many of the Y.N. Hoskote handloom weavers — whose numbers have declined from around 5,000 earlier to about 1,800 now — fell into debt traps and were forced to migrate to Bengaluru in search of better jobs after the price of raw silk went up steeply. The village has also witnessed the arrival of powerlooms like other weaving centres.
Raju works as a weaver in Y.N.Hosakote of Pavagada taluk in Tumakuru district.
“There was a sudden hike in silk rates from ₹1,600-1,800 to ₹4,500-₹4,800 per kg of raw silk in 2008-09. Many who had bought raw materials at a higher rate suffered losses as they could not get good profit. Several others could not buy raw silk for weaving because of the price. They stopped weaving and went to cities to work in garment factories,” says director of Thogataveera Nekarara Sangha B.N. Nagaraj. “Those who migrated from Y.N. Hoskote work as security guards, construction workers, garments factories and also labourers in Bengaluru,” he says.
Interestingly, while many traditional weavers are migrating to cities, Y.N. Hoskote has had weavers from villages in Andhra Pradesh, a few kilometres away, coming here. Narendra, weaver from Perur Achchammanahalli of Anantapur district in Andhra Pradesh, says: “Though we have 8 acres of land in which we used to grow groundnuts and tomatoes, we have left the land fallow owing to drought and I work as a weaver in Y.N. Hoskote.” Narendra says since he cannot commute to his village, 20 km from Y.N. Hoskote daily, he goes there once in a week. When it rains, that occurs rarely, his wife Padmavathi works as an agricultural labourer too.
However, many local weavers do not want their children to take up this profession. “I have not taught my son weaving. He is studying commerce in Tumakuru. I want my son to be an auditor,” says Anjaneyalu, a weaver. Twisting and winding of silk yarn is done by women labourers and many of them have developed health complications over the years. Parvathamma, a widow, said: “I work at the centre from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and get ₹18 per hour. As I have to continuously stand while working, I have developed varicose veins and got operated six months back. I’m back to work as this is the only means of livelihood,” she said.
Hoping for constant rates
Taluk panchayat member P.C. Nagaraj says the handloom industry will survive if silk rates remain steady. “Now as the silk rate is constant, a few weavers who were working in Bengaluru are coming back to work once again as weavers,” he says, hoping for the good run to last. Their best time is the marriage season, when people from Bengaluru, Tumakuru, Shivamogga and Mysuru come to buy saris in bulk directly from the weavers at prices less than 50% of those at showrooms.
( This is the fifth in a series on the handloom sector in Karnataka .)
