Thirteen-year-old Prabhu P. Bandia at Ilkal, who comes from a family that has woven traditional saris for generations, wants to start a kirana shop when he grows up. He has seen only abject poverty through his childhood, and last year he saw a complete breakdown of the family tradition. His father now works in a bar at Ilkal.
Hussein Sab Annapur, who has been weaving handlooms for 45 years in the same town, sold his loom to raise funds for his son’s wedding. Today, he lives on the paltry wages he gets from weaving in another handloom, while his son has refused to continue the family tradition and instead works in a garage. The latest data (from the fourth handloom census) shows that just about 20% of the total weavers in Karnataka today are aged below 45.
“Handloom weaving involves the entire family as it requires efforts of four persons. We take about two days to produce one sari. It is also very taxing on the body. In the end, we earn ₹200 for a sari after two days of effort by four persons. Why would someone work for ₹25 a day when the younger generation gets better pay outside?” wondered Mahadevappa Mallappa Kvatakundi, a weaver in Ilkal.
A sari shop in Bagalkot district.
Every household in the town has a similar story to tell. The once-thriving weaving culture stares at a bleak future, with the younger generation refusing to work on the loom owing to poor wages and a weak market for the product.
According to Nagaraj Seetharam Sarode, an award-winning master weaver, there are just about 60 working handlooms in Ilkal and a couple of thousands of powerlooms of which many are defunct. “Even though looms are available, we are not getting people to work since they seek higher wages, which we cannot afford, given the thin margins that we work on. Demand comes mostly from Maharashtra if there are good rains, and from a few cities in Karnataka, including Bengaluru,” he said.
Similar stories
The narrative is similar at Guledgudda, famous for its khana (blouse pieces), in Bagalkot district and Gajendragad in Gadag district. Amingad, Sulebhavi, Gudur, Kammatagi and many other weaving centres that sustained livelihood and rural economy in the dry regions of north Karnataka face a similar situation. Incidentally, the Karnataka Economic Survey report puts the annual per capita income of a weaver household at around ₹24,900, which is based on a decade-old survey report while a new report as part of the fourth census is expected soon.
“The cost of raw materials has increased while the income has remained almost the same. We fall prey to debts easily if there is any medical emergency or marriage,” said Enkappa Yellappa Kadigi, who is from Gajendragad but now lives in Pune. “There is very limited help from the government for weavers.”
For the weaving community, the problem began with the influx of mill saris that were cheaper, and with no government support, the tradition started disintegrating. The establishment of Karnataka Handloom Development Corporation (KHDC) in 1975 to arrest the decline helped in ensuring sustainable wages partly in 1980s and 1990s, but inconsistent supply of raw materials and delayed payment forced the weavers back to master weavers, who many allege are exploitative.
Too few with KHDC
The number of weaver-members of the KHDC, which provides raw materials and work to weavers to meet the supply demand of various government agencies, has declined. “Less than 5,000 weavers are members of the KHDC now. Handlooms are unable to compete with power looms that dump saris at a cheaper cost. Many weavers have moved to hotel and construction sectors in big towns,” said Koppal-based Vittappa Gorantli, vice-president of the Karnataka Handloom Weavers’ Association.
None to marry
Hanumanth Kudigi from Guledgudda, who is in his mid-30s, said he had to migrate to Bengaluru to get a bride because no family was willing to give their daughter in marriage to a weaver. “I was not getting any proposal because the entire family has to get involved in a handloom. It was only after I joined a powerloom in Bengaluru that I could marry. However, I have now convinced my wife to return to Guledgudda,” he said, adding that most young weavers were leaving the profession for the same reason.
(This is the first of a series on handlooms in Karnataka.)
