Kalaswaraj Foundation

Bhandara

... Karvat Kathi ...

Bhandara is located in East Maharashtra, sharing boundaries with Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, and is only 60 km from Nagpur, which was a major center for trading handloom textiles in Central India during the early years of British rule.

Over two thousand carts from various handloom clusters, including Bhandara, transported handwoven cloth into, out of, and through Nagpur city in the early Eighteenth century. However, handloom weaving began to decline in the area when the British promoted machine-made yarn and fabric. Mill cotton was initially sold at one-fourth the price of handspun cotton, and later, four mills were established in the central province to accelerate mill textile production.

Bhandara district has a rich history of weaving a variety of handwoven textiles, with over forty thousand artisans engaged in the industry at the beginning of the nineteenth century. From country blankets woven by Dhangars in Chichal and Jaitpur to villages like Tumsar, Kardi, Jam, Sihora, and Chulhad, where thick cotton fabrics were woven using 12-20 count yarn, mainly by the Mahars community. Bhagri and Beni villages were famous for weaving carpets and bedding sheets.

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Beni, Murdada, Pauni, and Mohadi evolved as major dyeing centers to meet the demand of the large weaving community population. Pauni, Bhandara, Mohodi, Adyal, Andhalgaon Sangadi, and Palandur were well-known for weaving cotton sarees and dhotis in 40-80s count cotton with tussar silk karvat borders. Andhalgaon and Pauni were also known for weaving mulberry silk, in addition to cotton weaving. Ganeshpur, Ekodi, Bapewada, and Mundhri were known for the production of handloom pure kosa/tassur cloth, locally called DONGRI.

Around 1886, there were about 6000 weavers in the mentioned villages, weaving either finer cotton textiles or Kosa/tussar silk. However, by 1935, many had shifted completely from cotton to pure tussar silk fabric. They sold 75% of the kosa/tussar cloth to merchants from Madras, Andhra Pradesh, etc., who visited the village once a month.

The main raw material for Kosa/Tussar yarn are cocoons, which were purchased from Nisti, Tadgaon, and Pauni in the Bhandara district or from cocoon-rearing areas of Chandrapur district, such as Armori and Gadchiroli. The rearing was primarily done by Dhimars (a caste) and other aboriginals, including Nayaks.

However, like the rest of the country, Bhandara district witnessed a decline in handloom weaving. In 1960, less than 5000 weavers were left practicing handloom, and by 2023, the number had dropped to under 500 when Kala Swaraj Foundation initiated a project to revive weaving in Bhandra district.

Currently, Kala Swaraj has established a presence in Andhalgaon village, which also covers Mohadi and has fewer than 80 practicing weavers. In these two villages, a handful of weavers from the Koshti community are engaged in weaving Karvati or Karvat Kathi sarees using Kosa/Tussar silk. These sarees are popularly known as Vidarbha Karvati sarees. In Marathi, 'Karvat' means 'saw,' and the fabric is named Karvati or Karvatkati due to its design resembling saw teeth.

Kala Swaraj aims to develop a deeper understanding of the value chain of tussar/kosa weaving, which is on the verge of extinction. The foundation will work towards evolving textiles using tussar silk and blends, providing better earning opportunities for weavers. This initiative also aims to motivate the younger generation, especially women, to adopt weaving and contribute to sustaining the heritage of the area.

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