OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The main objective of the cluster initiative program is, to study every major aspect of the Craft “Gadwal Sarees” that might help bring about a change for the welfare and development of the craft and its creators.

The major aspects involve:

1. Knowing the past and present scenario of the cluster & their comparison.2. Studying the economic importance of the cluster program. 3. Learning about the existing institutional support to the craft & the

handloom industry involved. 4. Analyzing the development potential of the cluster initiative.5. Cognizing the prevalent marketing methods of Gadwal Saree handloom

industry.6. Studying the intervention in design/marketing/technology used under the

Craft.7. Looking into the social and welfare development potential of the cluster.8. Indication of risks & assumptions related to the craft.9. Canvassing the cultural aspect of the craft.10. Sales & profits of the Gadwal handloom industry.11. Knowing the customer profile & their preferences.

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1.1 Introduction

Woven textiles are one of the oldest techniques developed by people the world over.

Earlier, the woven cloth protected the body from the heat and cold, and later developed into a form of dress, which expressed the cultural values of the people and their identity.

The art of weaving and dyeing of fabrics was practiced in India from very ancient times. It was such an important part of the life of the ancient times that many of its techniques gave the name to philosophical and religious thought.

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1.2 Defining Sarees

The Indian 'saree' or 'sari' has been in existence for more than 5000 years which is mentioned in the Vedas. Some versions of the history of Indian clothing trace the sari back to the Indus valley civilization, which flourished in 2800-1800 BCE. It is the basic wear of rural people of India. The name 'saree' is derived from the Sanskrit word 'Chira' which means cloth. To suit the local conditions, it was designed by the Indian people in the earlier days. The length of it varies from 5 to 9.5 yards and it is draped around the entire body.

Generally the Indian climate is warm. So, saree is more suitable for this subcontinent. In olden days, men also wore a dress like saree called 'dhoti'.

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1.3 Types of Sarees of India

While an international image of the 'modern style' saree may have been popularised by airline stewardesses, each region in the Indian subcontinent has developed, over the centuries, its own unique saree style. Following are the well known varieties, distinct on the basis of fabric, weaving style, or motif, in South Asia:

1. Tanchoi 2. Shalu 3. Bandhani

Eastern styles

1. Baluchari – West Bengal 2. Kantha – West Bengal 3. Ikat Silk & Cotton – Orissa 4. Cuttacki Pata Silk & Cotton – Orissa5. Sambalpuri Pata Silk & cotton saree – Orissa 6. Bomkai Silk & Cotton – Orissa7. Mayurbhanj Tussar Silk – Orissa 8. Sonepuri/Subarnapuri Silk – Orissa 9. Bapta & Khandua Silk & Cotton – Orissa 10. Berhampuri Silk – Orissa11. Tanta/Taant Cotton – Orissa, West Bengal &

Bangladesh

12. Jamdani – Bangladesh13. Jamdani Khulna – Bangladesh 14. Dhaka Benarosi– Bangladesh 15. Rajshahi silk– Bangladesh 16. Tangail Tanter saree– Bangladesh 17. Katan saree– Bangladesh

Western styles

1. Paithani – Maharashtra 2. Bandhani – Gujarat and Rajasthan 3. Kota doria Rajasthan 4. Lugade – Maharashtra

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Fig.1.2 A Bandhani Saree from Rajasthan

Fig.1.1 A Kantha saree from West Bengal

Central styles

1. Chanderi – Madhya Pradesh 2. Maheshwari – Madhya Pradesh 3. Kosa silk – Chattisgarh

Southern styles

1. Kanchipuram (locally called Kanjivaram) – Tamil Nadu

2. Coimbatore – Tamil Nadu 3. Chinnalapatti – Tamil Nadu

4. Chettinad – Tamil Nadu 5. Madurai – Tamil Nadu 6. Arani – Tamil Nadu 7. Pochampally – Andhra Pradesh 8. Venkatagiri – Andhra Pradesh 9. Gadwal – Andhra Pradesh 10. Guntur – Andhra Pradesh 11. Narayanpet – Andhra Pradesh 12. Mangalagiri – Orissa 13. Balarampuram – Kerala 14. Mysore Silk – Karnataka 15. Ilkal saree 16. Valkalam saree

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Fig.1.3Chanderi saree from Madhya Pradesh

Fig. 1.4 Kanjivaram from Tamil Nadu

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2.1 An Overview of Handlooms & Textiles in Andhra Pradesh

Renowned for its handlooms, Andhra Pradesh is an ancient institution of hand-woven fabrics. It produces the most exclusive sarees and dress-materials, having delicate and distinctive designs. Each saree boasts of an intricate 'pallu' and delicate border adorned with gold thread work. The looms of Pochampalli, Venkatagiri, Gadwal, Narayanpet and Dharmavaram are well-known for their silk and cotton sarees all over India. Usually, both the loom and the fabric are known by the name of the place. Each loom is recognized with its distinct weaving style and variety of fabric. In Andhra Pradesh and most other southern states, cotton and silk are the two most preferred fabrics. There are about 3,20,000 handlooms. About 5,00,000 families directly and 20,00,000 families indirectly are dependent on them. Some of the famous handlooms of Andhra Pradesh are as follows:

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Kalamkari FabricsKalamkari is essentially an art of painting and printing fabrics. The Kalamkari fabrics are known world-wide for their attractive designs on carpets, bed sheets, wall hangings, sarees, chintz, table clothes and curtain clothes.

Ikat Weaving Handlooms Originated in Nalgonda district, Ikat is an expertise of weaving randomly dyed yarn in natural zigzag or geometric patterns.

Chirala Textiles Eminent for its textiles, Chirala produces some of the best fabrics of Andhra Pradesh. Chirala is famous for its bedspreads, curtains, tapestry fabrics and sarees.

Gadwal SareesGadwal has been known worldwide for its beautiful sarees. The main charm about their saree is that its body is of cotton, whilst the border and pallu are in silk. Actually, the cotton and silk fabrics are woven individually and then attached together to make a complete saree. The 'pallu' and the border are adorned with rich traditional designs.

Dharmavaram Sarees Dharmavaram is renowned for its fabulous silk sarees throughout the world. These sarees comprise simple and plain borders without much contrast.

Venkatagiri Sarees Venkatagiri sarees are known for being adorned with gold threads. Available in cotton and silk, these sarees have borders with pure silver or gold 'zari' (threads) and brocade designs. They are dyed in rich colors with golden dots, leaves, parrots or simple geometrical designs.

Eluru CarpetsEluru is illustrious for its flourishing woolen carpet industry.

Mangalgiri Handlooms Located at a distance of 12 kms from Vijayawada, Mangalgiri is a famous pilgrimage center in Andhra Pradesh. Mangalgiri is popular not only for its temple, but also for its elegant cotton sarees and dress materials.

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Fig.2.1 Handicraft Map of Andhra Pradesh

Uppada Sarees This place is famed for its skillfully designed cotton sarees.

Narayanpet SareesThese sarees are available in cotton and silk and are woven in dark earthy colours. These are very eye catching and the borders are usually kept in a flat spread of deep maroon red or chocolate red, which is again thinly separated by white or colored lines.

Pochampalli sareesThe `Pochampalli` textiles of Andhra Pradesh are made by using the tie and dye technique of the yarn. Using these designs, various dress materials, sarees and home furnishings are also made.

Kothakota SareesKothakota is another type of weaving in Andhra Pradesh. It is similar to the Gadwal saree with silk borders and rich pallus with very innovative zari designs.

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2.2 Handloom Scenario and the Structure of co-op. Societies

As weaver nimble fingers lovingly play over the looms, rare artistry begins to unfold like a symphony composed by a skilled musician; the fabric woven has its own exquisite harmony.

Warp by warp, weft by weft almost in every village of A.P. lives the weaver, zealously guarding a legacy handed down the generations.

The Handloom Societies in Andhra Pradesh are organised as a two tier structural societies in the village called Primary Handloom weaver's co-operative society. The APEX society at the State level called A.P. State Handloom Weavers' Co-operative society Ltd. (APSHWCS), popularly called as APCO.

The APCO Fabrics is a Govt. controlled and managed body which coordinates the procurement and export of Hand loomed fabrics from A.P.

The marketing network of APCO is carried through its extensive sales outlets numbering (189) out of which (168) are located within the State of Andhra Pradesh and (21) Inter-state outlets are located outside the State of Andhra Pradesh.

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3.1 Geography

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Gadwal is located at 16°14′N 77°48′E / 16.23°N 77.8°E. It has an average elevation of 325 metres (1066 feet).It is around 150 k.m. away from Hyderabad, the capital of Andhra Pradesh, & 60 km northwest of Kurnool.

3.2 Gadwal History

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Fig.3.1 Maps indicating Gadwal in the district of Mahabubnagar in Andhra Pradesh

Gadwal, a small town; makes many gadwal sarees for the main stream south Indian market. Gadwal Samsthanam was in Raichur district (Now it is in Mahabubnagar district).It was once ruled by a local ruler called Somasekhar Reddy, fondly called Somanadri who also built a fort round the city.

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Fig. 3.2 Pictures from the compound of the Gadwal Fort

It’s situated between the rivers Tungabhadra and Krishna over an area of 800 sq. miles approximately.

After the fall of the Warangal Andhra dynasty in the 14th century, Gadwal transferred its allegiance to the new Bahmani kingdom. According to the family history, Pedda Veera Reddy, Peddanna Bhupaludu, Sarga Reddy, Veera Reddy and Kumara Veera Reddy ruled Gadwal between 1553 and 1704.

During the reign of Nizam Ali Khan Asaf Jah II, the Martha's gained power in certain parts of the Deccan and started collecting 'chouth' or 25% of the revenue known, as 'Do-Amli'. Raja Sitaram Bhupal died in 1840 and was succeeded by his adopted son, Raja Sitaram Bhupal II. Nizam VII bestowed on him the title of "Maharaja" and he died in 1924 and was survived by his widow and two daughters.

Gadwal is also famous as a tourist spot. Here there is one of the largest project (DAM) Known as Priyadarshini Jurala Project with almost 70 gates and very soon it will be ready for generating power. Gadwal was ruled by a king called Nalla Somanadri and there is a famous fort worth watching. Gadwal has Sri Jamla Devi Temple, a divine place for many people of Gadwal.

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Fig.3.3 The ruler of Gadwal, King Nalla Somanadri’s Statue in the Fort of Gadwal Sarees

It is renowned for the Chennakesava Swamy Temple, built by the Rajas of Gadwal in the 17th century. About 20 km from Gadwal is the Kurumurthy village, which is the site of Sri Kurumurthy Srinivasa Swamy Temple.

3.3

Demographics

Gadwal, was in the dynasty of Gadwal and Wanaparthy rulers which is now in the district of Mahabubnagar of Telangana region in Andhra Pradesh. Gadwal is a small town with highly professional weavers having rich traditional values of the weaving techniques. As of 2001 India census, Gadwal had a population of 53,560. Males constitute 53% of the population and females 47%. Gadwal has an average literacy rate of 57%, lower than the national average of 68.6%: male

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Fig 3.4 The famous temple of Chennakesava Swamy Temple in Gadwal

literacy is 67%, and female literacy is 48%. In Gadwal, 13% of the population is under 6 years of age.

Table 3.1 Population Data for this Place (As of 2001):Rural Urban

Households: 702 9,765

Total Population: 3,546 53,560

Male Population: 1,829 27,497

Female Population: 1,717 26,063

Kids Under 6 Yrs: 563 7,092

Boys Under 6 Yrs: 282 3,584

Girls Under 6 Yrs: 281 3,508

Total Literates: 886 30,145

Total Illiterates: 2,660 23,415

Village names in Gadwal constituency

Mandal Name: GADWAL

1. REKULAPALLE 2. KOTHAPALLE 3. YENKAMPETA 4. MULKALAPALLE 5. GADWAL (RURAL) 6. ATMAKUR 7. GANPAD 8. SANGALA

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9. JILLADABANDA 10.KAKULAVARAM 11.PARAMALA 12.MELLACHERUVU 13.JAMMICHEDU 14.PUDUR 15.ANANTAPUR 16.BEEROLE 17.BASAPUR 18.GURRAMGADDA

3.4 A short note on Mahabubnagar- The district under which Gadwal falls.

Area: 18, 432 sq.kms.

The boundaries of Mahabubnagar district are Nalgoda and Prakasam districts in the east, Kurnool district in the south, Gulbarga and Rayachur districts of Karnataka in the west and Hyderabad district in the north directions.

Rivers: Krishna, Tungabhadra, Vendi, Peddavaagu, Chinnavaagu.

Major Places:

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Nagarkurnool, Vanaparthi, Mahabubnagar and Gadwal.

Industries:  Gadwal handlooms, Woolen Blankets.

Tourist Places:

Pillalamarri Banyan Tree, Farahabad hill station, Gadwal Fort, Sarlasagar project, Koilsagar project and Nagarjunasagar - Srisailam Sanctuary.

Table 3.2 Tourist AttractionsS.No Tourist Spot Theme Place 1 Alampur Temples Pilgrim Centres   Alampur   2 Chenna Kesava Temple Pilgrim Centres   Gadwal   3 Gadwal Sarees Handlooms   Gadwal   4 Jetprole Pilgrim Centres   Jetprole   5 Kollapur Madhava Swamy

templePilgrim Centres   Kollapur  

 6 Kurumurthy Kshetram Pilgrim Centres   Gadwal   7 Ranganayaka Temple Pilgrim Centres   Srirangapur   8 Someswara Swamy temple Pilgrim Centres   Somasila  

Pilgrimage Centers:

Alampur Temple, Manikonda Temple, Wanaparthi Temple, Malleswaram Temple, Somasila Temple, Sri Rangapur Temple and Nava Brahma Temple on the riverbanks of Tungabhadra.

Handicrafts: Gadwal Handlooms, Alampur towel, Narayanpet silk. Presently, the Assistant director of Handlooms & Textiles of Andhra Pradesh office in Mahbubnagar is Mr. Ram Gopal Rao. There are 73 societies in Mahabubnagar which are currently running to help develop the handloom industry.

Accessibility: Mahbubnagar is well connected by rail and road with important towns of the State. Gadwal Railway Station is on the Kurnool-Hyderabad line.

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3.5 Agriculture & Industries in Gadwal & the district of Mahbubnagar

Black corrosion soil lands are 24%, black soil 19%, sandy soil lands 4%, and red soil lands 25%. The first variety lands are very fertile. Sand soil lands are not so fertile. ‘Korra’, orange, lime and betel leaves are the special crops. They are cultivated near river beds. The principal crops are millet & rice; other food grains include pulses, oilseeds, cotton and indigo. The last two are largely exported. There are several steam factories for pressing cotton, and indigo vats.

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Fig.3.4 Map of the district of Mahbubnagar & its Transport accessibility.

Fig.3.5 Map of the district of Mahbubnagar & its Transport accessibility.

The district of Mahabubnagar, is the repository of mineral wealth. As per the 1983 survey of geological survey of India 30lakh tons of lead, 740lakh tons of barrettes, 27000tons asbestos deposits are there. There are mineral related industries and electrical instruments industries. Zuari Cements, India Cement Ltd, Corus India Ltd are the other industries.

The forest area is 5,050 km. It is 32.87% of the district area.. In the northeast part of the district rainfall is high. Red sandalwood is available in plenty. This is the only area in India where red sandalwood is available. A National park is set up in Seshachalam hills for prospecting wild animals. 181 are employed in the only one paper industry in the district and its capital investment is Rs.227lakhs.

Forest provides the Bamboo, which is useful in the Paper Industry. Social forests are coming up nicely over the years. There are no major industries present in the district, but Sheep breeding is providing adequate income resources to the people in some parts of the district. Most parts of the district fall under severe drought region with short of rainfall every year. 

The main water sources are Lift Irrigation project on River Krishna at Kothapally, Priyadarsini Jurala project at Gadwal, Rajulibanda Diversion, Koyal Sagar and Sarla Sagar Schemes. Handloom industry especially Gadwal is a household name of sarees and their products. Educational Institutions are affiliated to Osmania University.

3.6 Gadwal-Transport

It is well connected with the railway line. There are more than 20 trains that pass through Gadwal every day. It is 150 km from Hyderabad. Very soon Gadwal will be known as Railway Junction because of railway connection from

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Gadwal to Raichur district. (Karnataka). The work is already in progress and may be completed in 2010.

Gadwal has got well access to road transport also. There are buses every now & then from the main city of the district, Mahabubnagar. Also, buses run timely from Hyderabad too which is the capital city of Andhra Pradesh & from other major places of the district & state as well.

Adding to this, some taxis & mini jeeps run daily & carry passengers who have to do daily up & down for work to either Hyderabad or Mahabubnagar.

3.7 Mahbubnagar & Gadwal – People & Culture

The unofficial name of Mahabubnagar and Gadwal is Palamoor. Mahabubnagar the southern district of Telangana, has been ruled by Muslim kings for the last six hundred years. Though there were reputed sansthans like Gadwal, Wanaparthy, Kollapur, Amarchinta etc with leaders like Bregadiar Raja Rameswar Rao, they have simply collected taxes by sucking the blood of poor people of Palamoor to impress Nizam and develop Hyderabad for them and never cared for rural education or rural economic

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Fig. 3.6 The railway station at Gadwal

development. The feudal system under these rulers did not help our society.

Today rural Telangana is decimated for lack of economic development. Instead of unite and fight for justice, Telangana people are divided on caste and are prone to outside exploitation. The Naxalite violence in this region is one such good example. Though the world's civilization advanced dramatically, most of the village people are still living like the way people lived 2000 years ago: bullock carts, ploughs, carry weight on their heads, mop the floors with hands etc. There is very little change in their life style.

After independence there were a number of reputed politicians represented from this land to lok sabha, rajya sabha, and state assembly and became ministers. Most of them were selfish, corrupted and never attempted to develop the most backward Palamoor.

Gadwal People of Palamoor are very hard working still majority of people's lifestyle is comparable to slavery. Because of lack of proper employment and resources, & severe draught conditions in the district, Palamoor people tend to migrate to other places in India, they have become popular as Palamoor labor all over India. The district has deliberately been rendered backward by the politicians. Most Mahabubnagar politicians, began life as labor contractors and were involved in labor export. Unlike in other Telangana districts like Warangal where the youth spearheaded movements focusing on the people’s problems, here the migration has led to problems remaining unarticulated. There are few industries. Even those that exist have not encouraged the hiring of local labor though labor from Palamoor is reputed for good work and is much sought after in construction work in most parts of the country.

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Table 3.3 Gadwal Villages Panchayats of ANDHRA PRADESH 1. MAHBUBNAGAR GADWAL ANANTHAPUR

2. MAHBUBNAGAR GADWAL ATMAKUR

3. MAHBUBNAGAR GADWAL BASWACHERU

4. MAHBUBNAGAR GADWAL BEEROLE

5. MAHBUBNAGAR GADWAL CHENGONIPALLY

6. MAHBUBNAGAR GADWAL DOUDERPALLY

7. MAHBUBNAGAR GADWAL GONPAD

8. MAHBUBNAGAR GADWAL GUNTIPALLY

9. MAHBUBNAGAR GADWAL GURRAMGADDA

10. MAHBUBNAGAR GADWAL JAMMICHED

11. MAHBUBNAGAR GADWAL KAKULAVARAM

12. MAHBUBNAGAR GADWAL KONDAPALLY

13. MAHBUBNAGAR GADWAL KOTHAPALLY

14. MAHBUBNAGAR GADWAL LATHIPUR

15. MAHBUBNAGAR GADWAL MADANPALLY

16. MAHBUBNAGAR GADWAL MAILACHERUVU

17. MAHBUBNAGAR GADWAL MOLKALPALLY

18. MAHBUBNAGAR GADWAL PARMALA

19. MAHBUBNAGAR GADWAL PUDUR

20. MAHBUBNAGAR GADWAL REKULAPALLY

21. MAHBUBNAGAR GADWAL REPALLY

22. MAHBUBNAGAR GADWAL SANGALA

23. MAHBUBNAGAR GADWAL VEERAPUR

24. MAHBUBNAGAR GADWAL YENKAMPET

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4.1 About Gadwal Sarees

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Gadwal is known for its world famous handloom zari sarees. The Gadwal sarees, characteristic of the marvellous textile-crafts of Andhra Pradesh, demonstrate a fine blend of ethnicity and modern designing-concepts. People here can weave a 5.5 meters saree in such a way that it can be folded to a size that fits into a small matchbox. Gadwal and Kothakota developed their own style because of the patronage of the royal family of Gadwal and Wanaparthy. The striking feature of this saree is that, while the body is made from cotton, the borders and the pallu(the falling edge of the saree) are made from silk. There is complicated joinery involved and this gives the silk/cotton mix saree its charm.

Most Gadwal Sarees are woven with interlocked - weft borders of contrasting colours. Attaching the silk border and pallav to the cotton body is called doing the 'kechchu'. This is most difficult to do and is also what sets the Gadwal saree apart from other sarees. The body of the saree, woven from unbleached cotton yarn, contains patterns made using colored cotton or silk thread. The embroidery is done using threads coated with gold or copper. Traditional motifs are the norm. These sarees have different types of borders - Small border, medium border, heavy border (weight of the saree doesn’t vary). Also, Kutu border, Turning border, One side border are some other terms in use.

Gadwal cotton sarees are also known for their shrink resistance, and they get better with use. They are often regarded as 'Puja ' Sarees by local women who wear them for religious and festive occasions. It bestows a unique grace to any woman wearing it. Gadwal Saree is worn & draped in Nivi styles which are originally worn in Andhra Pradesh; besides the modern nivi, there is also the kaccha nivi, where the pleats are passed through the legs and tucked into the waist at the back. This allows free movement while covering the legs.

Table 4.1 Gadwal Sarees Handloom Clusters in Andhra Pradesh

STATEMENT SHOWING IMPORTANT Gadwal Sarees HANDLOOM CLUSTERS IN AP

Sl.NO.NAME

OF THE STATE

NAME OF THE CLUSTER

NO. OF

LOOMS

NO. WEAVERS

MAJOR ITEMS OF PRODUCTION

1. 2.Andhra Pradesh

KODUMUR 500 500 Gadwal Type Zari & Silk Sarees

3. 4.Andhra Pradesh RAJOLI(MBNR) 657 657

Gadwal Sarees, Towels and Bed Sheets

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Fig.4.1 A Gadwal Saree with heavy zari work.

5.6.

Andhra Pradesh GADWAL 850 1200 Gadwal Sarees

7.8.

Andhra Pradesh GHATTU 500 400 Gadwal Sarees

9.10.

Andhra Pradesh AMARCHINTA 850 850 Gadwal Sarees

11.12.

Andhra Pradesh AMANGAL 500 500

Gadwal Sarees and Pochampally Sarees

13.

14. Andhra Pradesh

JANGAON (WGL) 1215 1516

Cotton Semi Gadwal and Tie & Dye Sarees Silk Tie & Dye Sarees Zari Semi Gadwal Sarees

15.

16. Andhra Pradesh

JOGIPET 610 697

Design Towels Lungies Dhoties Nirmal Sarees Semi Gadwal Sarees Design Double Cloth Bed Sheets Tom Tom Bed Sheets Shirtings

Silk Sarees Pillow Covers 

17.

18.Andhra Pradesh KOTHAPALLY(KMNR) 575 658

Towels Lungies Dhoties Nirmal Sarees Semi

Gadwal Sarees Design Double Cloth Bed

Sheets Tom Tom Bed Sheets Shirtings Silk Sarees Pillow Covers

19.20. Andhra

PradeshAadhoni Gadwal Sarees

21.22. Andhra

PradeshEmiginuru Gadwal Sarees

23.24. Andhra

PradeshMacharla Gadwal Sarees

25.26. Andhra

PradeshArigandda Gadwal Sarees

4.2 History & Origin

It is believed that origin of the Gadwal Saree dates back to some 300 years ago. It is practised till today as an old tradition. But, it was at the beginning of the 20th century, when Gadwal rulers reigned, that they were highlighted. At that time, fabrics of value were brought from Banaras.

In 1922, three skilled workers from Gadwal were sent to Benares to learn the Banarasi weaving techniques. But since the Banarasi techniques couldn’t be taught to people outside the family, the trio faced great difficulty in learning the

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craft. But they somehow managed to acquire ample knowledge. Maharani of Gadwal encouraged those weavers and made them weave sarees for the royal families. It is believed that the brocading abilities of many of the weavers in Gadwal originate from Banaras. The designs, however, do not show any Banaras influences but are strongly south-east Indian in structure and aesthetic quality.

These sarees are completely hand woven. It started with cotton as the basic raw material. But presently, blends of cotton with silk are also used. Pure zari was used for weaving the designs of the border & the pallav, around a decade ago but with the lapse of time the quality of zari has degraded. Pure silver & gold was used at that time as zari but now silk fast is used. Silver & Gold zari use was reduced down the line because of the competition & other factors related to costly production.

Gadwal Sarees were traditionally woven in the interlocked-weft technique (called Kupadam or tippadamu ), often with kumbam (also called kotakomma) in the borders, and were known as a kupadam or kumbam saree. The silk border was either tassar or mulberry, and the body was often of unbleached cotton, although it may have also contained coloured cotton or silk checks. A pure silk version of Gadwal saree also existed, usually woven in bright contrasting colours such as canary yellow or lime green.

Weaving of Gadwal sarees faced some yarn shortage in the 1980s. The economic situation of weavers was particularly bad at that time. Master weavers in Gadwal town provided finance and technical training to weavers in other nearby towns & villages in starting silk looms.

Over time, they familiarized themselves with business aspects as well, and introduced silk weaving in places nearby. The initiative therefore came from master weavers in Gadwal, who sought to make the most of the high demand for their products. In order to increase production, they began to rope in weavers from other surrounding areas. Labour was cheap in nearby places and production assured. Presently local weavers estimate that, about 8000 looms are engaged in the production of Gadwal sarees.

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4.3 Layout of the Saree

A saree's two dimensions are length, which may range from two to nine yards, and height, which may range from two to four feet. The length of a Gadwal Saree is about 5m 30cm and the width is about 48 inches. It weighs approximately 400-500 grams and a pure silk saree can weigh upto 600 grams.

The fineness of the Sico yarn is measured as 120x120 mm (musrage). Cotton sarees are measured according to the denier count system. A Gadwal Saree is of 80 counts cotton for warp and weft in the body, and 20/22 D filature silk is used in the border and pallou .The blouse is also weaved on the other side of the saree which is 32” in length.

Following is the important terminology in reference to a Gadwal Saree:

Lower border: the edge touching the feet when the saree is first tied.

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Mundanai: the part of the saree, starting from the pallav but significantly longer, that is thrown over the upper body.

Mundi: a Tamil word meaning pallav, or border; the mundi is the pallav at the other end of the saree, less elaborate, where the colors of the body and the borders usually mix. Draping often begins with this pallav.

Mundu: a smaller piece of cloth often used to cover the head or thrown over the shoulder. This word usually translates as towel.

Pallav: the most decorated end-part, which is thrown over the shoulder.

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Fig.4.2 A Gadwal saree displaying the Pallav Dimensions & the lower border

Upper border: the highest border when the saree is first tied, generally used for the knot in closings.

4.4 Identification of Gadwal Sarees

KUTTU {a joining} at the border for any GADWAL saree, is one feature that helps recognize it and also any GADWAL saree whether Cotton or Silk, always has a Silk border. Gadwal Sarees face a lot of competition from similar looking sarees like Kothakuta Sarees & Narayan Pet.

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Apparently, it is also being noticed that weavers of other crafts do imitate GADWAL sarees. They do heavy work on the sarees and sell them as Gadwal Sarees. Duplicate Sarees of Gadwal Sarees are Chiralakonda and Urvakonda.

Only cotton and silk are used to make Gadwal sarees because that’s what’s in demand in marriages and occasions. Polyester is used for making Gadwal duplicates.

4.5 Showcasing of Different Varieties of Gadwal Sarees

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5.1 Basics of weaving

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In general, weaving involves the interlacing of two sets of threads at right angles to each other: the warp and the weft. The warp threads are held taut and in parallel order by means of a loom. The loom is warped (or dressed) with the warp threads passing through heddles on two or more harnesses. The warp threads are moved up or down by the harnesses creating a space called the shed. The weft thread is wound onto spools called bobbins. The bobbins are placed in a shuttle which carries the weft thread through the shed. The raising/lowering sequence of warp threads gives rise to many possible weave structures from the simplest plain weave (also called tabby,) through twills and satins to complex computer-generated interlacings.

5.2 Types of looms used to make Gadwal Sarees

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JACQUARD LOOM

The Jacquard loom is a mechanical loom that simplifies the process of manufacturing textiles with complex patterns such as brocade, damask, and matelass. The loom is controlled by punchcards with punched holes, each row of which corresponds to one row of the design. Multiple rows of holes are punched on each card and the many cards that compose the design of the textile are strung together in order. It is based on earlier inventions by the Frenchmen Basile Bouchon (1725), Jean Falcon (1728) and Jacques Vaucanson (1740).

Principles of Operation

Each hole in the card corresponds to a "Bolus" hook, which can either be up or down. The hook raises or lowers the harness, which carries and guides the warp thread so that the weft will either lie above or below it. The sequence of raised and lowered threads is what creates the pattern. Each hook can be connected via the harness to a number of threads, allowing more than one repeat of a pattern. A loom with a 400 hook head might have four threads connected to each hook, resulting in a fabric that is 1600 warp ends wide with four repeats of the weave going across.

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Fig.5.1 Jacquard Looms at the Gadwal Cluster Programme

Fig.5.2 A working Jacquard Loom with Punch Cards

Jacquard looms, whilst relatively common in the textile industry, are not as ubiquitous as dobby looms which are usually faster and much cheaper to operate. However unlike jacquard looms they are not capable of producing so many different weaves from one warp.

The threading of a Jacquard loom is so labour intensive that many looms are threaded only once. Subsequent warps are then tied in to the existing warp with the help of a knotting robot which ties each new thread on individually. Even for a small loom with only a few thousand warp ends the process of re-threading can take days.

Jacquard weaving makes possible in almost any loom the programmed raising of each warp thread independently of the others. This brings much greater versatility to the weaving process, and offers the highest level of warp yarn control giving the fabric a good finish. This mechanism is probably one of the most important weaving inventions as Jacquard shedding made possible the automatic production of unlimited varieties of pattern weaving.

In former times, the heddles with warp ends to be pulled up were manually selected by a second operator, apart from the weaver. This was known as a drawloom. It was slow and labour intensive, with practical limitations on the complexity of the pattern.

The jacquard loom was introduced in India under the British rule and soon became the preferred choice of weavers as they could create complex designs with much less labour. It also reduced the cost of cloth and brought it within the reach of the lower classes. Today, the jacquard loom is used in various parts of India (the main centres are Delhi, Jaipur, Benaras, Kanchi, Kolkata, Howrah and Baluchari, Gadwal, Hubli, and Mangalore) to produce cloth for products like tapestry, upholstery, sarees, shawls, scarves and other similar apparel.

DOBBY LOOM

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A Dobby Loom is a type of floor loom that controls the whole warp threads using a device called a dobby. Dobby is short for "draw boy" which refers to the weaver's helpers who used to control the warp thread by pulling on draw threads.

A dobby loom is an alternative to a treadle loom. Each of them is a floor loom in which every warp thread on the loom is attached to a single shaft using a device called a heddle. A shaft is sometimes known as a harness, but this terminology is becoming obsolete among active weavers. Each shaft controls a set of threads. Raising or lowering several shafts at the same time gives a huge variety of possible gaps or 'sheds' through which the shuttle containing the weft thread can be thrown.

A manual dobby uses a chain of bars or lags each of which has pegs inserted to select the shafts to be moved. The selected shafts are raised or lowered by either leg power on a dobby pedal or electric or other power sources.

On a treadle loom, each foot-operated treadle is connected by a linkage called a tie-up to one or more shafts. More than one treadle can operate a single shaft. The tie-up consists of cords or similar mechanical linkages tying the treadles to the lams that actually lift or lower the shaft. On treadle operated looms, the number of sheds is limited by the number of treadles available. An eight shaft loom can create 254 different sheds. There are actually 256 possibilities which are 2 to the eighth power, but having all

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threads up or all threads down isn't very useful. However, most eight shaft floor looms have only ten to twelve treadles due to space limitations. This limits the weaver to ten to twelve distinct sheds. It is possible to use both feet to get more sheds, but that is rarely done in practice. It is even possible to change tie-ups in the middle of weaving a cloth but this is a tedious and error-prone process, so this too is rarely done.

With a dobby loom, all 254 possibilities are available at any time. This vastly increases the number of cloth designs available to the weaver. The advantage of a dobby loom becomes even more pronounced on looms with 12 shafts (4094 possible sheds), 16 shafts (65,534 possible sheds), or more. It reaches its peak on a Jacquard loom in which each thread is individually controlled.

Another advantage to a dobby loom is the ability to handle much longer sequences in the pattern. A weaver working on a treadled loom must remember the entire sequence of treadlings that make up the pattern, and must keep track of where they are in the sequence at all times. Getting lost or making a mistake can ruin the cloth being woven. On a manual dobby the sequence that makes up the pattern is represented by the chain of dobby bars. The length of the sequence is limited by the length of the dobby chain. This can easily be several hundred dobby bars, although an average dobby chain will have approximately fifty bars.

Dobby looms expand a weaver’s capabilities and remove some of the tedious work involved in designing and producing fabric. Many newer cloth design techniques such as network drafting can only reach their full potential on a dobby loom.

Historical Note: Dobby looms first appeared around 1843 -- roughly forty years after M. Jacquard invented the Jacquard device that that can be mounted atop a loom to lift the individual heddles and warp threads.

5.3 Tools used in weaving Gadwal sarees

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A Jacquard handloom normally uses the following tools:

Jacquard Machine Fitted Loom: This is the main tool for jacquard weaving. Many of these looms are actually older handlooms converted into jacquard looms by fitting a jacquard machine atop the older loom.

Taana (or Warp) Machine: This machine is used for preparing the warp roll. It contains a big, hollow wooden frame that is octagonal and cylindrical in shape, with a vertical wooden frame that contains the rolls of the thread used to make the warp. This machine, like the loom, is worked by hand.

Charkha: There are two types of charkhas. One is the older model, which is smaller and looks very similar to the one used by Mahatma Gandhi for spinning khadi. The other is a metallic one, is much larger and has twice the capacity of the wooden charkha.

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Shuttles: These are smaller wooden blocks that are pointed on both sides. They are hollow from within and contain the roll of the thread that is used for the weft or taana. They travel between the threads of the warp with the pull of the strings attached with the frame of the loom. This provides a catapult effect, which makes it shuttle across the warp on the sill of the frame, across the warp threads. They get their name from this process.

Thus, a shuttle is a tool designed to neatly and compactly store weft yarn while weaving. Shuttles are thrown or passed back and forth through the shed, between the yarn threads of the warp in order to weave in the weft. In local language it is called, ‘Ladakomalu’. Previously it was made from the horns of bull.

The simplest shuttles, known as "stick shuttles", are made from a flat, narrow piece of wood with notches on the ends to hold the weft yarn. More complicated shuttles incorporate pins. Shuttles are often made of wood from the Flowering Dogwood, because it is so hard, resists splintering, and can be polished to a very smooth finish.

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The Loom Parts are briefly illustrated here in the following figure:1.Tension Arm   2.Warp Beam  3.Harnesses  4.Beater and Reed  5.Shift Handle 6.Doublebox Flyshuttle  7.Bench  8.Basket of Bobbins  9.Treadles  10.Cloth Advance  11.Cloth Storage Weight  12.Harnesses  13.Dobby Arm  14.Dobby Box and Fingers  15.Dobby Chain of Bars and Pegs  16.Cloth Storage Roller  17.Harness Cables  18.Warp Threads  19.Woven Cloth

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Fig.5.3 A Jacquard loom indicating various parts of its structure

5.4 Preparation of the loom

Making Rolls: Reeling is done using a charkha machine. This is normally done by the women of the household. The threads are put in the form of a roll, or gitta, as it is locally called. The charkha that is used may be a big, metallic one or the small wooden one.

Making the Warp: The warp or taana machine is used for this process. It is used to prepare the warp by rolling the threads on a wooden log in a particular sequence of colors depending on the design. This machine consists of two parts: one is a hollow octagonal wooden frame on which the threads are wrapped before being wound around the warp roll; and the other is a big wooden vertical frame on which the rolls of threads of different colors are put from where they can be attached to the octagonal frame. This is a hand-driven machine and it provides the basic requirement for the loom, the warp roll. Normally, threads of three or four colors are used for preparing the taana or warp, depending on the design desired.

Choosing of yarns: To make a Gadwal saree, we need to have cotton as well as silk yarn & the zari. Thus, to move forward to the process of weaving, it should be taken care of that which color yarn should be used as cotton & which one for silk.

Setting up the loom: Since setting up the loom is so time consuming, enough warp is put on to make 5 sarees in a roll. It’s figured out how many warp threads are needed, and then spools are wound accordingly. Groups of threads

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are tied on to the rod in the front of the loom.  They must be tied evenly and tight.

5.5 Making fabric in General

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Fig.5.4 A weaver setting up the loom & the jacquard loom from a close view

This is the most important and complicated part of the whole process. The design is plotted on graph paper by plotters according to the dimensions desired. It is called a drawdown. The upper part shows the threading of the warp. The right side shows the sequence in which the harnesses will be raised.  Each black square is where a peg will be inserted on a bar on the dobby chain. Each black square also represents a unit of four threads on both the top and the right.  The squares in the centre therefore represent eight threads. This structure is called polychrome summer and winter weave.

The plotted designs are taken to a technician who punches them on cardboards in the required sequence. These cards, linked in a chain as per the design, are then used by the jacquard machine to provide the exact sequence of the different colors of the threads that are required for the design. The jacquard machine (which runs by a weaver moving a pedal) has a rectangular block on which the chain of punch cards runs.This device is called the dobby chain.  It works much like a player piano.  Each wooden bar has pegs inserted to control the lifting of the harnesses.

These cards have different patterns of holes. When the block is struck against a set of needles, it pushes the requisite hooks backwards. The needles where the card is punched remain unaffected, while the other needles are pressed and the hooks associated are withdrawn, leaving the threads in the background. Thus, the threads in the hooks whose needle are not pressed by the cylinder due to the hole in the punch card come forward to be a part of the weft and the rest remain as they are, allowing for the complicated designs on the fabric.

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The pattern for weaving is created by the sequence in which the yarns are threaded on the loom.  Harnesses (the wooden frame unit) control groups of threads, heddles (the skinny silver things) control individual threads.

The interesting part is that the designs remain the same for years as long as there is demand for them. There are looms on which the punch cards have not been changed for more than 10 years. Thus, both the plotters as well as the technician are not regulars in the jacquard loom team.

The weaving process requires great skill as the weaver has to constantly keep pedalling with his right leg to operate the jacquard machine. At the same time, he has to pull the string that controls the shuttle, which flies over the wooden sill of the loom, taking the yarn of the weft across the threads of the warp, thus moving forward the process of weaving.

The threads are put through a reed (the blue and metal item).  The reed controls the density of the warp (28 ends per inch here).  The reed sits in the beater which presses the weft yarns into the warp yarns. The yarn that binds the warp together is called the weft.  It is wound onto bobbins at left.  At right, the bobbin is placed in a shuttle which is placed in the flybox.

At left, the weaver steps on the treadle which is attached to a cable which pulls the dobby arm down.  The pegs on the dobby bar press into wooden fingers which are attached to the harnesses by cables.  At right, the corresponding

harnesses lift, creating an opening in the warp.  This is called the shed. With the shed open, the shift handle is pulled to send the shuttle across. It comes out on the other side, and goes into the left shuttlebox. The use of shift handle to send the shuttle across is not much common in Gadwal, but in places like Rajoli this

technique is used widely, as it is less time consuming.

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The beater is pulled towards the weaver to push the weft into place. The weaver steps on the treadle again & advances the dobby chain to the next bar of pegs.  A new set of harnesses rises, and the weaver sends the second shuttle across.  In this way, the warp and weft threads interlock to produce fabric. Thus, when the weaver has woven enough fabric for a saree, it can be removed from the loom without affecting the rest of the warp.

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Fig.5.4 Thematic Representation of Jacquard Loom Weaving

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5.6 Preparing the loom to weave a Gadwal Saree

Earlier weaving was done with Gondalu which was used to set the designs & 3 people worked just on a saree pallav, which was a difficult and time consuming task. Also, at that time a footer wasn’t used & everything was done with hand.

But since past 10 years, people are using the method of Jacquard weaving with only 1-2 weavers working on each saree which has made weaving, comparatively easy & less time consuming. The finished products are of good quality& have improved neatness.

There are 2 jacquard machines at the top of the loom. One of them is used to do the motifs of the border & the other one does the motifs of the body of the saree. For the border design, weaving is done by dobby (Tappet), whereas for the body of the saree design Attals are used. The master weaver decides what weave has to be done. Accordingly the weaver does his job. The weaving is done with the wrong side on the top. The designers come & decide the design; they feed the designs in computerized programmes & get a CAD printout which is then pasted on one side of the loom. The number of warp yarns set on the loom is: 1680 yarns for body of a cotton saree, 2200 yarns for a seco saree & 1800 yarns for the border. The Jacquard loom has pins ranging from 120,172,240 to 480. For the Dobby loom there are 48 kolalu, 98 kolalu.

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In Jacquard a border looks beautiful. Even then dobby is preferred over jacquard as it makes the border lighter and more comfortable compared to the heavy jacquard.

The looms are set by the technicians. This is done in the initial stage of launching the loom by the servicemen sent by the loom manufacturing company. People are there to maintain the looms regularly. They learn their tasks at the initial set up of the looms. To set the loom for weaving, around 7-8 days are required.

The yarns are supported by the nylon extensions attached to a Jaali. Firstly, the warp yarns of the saree are attached to the nylon extensions. 170 pins are jetted according to the design & then on to them the threads which are to be used in weaving the saree are set. Afterwards, the Tappet is set to weave the design of the border. At a stretch, 5 sarees are weaved continuing the same threads that are set up.

Then the Reed (RachuBandliya) is set by all threads. Rachu is not prepared by the loom company &the threads are set by the weavers. It is there to set the weave which is desired by the weaver. There are 4 sets of blades in a reed. We can either work with 2 blades or 4 blades & accordingly play with the design of the weave we desire. This Rachu is controlled by a footer which is there in the pit. There is a right foot & a left foot. They are selected according to the design of the weave. With the help of the Rachu, the design for border also gets changed.

Thereafter, the Jhaalar is set where the main body of the loom is made up & each thread is individually drawn to make the design. Here, Donnigga is done first on which threads of the body of the saree are set. Then the threads to be used on the border are set which carry weight at the extension.

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Fig.5.5 The Jhaalar which helps in the making of the border of Gadwal Sarees

5.7 Making the Gadwal Saree

The first step to weave a Gadwal Saree involves making of yarn rolls. For this purpose people are appointed to do the job of spinning the fibre into yarn by using the age-old method of Charkha. The yarn so formed is then rolled on to bobbins with the help of a wooden frame which is normally done by the womenfolk of the house by spinning the wooden frame in between the toes of their foot. This is usually used for silk yarns.

For each saree to be weaved the pallav is done first & then it is followed by the body of the saree. The design to be made on the border is engraved on a chain of wooden logs which is set up at the side of one of the jacquard machines. The design continuously changes with the weaving of each line. Thus, the chain of the wooden logs changes when the weaver comes to the next line to weave of the fabric.

The place where the border meets the body of the saree is called kachchu. The main body of the saree is weaved on a Hatha which weaves the weft yarn into the warp yarn. This is followed by changing the footer side by side to move to the next line to be weaved of the border. One of the Ladakomulu (shuttle) is used to insert the yarn to be weaved on the border. This yarn forms the part of the border background which is usually done with silk thread. The other Ladakomulu goes into the main body of the fabric as the weft yarn. The Hatha

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has to be continuously pulled back & forth while weaving but to come to the next line, when the Hatha is pulled towards the weaver, then only footer is pressed before the Hatha is released back. Thus, the design to be weaved gets changed simultaneously for each line.

The Weaving Process

The first step in weaving is to stretch the warp, or longitudinal, yarns, which must be very strong. The weft, woof, or filling crosses the warp, binding the warp threads at either side to form the selvage. The saree is woven on a loom, a device for holding the warp threads in place while the filling threads are woven through them. In general, weaving involves the interlacing of two sets of threads at right angles to each other: the warp and the weft. The warps are held taut and in parallel order, typically by means of a loom, though some forms of weaving may use other methods. The loom is warped (or dressed) with the warp threads passing through heddles on two or more harnesses (Reeds).The three essential steps after the warp is stretched are:

Shedding, or raising every alternate warp yarn or set of yarns to receive the weft. The warp threads are moved up or down by the harnesses creating a space called the shed;

Picking, or inserting the weft. The weft thread is wound onto spools called bobbins. The bobbins are placed in a shuttle (LADAKOMULU) which carries the weft thread through the shed; and

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Battening, or pressing home the weft to make the fabric compact. Both warp and weft can be visible in the final product.

There a few differences in the weaving of Gadwal Sarees at places other than Gadwal. Not much difference in the weave occurs but the way & techniques slightly differ. For ex. at Rajoli, the shuttle inserts the weft thread into the shed automatically with the help of a releaser. This makes the tasks easy & less time consuming with just a pull of a knob by hand.

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Fig.5.6 A loom with the automatic shutter releaser knob at Rajoli

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6.1 Dyeing of yarns

Usually, the yarn given by the master weaver is already dyed; sized and warped (this is prepared in Chirala and Venkatagiri). Sometimes, the silk dyeing – border and pallu of the Gadwal saree – has to be done by weavers themselves. They prepare the dye themselves & then they go for color dyeing of yarns. More often, it is pre-prepared, and only the weaving has to be done by the weaver.

INSTRUMENTS USED FOR DYEING

Dyes mostly used are chemical dyes. For the process of dyeing, the main implements needed are dyes, a tub in which the process is carried out, and bamboo poles and strings for drying.

THE PROCESS

Since the number of products manufactured using jacquard weaving is large, there exist slight differences in the process as per product specifications. The basic process followed is explained in brief here:

Procurement of Thread:

Jacquard weavers purchase thread from dealers on a wholesale basis. There are two types of threads used. The first is the one used for the warp (taana), the lengthwise threads attached to a loom before weaving begins, and the other is for the weft (baana), the yarn that is shuttled back and forth across the warp to create a fabric. The width of weft is of 48 inches (122 cm). The warp normally runs into around 100 m, divided into two portions of 50-51 m each. For the warp, 2/40 cotton threads are used, and for weft 2/10. These threads are purchased in the form of bundles. For weaving 100 m of cloth, four bundles of thread are required for the warp and six for the weft. The thread, which is the main raw material for the process, is readily available in the market and is supplied to loom owners at a wholesale rate.

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Dyeing of the Thread:

Four types of dyes are used normally, for colouring threads. These are, procion dye (which fades easily and therefore is used in cheaper clothes), direct dye, vat dye (which is a more or less permanent dye) and napthol or reactive dye (which is used for red, maroon and orange colors).

The bundles of thread are first opened and then tied in the middle so that they do not tangle during dyeing. Water is heated in tubs 5×4×4 feet big, in which the dyes are added. The threads are then soaked into these dyes, giving time for the dye to color the thread. After this, the bundles are taken out and are dried in the shade.

Pure silk is first boiled in caustic soda. To this, 100 gms of silk, 25 gms of caustic soda, 10 gms of colour are added & boiled at 100oC. Then the dyed threads are dipped into cold water and dried. 5 sarees can be made out of each roll.

6.2 Post weaving Finishings & care

Since the zari weaved leaves some extensions all over the design, so to give a finished look on the front side they are chopped off with a blade. The saree so weaved is rolled & is packed on one side of the loom, unless & until the whole weave is finished of 5 sarees approx. Thereafter each saree is separated from the roll & is sent forward for wash care purposes.

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Fig.6.1 Two people dyeing the silk yarns in a hot tub of chemical dyes

A gum, usually fevicol, is used once the saree is prepared on the border to give stiffness to the border which is removed in a later stage. Earlier this gum used to be called Jigroo. This step is done by the weavers by spreading sarees on frame looms, which holds the saree very tightly. They also apply wax or starch such that the saree is prevented from moisture absorption.

After, ironing & cleaning of dust if any, the saree is sent to master weavers to get it sold.

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Fig.6.2 A weaver finishing the zari border by chopping the extra zari threads on the saree left after weaving.

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Fig.6.3 The finished saree spread on a wooden frame for starching & waxing

7.1 Raw Materials & their sources

The fabric of the silk borders is composed of tussar or mulberry silk. The cotton-body these days have resplendent shades, embellished often with silk

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checks. This fabulous mix of silk and cotton makes for the recent trend of sico sarees, 50% cotton and 50% silk. Here silk is mixed with a fibre called musrage which is added to give stiffness to the fabric. Gadwals woven from pure silk is there, but not as popular as the Sico. They are the sarees of expensive range. Gadwal saree is made in cotton in a style influenced by the Benarasi weaves. While the ground of the saree is cotton, there is a loosely attached silk Copper or gold-dipped zari is generally used in these sarees. For each saree 120 grams of zari is used for the weaving of its border. Also, zari used in half of the saree is silk zari, for the rest of the motifs on the border, cotton is used because to avoid allergies & itchings when half of the saree is tucked in touching the skin. To make a pure Chinese silk saree it takes 15 days with pure patu zari. Chinese tussar silk is of 33-37 deniers, price ranging at Rs. 2000/kg. Original zari contains 42% silver+2% gold [500/-]. Pure zari is of 16-18 denier . Duplicate zari’s composition is silk fast [0%] silver and [0%] gold [50/-]. The silver wire has 52% of silver and the rest is copper. 4gms of gold is used to coat 1 kg of zari. It’s obtained in reels of 60 gms costing Rs.800. The chemical dyes used for dyeing yarns are also sourced from Bengaluru. Degummed mulberry silk is used over which flat thread is drawn and twisted. This then electroplates using gold.

The Cotton used for making Gadwal Sarees is of 80s count both weft and warp, which is sourced from Chirala, Vijaywada, & Guntur. The Silk used in here is of 18-20 denier which is sourced from Bangalore {mulberry silk}. It costs around Rs. 2000-2500/kg.

Bangalore silk yarn is famous for its fine weaving, even though there are more looms in Andhra Pradesh so a lot of people purchase from there. The silk used for the making of Gadwal sarees, is from Bengaluru, while the real Zari, gold and silver thread which are interleaved into the base-material to give an ornate look, is brought from Surat.

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Fig.7.1 The raw silk yarn which is put up for dyeing purposes

7.2 Designs & Motifs

The Gadwal sarees get their rich looks from lavish designs in their pallavs. The richly brocaded sarees were woven in silk with contrasting pallov and border carrying distinctive patterns, influenced by the tradition of stone and wood carvings of that area.

The master weavers will tell the weavers about the colour, design & motif to be used according to the prevailing tastes & preferences in the market. For this purpose he hires designers who can work on computer aided designs to give them a practical approach. 

The Hamsa, the mythical swan, combined with carvings tendrils is an important border pattern. Youli, the stylized Lion, the double headed eagle, are the other important motifs used on the pallav. Paisleys, parrot & peacock motifs are also used widely. The field of the saree is segued into the border in a fray-edged, triangular pattern. Intricate geometric patterns are frequently found. The body of sarees is sometimes adorned with self stripes or zari buttis (tiny motifs). The motifs don’t change much unless & until there is a heavy border in the saree.

The most distinctive style of the Gadwal sarees is, however, a combination of cotton and silk. Often the cotton body is woven in small checks with a rich silk and gold border and pallou. It can be used both as daily use and which silk sarees can be used for wedding and party wear.

The recent development in Gadwal Sarees has brought some interesting and new designs. The Sico Saree (50% cotton and 50 % silk) is of recent origin which is of great demand these days.

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Motifs of Gadwal sarees are mainly inspired by the engravings & architectural structures of the fort & the temple in Gadwal.:

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Following are the motifs used in the pallavs & sometimes in the body of a heavy work saree:

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The designs & motifs at the border mainly use temple motifs. But nowadays, some contemporary designs are also seen in the borders, as shown below:

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Following are the motifs that are referred to from the “Textile Arts of India” by the designers of Gadwal Saree while creating the actual motifs for the saree:

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7.3 Colors

Gadwal sarees favour traditional colours. Popular colors include earth shades like browns, greys and off-whites. Brighter shades like red, blue, violet, yellow, parrot-green, pink and beige have also been introduced to lure the North Indian buyer. Copper or gold dipped zari adorns the pallav and border.

The Gadwal pattus are heavy, smooth and soft, and come only in double weaving. The color combinations here are unconventional and very traditionally Andhra.

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Fig.7.2 The Color cards which are referred while dyeing yarns according to the prevelant trends.

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8.1 Socio Economic Conditions

Apart from weaving, weavers hardly engage in any other activity like farming or agriculture.

Most of them occupy themselves making adjustments during the off season.

But in places like Rajoli etc. people do take up the job of weaving towels, lungis, bedsheets etc.

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Fig.8.1 A woman weaving Rajoli Towels at the Handloom Center in rajoli

8.2 Traditions and customs

One of the most important traditions involving the Gadwal saree started when Nala Soma Nadari ruled Gadwal. The King’s family sent a saree {double the width of a normal saree} to the TIRUPATI GODDESS every year before NAVARATRI. This tradition still continues.

When this saree is made, weavers are not allowed to eat non vegetarian food. They have to bath every day before they start the day’s weaving.

Women are prohibited from weaving this saree or be anywhere around it.

Eventually, a 12 gajam saree is made and offered 2 Lord Venketeswara [Tirupati].

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Fig.8.2 Gadwal Sarees being offered at the temple of Tirupati

8.3 Working Conditions

There are around 400 weavers in Gadwal weaving Gadwal Sarees. Each saree is worked by 2 weavers. It normally takes a week time to weave a single saree with 6-7 hours of working per day. The time taken for a heavy/broad border is comparatively more, around 10-15 days. Thus, in a month the weavers are able to weave 3 sarees.

This handloom industry is decentralized & it is largely household-based. While weaving sheds do exist occasionally, more widespread is the weaver weaving at home, drawing on the labour of all the family members. In each stage of the production process, whether it is pre-loom processing, weaving or

finishing – every member of the household has a clear role to play. Men & women both weave Gadwal sarees, main work being done by men, & women & children help them in weaving.Weavers work whenever they wish, as looms are provided at their homes. They are paid according to the number of sarees they weave.Most of the houses have 2 to 3 looms. Typically, if one is a frame loom belonging to the co-operative society, the others are pit looms belonging to the master weaver. On the frame loom,bed sheets, lungis, towels, etc are woven, only when yarn is provided by the Co-operative. A person from the concerned department in the Society usually sets up the design frames for these products. Invariably there is a break of two to three weeks in work. Even the little work/yarn there is, is apparently rotated among all the members.

The majority have large families of between 5-7 members. Entire families work on weaving, with women involved not only in pre-loom processes, but also in weaving. One or two combine tailoring with weaving. In most families, the sons are working on looms.

Though the wages are slightly higher for Gadwal sarees under the master weaver, there are other problems; the master weaver will reject it outright if there is any flaw in weaving, and cut 30% from the wages of the weaver. Almost none of them own the pit looms at their homes. Typically, they seem to

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have entered into a loan/debt trap with the master weaver. The weaver then takes on looms on rent for the master weaver and weaves for him for a wage. Though no interest is charged on the loan, wages are cut regularly because of the pending loans.

While such weavers constitue the majority, there are also a few independent weavers, who combine working for the co-operative with independent production. This is not very common because of the capital it would require, but there are a few who own pit looms and are producing and selling on their own. Here, the yarn is procured independently and the sarees woven. Sales take place in one of two ways: whenever the demand is good, agents usually come around asking for sarees from time to time or the weaver himself takes the sarees to the trader/master weaver and sells it off.

8.4 Wages, Sales & Marketing

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The ravishing outlook of Gadwal sarees, has immense popularity .Thus people from all over India, and buyers, from foreign countries, harbour a tremendous fascination for Gadwal sarees. They have a special recognition among all sarees. Many people visit Gadwal to buy these sarees only. The saree business is now at its peak. A.P. State Handloom Weavers' Co-operative society Ltd. (APSHWCS), popularly called as APCO, purchases these woven sarees. Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Vizag, & many more places have special showrooms for Gadwal sarees. Gadwal sarees are also exported to different countries of the world. While the weavers face a dismal situation for their livelihood, there is a large market for these sarees both domestically and internationally.

Wages: In Gadwal, there is a separate area for making Gadwal sarees. Most of the sarees are made in weavers’ home and also sold there. The amount received by the weaver varies with the kind of yarn used and amount of work. For a cotton 80s count saree, which takes 5 days to weave, they are paid Rs. 400 per piece which has a small border. For sarees with bigger borders, they are paid Rs.600. For a Gadwal saree (woven on a belu maggam) the weaver is paid Rs. 460 per piece (they say it is sold for Rs 1410); for intricate jacquard design sarees which takes 8 days to weave (Sico), they earn Rs. 800-900 per piece (again, it is sold for Rs.2600). For sarees made from pure silk, the wages lie between Rs.1000-Rs.1200.

Price Range: Gadwal Sarees has a price range of Rs. 750 to Rs. 10,000 overall in Gadwal which is 40% lower-than-market price. The cotton sarees are priced between Rs. 750 and Rs. 2,000. As the weave count gets higher, they cost more. A single weave saree (80 counts), with a small border, costs Rs.800-Rs. 986. This is because of the transportation & middlemen costs. Bigger borders cost more (Rs. 1,200 - Rs. 2,000). Sarees of above Rs.1000 will have more amounts of zari & silk. Tasar silk field sarees come in the Rs. 2,000 - Rs. 3,000 range. Sico goes up to Rs. 4,000, and pure silks are the costliest, between Rs. 3,000 and Rs. 10,000.

The Gadwal pattus are heavy, smooth and soft, and come only in double weaving. The color combinations here are unconventional and very traditionally Andhra. For e. g., a purple silk field with a double color beige/purple border for Rs. 4,486. Pure pattu langas are also available with zari work, Rs. 1,500 onwards.

Sales: Gadwal jacquard butta saree is generally in average demand but experiences heavy sales in the marriage season. From Gadwal, whole sale dealers come directly to the loom places and give the best value for the work.

Bangalore, Mysore, Hyderabad, Chennai Mumbai, Benaras and Kolkatta are the

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main marketing places. Gadwal Silk sarees are being exported to other countries from Bombay and Chennai. Hand loom house co-opted and APCO societies are famous in selling Gadwal hand woven sarees.

Government helps workers by the granting loans and allotting permanent shelters. Handloom Silk is smooth and light cloth. More demand for good cloth is increasing and there is an increasing opportunity for more sales.

8.5 A Word from the Newspaper

Online edition of India's National Newspaper

Tuesday, Dec 21, 2004

KURNOOL, DEC. 20. Poor marketing facilities have hit the Gadwal saree weavers in Kurnool district. The master weavers, a euphemism for middlemen, have controlled the market.

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About 20,000 families in Kodumur area are involved in production of 30,000 Gadwal sarees per month in Kurnool district. The looms involved in production of Gadwal saree, which number 10,000, are spread in Kodumur, Mudumalakurthi, Gudur, Yemmiganur, Gudekal, Nandavaram, Gonegandla, Kosigi, Adoni, Kallur and Mandlem.

Two types of production arrangements are in vogue in Kodumur where the master weaver supplies the raw material and the weaver is paid the labour charges for weaving the saree. On the other hand, some of the weavers procure the raw material on their own and sell the finished product to the master weavers. The weavers get an additional profit of Rs 100 per saree if they invest in the raw materials.

Excess charges

However, the weavers say that the master weavers charge excess amount for the raw materials like cotton yarn, silk yarn and jerry. The wages for weaving a saree range from Rs 250 to 800.

Usually, simple Gadwal saree takes one week while Kalanjali sarees take 25 days, which involve lot of manual weaving.

Weavers have been protesting the use of synthetic jerry, which is known as tested jerry. While the original jerry costs Rs 1800 for four spindles, which is sufficient for producing five sarees, the synthetic jerry costs only Rs 200. The weavers say that use of tested jerry might help in producing the low cost sarees but in the long run, it would ruin the brand name of Gadwal saree.

Similarly, the weavers are worried about use of synthetic silk, which is available at Rs 200 per kilo while the cost of quality silk is Rs 1400.

The district secretary of Handloom Workers Union, J.N. Seshaiah, says the only way to protect the Gadwal saree and its weavers is starting handloom purchase centres and offering the fabrics to consumers at no-loss or no profit rates.

He said their association was also planning to open some centres to protect the weavers from middlemen.

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8.6 Intellectual Property Protection – Major Achievements in 2008

Intellectual property (IP) is a number of distinct types of legal monopolies over creations of the mind, both artistic and commercial, and the corresponding fields of law. Under intellectual property law, owners are granted certain exclusive rights to a variety of intangible assets, such as musical, literary, and artistic works; ideas, discoveries and inventions; and words, phrases, symbols, and designs. Common types of intellectual property include copyrights, trademarks, patents, industrial design rights and trade secrets in some jurisdictions.

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Geographical Indication applications for Gadwal Sarees have been filed with support of Dept. of Handlooms & Textiles (Govt. of A.P.), A.P. Handicrafts Development Corporation (APHDC), Textile Committee (Govt. of A.P.) & NABARD.

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9.1 Economics of Gadwal handloom weaving

Based on fieldwork, the problems and prospects of the Gadwal handloom sector in Andhra Pradesh can be discussed as follows: One major finding is that there has been growth in the number of weavers, middle men and independent weavers. Well-performing cooperatives are the best safeguard for the handloom. Performance of cooperatives determines the growth of other institutions – the master sector, as they protect the weaver and also provide a counterbalance to the master weaver. Competition from power looms is an obvious threat, but this can be countered if the sector produces high value, unique (brand value) products or medium value products which can be marketed locally or abroad, as distinct from power loom products.

COOPERATIVE SOCIETIES

Handloom weavers, being economically & socially backward, are exploited by their employers, usually the master weavers. The Handloom Weavers’ Cooperative Societies were started to end this exploitation of poor & illiterate weavers by their employers. The societies are functioning more as marketing agencies, by arranging for the sale of handloom cloth goods produced by the weavers to the apex society, except for the society at Rajoli, which have production centres of their own. It is one of the important objectives of the societies to buy yarn & other raw materials required by the members & advance the same to the members for conversion into finished goods.

The affluent master weavers do not lean so much on societies & the contract weavers depend on the master weavers & the traders which with they have entered into contract.

The contract weavers get the required material & cash towards wages from the master weavers, in return for which they have to weave the cloth & sell the same to their contractors at a pre-fixed price. They are usually left with only a wage margin & now & then a mark up of 2-3 %. It is these contract weavers, who are an exploited lot & the societies have to come to their rescue.

Another important objective of the society is to purchase the woven cloth from the members, as & when they produce, & sell them to apex society & through their own sales outlets at a profit. The finished goods are bought on credit by the society from its members & they make their payments only once the goods are sold which usually takes 3 to 4 months. These societies also provide its members with finance related to fixed as well as working capital.

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The main objective of these societies still remains in the provision of employment to the member weavers continuously by creating demand for their product, by changing designs etc. & providing weavers with high wage rates. At present master weavers provide continuous employment to his labourers & cash advances not only towards wages but also to meet their personal & social needs. The master weavers give loans to them which do not carry any interest & security free.

In Gadwal also, groups of people have united to form the societies of weavers working together. There are 3 main societies presently in Gadwal:

Priyadarshini Sagar Society, Mahila Sangam RajaRajeshwari Sangam Chenatta Shahkar Sangam

There is also a new society coming up which has 20 weavers under their cluster training programme. There are 400 looms in whole of Gadwal which are used to weave Gadwal Sarees. The cluster programme runs for 15 days giving training to the weavers under the government regulations. The weavers here get 75 Rs/day. The programme is run through the funds that are availed to these societies for Gadwal saree handlooms. Government also sends 1 person from time to time who gives the training under this programme. Trainees report at 8 a.m. and leave at 6 p.m. There are 10 looms and 2 persons work on each loom.

The lone society falling in the range of 50 to 75 percent coverage looms in HWCS, Rajoli, is one of the best societies in the district. The society is able to provide employment directly to 350 weavers. It has a production centre with 59 frame looms installed & has diversified production. The societies particularly in Rajoli give continuous bonus to their members as a percentage of wages earned by them. It also has introduced the thrift-fund accumulation to encourage saving habit among the weavers.

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Another objective of these societies is to provide housing facilities to the weavers as most of their houses are in dilapidated state & half of their house is covered by the loom. NABARD, DCCB, APCOB & other state banks are providing credits to the weavers at interest rates as low as 6%p.a.

Frequently-held handloom exhibitions provide quick liquidity, exposure and bring in an element of market-savvies. They want people, particularly the younger generation to gain a little more insight into the working of a weaver so as to appreciate his craft, the painstaking effort that goes into that "warp-and-weft magic".

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9.2 Aids Availed, Weaver Developments & Future Projects

With the help of the cooperative societies & the central & the state government, the handloom industry of Gadwal Sarees has been availed with quite a lot of aids:

i. Health camps and counselling centres have been organised to help the weavers. They have been issued health cards by ICICI Bank. The State government had suggested distribution of rice, ration cards and old-age pension.

ii. An apparel design centre has been opened there to train women in weaving the sarees. Leaders of several political parties such as the Congress(I), the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Communist Party of India, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the Telugu Desam Party (NTR) and the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Janashakthi also visited the town.

iii. The duty removal has reduced production cost of a handloom saree, which has in turn brought down the burden of investment on weavers. The consumer also stands to gain since the sale price has come down. Sales have almost doubled. Weavers lay stress on weaving demonstration and making of documentaries to inform the younger generation about the intricacies of weaving, at every exhibition.

iv. Government gives loan to the weavers to buy raw materials, at interest rates as low as 25paise/month.

v. SANGAM, a NGO, once donated spare parts of various machines to the weavers.

vi. LIC Policies have been issued & are successfully being preferred by weavers on payment of Rs.100 by weavers, any loss is reimbursed by Rs. 80,000.

vii. Researchers, technicians & developers are working continuously to upgrade the handloom industry of Gadwal Sarees. They are working hard to do their best to remove all the difficulties that are prevailing in weaving Gadwal sarees. At the time, a new method of weaving is coming up which will be probably used in the future to ease out the weaving. This method is called the Air Jet Weaving where the filling yarn is inserted into the warp thread using compressed air. This looms will combine high performance with low-manufacturing requirements. They have high filling-insertion rate. Operations will become simple & hazards will be

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removed because of few moving parts. Also, the space requirements will be reduced. In this system, one cylinder will be there which will attach 3 machines. Thus, here with just a touch of feather, the fabric will get weaved. The tasks will become very simplified.

viii. After learning the craft at the cluster development programme in Gadwal, trainees are taken to Kanchipuram where they are introduced to advanced

mechanism and development in the loom. But it is said that its cost is too

high, somewhere around Rs.70000-Rs.80000.ix. Weavers also go for training in good colleges nearby. On completion of

training they are given employment by the government with a pay of Rs.20, 000. But very few weavers go for training. Some weavers go for exhibitions/fairs [if they are qualified], all over INDIA.

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9.3 Problems & Difficulties

Still, there are many advocates of handloom for reasons including ideology, philosophy, sheer love for handloom products and economic arguments. However, irrespective of the policies, projects and aspirations arising out of various quarters, the handloom sector is undergoing changes that are impacting the livelihoods of handloom weavers. Gadwal sarees have their own charm but still every manufacturing unit does have its pros & cons. Some of the difficulties being faced by this small scale industry are as listed below:

i. Power looms are not preferred for weaving Gadwal sarees because their application is not suitable for weaving these sarees. It is because of the reason that the yarn needs to be continued to the next row of the fabric, & same is the case with the yarn of the border which is interlaced with the border. Advances in India's textile technology have made sarees more affordable and easy to maintain for working women. Synthetic sarees made in powerful industrial mills are attractively priced and don't need heavy ironing or care. The flip side is that this has endangered the livelihood of village craftspeople who can take many months on a loom to produce a single saree.

ii. Interestingly enough, just as there are fakes in art and jewellery, there are fakes in sarees. Today it's easy to be taken for a ride because technology has improved so much. Here, Gadwal sarees with artificial gold look identical to those with real gold threads are produced, the difference in price being a hefty Rs. 10,000 at least.

iii. It even might be a situation sometimes that there may occur a mistake or damage while weaving the saree. For this, the weaver bears the loss & sells the saree on discount.

iv. There are particular seasons & occasions only when women buy Gadwal sarees as they prefer to wear these sarees especially on marriages & festivals only. Therefore, for the left over year weavers find it difficult to sell them off. Here, October to April is a good season for marriages so the sales are at its peak. During the Ashad or the Mal season, women folk don’t prefer to buy these sarees as there are no marriages happening in this season. Thus, Gadwal sarees are very preferred for marriage purposes.

v. Astonishingly, wages of the workers have been constant for over 10 years. The reason being if wages increase so would the number of weavers. Though it employs a massive number of rural people, the handloom sector is considered a sunset industry. While some of the sector's troubles come from the relentless march of mechanisation,

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modernisation and sophistication, there's more to the troubled weavers' plight. Weavers toil for most of their waking hours to weave the rich tapestry of clothes and fabric that delight consumers across the world. Yet, their earnings per month do not exceed Rs 1,000. This is also the family income, as all family members chip in. Children do not have any scope for educating themselves, especially the girl child, who has to help in house chores and livelihood also.

vi. Weaving with pure silk is difficult. People get back aches, knee pains etc. on working with it for longer periods. There are people with old-age working to their livelihood by doing minute works like winding of bobbin threads etc. which help them earn only Rs. 1.25 for some 25 bobbins being done. Their labour takes them their whole day for just getting done those 25 bobbins, & they just earn that little amount of money straining their eyes & body. Since they have poor financial status & not in a state of good health to procure weaving job, they are forced to do these side jobs.

vii. The plight of handloom weavers is attributed mainly to the non-receipt of payment for cloth they sold to the Andhra Pradesh Handloom Weavers Cooperative Society (APCO). None of the Cooperative societies provide medical facilities to their member weavers. The weavers are generally weak in their constitution, perhaps due to continuous hard-work, sitting in the pit to operate the loom, & due to insanitary & unhealthy conditions of work, & are usually very prone to many diseases including tuberculosis. Also, with half of their hovel, that is a house, occupied by the loom in the pit, the men, women & children huddle in a corner.

viii. While earlier policies stressed the employment potential of the handloom industry and sought to strengthen it with appropriate measures such as the provision of adequate yarn, reservation of products, etc., considerations such as productivity and competitiveness have become the ruling factors in judging performance of sectors over the last decade. Indeed, it was the textile policy of 1985 that announced such a shift by setting up the single objective of increasing cloth production, without looking into the basic questions of credit and raw material requirements.

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ix. Handloom weavers are facing severe livelihood crisis because of adverse government policies, globalisation and changing socio-economic conditions. The national and state governments do have several schemes pertaining to production inputs, market support and development, meant to safeguard the interests of the weaving community but weavers have only faced ineffective implementation of the schemes.

x. Lack of information to weavers regarding various policies and schemes is no less a significant cause for the dwindling fortunes of the weaver community. Even government departments and implementing agencies related to handloom suffer from inadequate information and data resulting in a widening gap between policy formulation and implementation. The formal education system (including research institutes) has not included teaching and imparting skills for this profession into its fold. As a result, any innovation and change has been left to the weaving families. In the recent decades, due to lack of information and fast paced changes, practices in handloom sector became static and apparently redundant.

However, current thinking at the apex policy level is that the handloom sector is a redundant profession and is a burden on the government exchequer, rather than what it was considered in earlier planning processes at the national level, its development was seen as stimulation for rural development.

Consequently, there is no discourse on handloom policies and also the replacement of the whole set of existing policies. Handloom weavers have no say in policy matters.

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9.4 Required Attention & Suggestions

The central government needs to recognise the value of the handloom sector in sustainable development. On its own, the government would never be able to provide employment to such a large workforce. Going by the logic of liberalisation itself, the government in turn ought to formulate, promote and encourage policies that sustain this employment. Government has to ensure a 'level playing field' for this sector towards healthy competition among the different sub-sectors of textile industry.

Principally, the government has to change its policy, swinging between attitude of gross neglect and shallow protection, to an enabling role. Public policies should go beyond mere subsidies, sop schemes, appeasement of politicians and their vote banks and aberrations in budget allocations.

The following are aspects that require immediate attention:

1. Raw Material supply

Access to raw material such as yarn, dyes and dye stuffs has become a problem. Weaving is a rural and semi-rural production activity and weavers have to go far to get these raw materials. To top it off, yarn prices are steadily increasing. The availability of hank yarn - the basic material from which weaving is done - is a serious issue because it is controlled by modern spinning mills, who see more profit in large-volume cone yarn. Secondly, since hank yarn is tax-free and has subsidies, enormous amounts are diverted to the power loom and mill sectors. As a result, there is a perennial shortage of yarn for the weavers. Despite a few schemes, the hank yarn access issue has not been resolved. Colours are expensive, and presently there is no system or mechanism to increase their availability.

2. Raw material prices

Handloom primarily uses natural fibres such as cotton & silk. Prices of these fibres have been increasing during production and processing. Cotton production in India is expensive because of intensive and high usage of costly agricultural inputs such as pesticides and fertilisers. Secondly, while the fibre

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production most often happens in the vicinity of the weavers, their processing is done in distant areas, and as such the prices to the weaver are higher. With the central government now encouraging primary fibre and yarn exports, handloom weavers would be on the last priority for yarn suppliers.

The solution lies in establishing relatively low-cost, decentralised spinning units in the villages where handloom and fibre productions co-exist. The units would enable direct linkage between farmers and weavers, which essentially decreases the cost of yarn and thus the cost of handloom products. Still, the cost of setting up the units may be too much for an individual, and hence governmental support will be required.

3. Infrastructure and Investment

Investment in handloom sector has thus far been limited to input supply costs. There is no investment on sectorial growth. While there have been some piece-meal projects such as work shed-cum-housing and project package schemes, they merely perpetuate the existing conditions. There has been no thinking on basic requirements of the producer. Facilities such as land, water and electricity need to be provided in many places that are a harbour for handloom manufacturing. On the other hand, powerlooms are getting more usable support from the government in procuring land, water and electricity.

In many places across Andhra Pradesh, the only water available is groundwater, which is laden with salts and other contaminants. This affects the quality of production, economics and also the structure of production. Weavers simply have to put in more time to procure water for drinking and other needs, as well as compromise on dyeing quality.

Common facilities have not been developed such as warehouses, credit facilities (banks in the vicinity), roads, proper sanitation, etc. have not been provided anywhere.

In recent years, the investment profile in handloom sector has also been changing. Traditional investors -- known as master weavers -- who had been investing for several decades in handloom production have been moving away, or have become reluctant to invest in new designs. There is a need for new programmes that enable the inflow of fresh investments and emergence of new entrepreneurs into the handloom sector.

4. Design improvements

While there are suggestions that handloom sector should increase its design in response to changes in the market, the bottlenecks are many. The lack of change

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is not due to the weaver not being amenable to change, as is bandied. Rather, it is due to unwillingness of the investor to take risks and provide incentive to weavers for effecting the change. This apart, government has been providing substantial grants to the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) to provide design support to handloom cooperatives, but nothing much has come of it. NIFT was granted Rs.42.71 crores in 2004-'05 and Rs.22.78 crores for 2005-'06.

5. Market for products

Handloom products require more visibility. This means better and wider market network. One-off exhibitions organised with the support of government do not suffice. Presently, handloom products are available only in few places. An umbrella market organisation -- autonomous and financed by the government initially -- should be formed to undertake this task, financed by the sales of the handloom products.

Create niche market for handloom products, with focus on home furnishings, made-ups and specialized apparel. Outreach centres of National Institute of Fashion Technology, Hyderabad to be opened at Tirupati, Visakhapatnam and Warangal. R & D Centres will also be set up for development of exportable samples and designs through Weavers' Society.

6. Patenting designs/varieties

Handloom designs are not protected. As a result, investors are not interested lest they end up with the risk and those who copy the benefits. Protection options include development of handloom/silk/jute marks and registration under Geographical Indications Act. However, more discussion is required on this if handloom has to come up with designs that suit the market preferences and are still protected against theft.

7. Cooperative system

While cooperatives do help in maximising the benefits for weavers in the entire chain of production, their present condition a cause of concern. The handloom cooperative system is riddled with corruption and political interference. Many handloom weavers are not members of these cooperatives. Government departments have to stop using them as primary sources for routing government

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funds and schemes. Cooperatives have to become independent of district-level government officers in terms of management and decision-making. An enabling role is called for, as detailed elsewhere in this article.

8. Free export/import trade -- opportunity

Post the WTO Agreement on Textile Clothing, there is going to be more free export and import of textiles. The handloom sector, as a traditional area, can claim some special packages or discriminatory measures, to protect this kind of production. Options and policy measures need to be worked out either by independent institutions or the government.

Targets to achieve a desired amount of exports should be set. As such, to achieve this, a number of Apparel/Textile Parks in identified locations in the State are set up and thus a modernize handloom sector with an export focus can be viewed. Textile Parks have been planned at Kothur (Mahboob Nagar) & Yemmiganur (Kurnool) which are closeby Gadwal.

9. Budget allocations

Allocations for handloom in national and state budgets are being reduced. This has to be reversed. Budget has to increase with new schemes which address the problems of the sector, in view of the linkage and the need to protect rural employment.

10. Intermediaries (individuals/institutions)

Government has created a few research, training and input institutions to help the handloom sector. These institutions include weaver service centres, institutions of handloom technology, NIFT, etc. But their performance has been

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below par and their presence has not helped in obviating the problems of handloom weavers.

11. Enhancement of Value

There is a need for enhancing the value of handloom products through utilisation of organic cotton and organic yarn, application of natural dyes and by increasing the productivity of the looms through research and innovation – for example, changes in the width of the looms and some appropriate technical changes.

12. Competition and unfair competition from mills and powerlooms

Competition is now uneven, with mill and powerloom sector getting subsidies in various forms. Secondly, powerlooms have been undermining handloom markets by selling their products as handloom.

13. Wages, employment and livelihood issues

Wages have not increased in the last 15 years. Some sections of handloom weavers are living in hand-to-mouth conditions, with no house or assets. These issues need to be addressed by the government; at least effectively implement the Minimum Wages Act.

The power tariff hike and the increase in the prices of yarn and dyes were responsible for the plight of the weavers. There is a demand of power supply to weavers at a subsidised rate and the abolition of the sales tax of 4 per cent on yarn.

A number of perspectives have come to bear on the handloom industry: (a) theGovernmental view of a traditional industry in decline, (b) the cholar/academic’s view of contextualizing these trends and documenting the industry’s continued resilience, and (c) the weaver’s own perception of day-to-day problems of livelihood and survival. The challenge lies in engaging with these and other perspectives critically, in order to create a context for re-defining the handloom industry in contemporary terms. A thorough understanding of the characteristics of the handloom industry is of the utmost urgency and importance in such an endeavour.

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10.1 Interaction with Gadwal Saree Showrooms in Gadwal

NARAYANA GADWAL HANDLOOM SAREE HOUSE

VEDANAGAR, Gadwal H O 509125, Andhra Pradesh

About NARAYANA GADWAL HANDLOOM SAREE HOUSE

They are one of the leading manufacturers and wholesalers of "Gadwal Handloom Cotton/Silk Sarees". These sarees are weaved by their expert handloom weavers. They have been weaving these sarees for centuries - a very soft and breezy cloth that is a joy to wear. These sarees are of high quality material available at easily affordable prices. With experience and rich tradition, they have been able to master the art of intricate weaving. Their selection of sarees provide customers a wider choice, colors and assurance in reasonable pricing. They manufacture many varieties in these Silk/Cotton sarees with special designs by experts.

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10.2 Interaction with the weavers in Gadwal

SURESH

Suresh, a 30yr old weaver of gadwal sarees, has been handed down this profession as a family heirloom. His present family constitutes 6 members, who help him in his trade. Even then it's hard to support them satisfactorily, with a monthly wage of Rs 5000/-. Lack of education prohibits his involvement in any other occupation and he depends solely on weaving for his bread.

VENKATESH

Another weaver Venkatesh , has a similar story, except for the fact that he chose this profession instead of it being handed down to him. Catering to a family of 7 was difficult and illiteracy blocked ways to other careers. He has a loom at his house and weaves with the help of his wife and mother for a monthly income of Rs. 4500/-.

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10.3 Apparel & Fashion Shops in Hyderabad dealing with Gadwal Sarees

Name and Information Address

Sri Gadwal Weavers SocietyOne of the famous names in the world of garments in Andhra Pradesh, it offers garments of high quality designs and fastidious art work in cost effective rates. They are engaged in the sale of sarees and dhotis for all income groups. It is a 2,000 sq. ft. showroom that is run by a society of 11 Gadwal weavers.http://www.srigadwalweaverssociety.com/

# 6-3-803/1/13 SSS Chambers, 1st Floor, Opp: Hanuman Temple, Ameerpet 'X' Road, Hyderabad - 500 016 Tel:+(91)-(40) - 55756469

Nalli Silk SareesEstablished in 1928 Nalli Silk Sarees is one of the leading manufacturers and exporters of Fabrics, Apparel and Home Furnishings. They are also a leader in the textile and retail business for over 75 years.http://www.nalli.com/

1-10-72 - Sardar Patel Road, Begumpet, Hyderabad - 500 016 Tel:+(91)-(40) - 27766601/02Fax:+(91)-(40) - 27766700

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E Saree StoreE Saree Store offers variety of quality sarees for almost all the occasions. They offer Traditional Sarees, Designer Sarees, Handloom Sarees, embroidery Sarees, Bridal Sarees, Silk Sarees etc.http://www.esareestore.com/

Door no 3-3-589, General Bazar, Secunderabad - 500 003 Tel:+(91)-(40) - 27809092

Mukta BajajMukta Bajaj a famous fashion designer designs Sarees, Ghagras, Suits, Kurtis. She also offers personal consultation and service in terms of Style, Design and Fashion to their clients.http://www.muktabajaj.com/

Plot No. 11, Brig. Thoegraj Colony, Secunderabad - 500 015 Tel:+(91)-(40) - 27818293, 9394718293

Kallepally Brothers Established in 1930 as a wholesale shop Kallepally Brothers is now a quality name in Saree business. They have many varieties of Sarees to choose from like Kanchipattu, Gadwal, Pochampally, Kothakota, Venkatagiri, Narayanapet, Mysore pattu, Tusser, Printed silk and many more varieties.

1-1-254, Chikkadpally Market, Mushirabad, Near Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Degree College,Hyderabad - 500 020 Tel:+(91)-(40) - 27631935

Gadwal Handloom CentreOne of the leading showrooms for Pure silks in Hyderabad, Gadwal Handloom Centre is in this business for last 6 decades. Their specialisations are Gadwal, Kothakota, Narayanpet, Paturu, Kanjeevaram, Pochampalli, Cotton & Silks sarees.

4-1352, Abid Road, ( Opp Jaya International ), Abids,Hyderabad - 500 001 Tel:+(91)-(40) - 24753767

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Fig.10.1 A picture from inside one of the

showrooms who sell Gadwal sarees in Hyderabad.

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11.1 Bringing about a change...

Gadwal Sarees weave an enchanted poem reciting about beautifying a woman in their own way. Their uniqueness will always be evergreen & distinctive in all possible manners. But from the viewpoint of a designer, an art, when developed in a good way, will only make its use more diverse & worth noticing. In this way, designers are able to show their talent & creativity too & as such the age-old craft tradition gets a new look as well. Some reformations suggested in this context are as follows:

i. Different embellishments with glass work, sequins, beads, embroideries, tie n dyes of the yarns or the fabric itself, etc. can be done on to the saree in order to make it more artistic

& for a fancy look. These surface ornamentation & design techniques should also be preferred so as to go out of the box & not just the same Gadwal weave of a cotton/silk body & a rich border & pallav in zari thread. Thus, this helps giving a diverse choice to the customers.

ii. While making garments, another problem faced while cutting the saree for the required patterns, is that that the most unique feature of the saree i.e. the weaved zari, gets frayed. Thus, in order to avoid this, weavers should apply such an adhesive on the zari weavings such that it stays in the design in which it was weaved.

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iii. They can work on reversible sarees i.e. making the saree in the reversible weave. The fabric gets weaved on both the sides, also it may help in reducing the count of the saree.

iv. If we try to bring out same change in the layout of the saree, then either we can bring in the changes in the border or the pallav. Instead of two borders running on both the upper & lower end, we can simply have a saree without any border & also rather than having a motif repetition on the pallav we can leave the pallav as it is & make saree with booties all over.

v. If we try to work out in the combination of weave and colours giving optical illusion then a whole saree of can be created with view of innovation. This feature is very much upto the present day scenario with the high tech advancements.

vi. There are sarees nowadays where pallavs are detachable & can be fastened with a zip. Thus, we can try this reformation in Gadwal Sarees also for those people depend on occasions to have or not the pallav.

vii. Instead of working on zari only on the borders, pallavs & booties we can have zari work restricted to certain areas only like the area where the pleats will fall.

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11.2 Designers inspired by Sarees

Sarees, with their golden threads, intricate embroidery and innate romance, have always attracted Westerners. Glimmerings of Indian inspiration appeared in the West in the 1920s when Madame Gres, a renowned Paris designer, showed saree-inspired styles in her collection. Western passion for Indian fashions can be traced to the British Raj, when socialites in London, New York and Paris were smitten by Indian fabrics and embroidery. Famous Western designers were deeply influenced. Those who have used sarees and Indian fabrics in their collections include Mary McFadden, Oscar de la Renta, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Norma Kamali and Anna Sui.

Recently, British designer Paul Smith did an entire collection based on India, including men's shirts created out of sarees. While some Westerners make fashion sarees into everything from pillow covers to tablecloths to evening dresses, others actually wear them, a memento of their Indian adventure. Some designers use it to outrageous effect. John Galliano was once spotted at a society gala in New York wearing a silk saree with a short tuxedo jacket and dress shoes.

The collections range from eclectic and outrageous ball skirts and quilted jackets to delicate and demure halter neck tops and dresses. The use of exquisite saris makes each garment unique and distinctive, whilst oozing flair, finesse and elegance. Pieces from the collection can be found at Koh Samui, Covent Garden, Junky Styling, and Brick Lane.

A limited collection of lampshades was introduced at Osprey, The Hyde in December 2004. They are made from reclaimed wood and sari fabric, the elegant light pieces.

Rajoli Handloom Weavers Society from Mahaboobnagar district proudly display its "light, dignified" Gadwal sarees. "We give guarantee for 48 per cent silk zari," says a humble representative of the society. The famed saree material is now available for the salwar-kameez-chunni set, thanks to the training by

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desigers from the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) to two society members.

11.3 Motif Development

The weavers of Gadwal sarees lack much if seen from the creative aspect of designing. They make the least effort to bring about any changes in the motifs & designs. Thus, designers from reputed colleges & industries may help them to change their style of motifs which are getting repeated since so many years. Some contemporary & stylized version of what the motifs presently in use can be developed. Some of them are as follows:

1. There are sarees where whole paintings can be handwoven if the weavers try their best & put all their hardwork in weaving intricate design motifs into the saree. Weaving a whole painting into a saree is very eye-catching & their use of multi-color threads makes it even more ravishing. Gadwal Sarees should also be weaved in multi-color threads by increasing the number of jacquard hooks & cards, thus, giving a more outstanding look to the saree.

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2. Some of the motifs have been designed here in Adope Photoshop with the help of the modern tools. The inspiration is totally from the historical monuments of Gadwal, but a slight contemporary & sophisticated design

development of the motifs have been done here.

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Some further developments of motifs were done by hand, taking inspiration from the culture aspects of Andhra Pradesh. They have been shown in different colors so as to show the use of diverse coloured threads instead of just the zari. These are illustrated as follows:

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11.4 Product Diversification

Thinking from a designer’s point of view, one can make thousands of products from a given fabric & that too in a creative manner. Thus, here some of the products diversifying from the actual product of Gadwal Handlooms, i.e. a saree, are mentioned keeping in mind how best the craft can be put to use in various ways & not just only stick to sarees. Product diversification here does not mean in any sense to destroy the age-old craft. It is just signifying the change of time & how modern implications on this craft can serve better the customers of Handloom industry. Some the products can be discussed as follows:

1. Japanese Umbrellas & fans have got unique charm, & are very popular these days in India. Their magnificent look attracts many womenfolk & they like to keep them as sign of beauty & ornamentation. For this purpose we can use the saree’s silk & can give it a total unusual look.

2. Worn out sarees are just kept stored & are thereby not put to any use , thus, wasting the precious craft for ages. Here if we think of something creative & recyclable then we ca think of a variety of products. Following is the display of a product made out of a worn saree. It displays a floor mat which is braided from stripes of sarees & is rolled in a coil shape & is stitched together to make it firm.

3. Saree can also be used as a table spread since a saree’s length & long width is perfect for such draperies.

4. Even when we think we are done with a saree, we find new ways to use it. Here is a baby carrier made out of a vintage saree; versatile, useful and the baby will be so comfortable in it!

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5. Sarees can also be put in use to make notebooks, diaries, folders, etc. the base of saree when used as a cover on these books will give a very splendid look to this product. The sarees made up of vibrant coloured yarns will give them even more magnificent look, here Gadwal Sarees can look extraordinarily glorious.

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3. Gadwal Sarees can be used to drape curtains, where some fancy curtains are preferred.

4. Home furnishings made from silk sarees especially look very ravishing & enthralling. Thus, here Gadwal Sarees will be a good raw material for making cushion covers, pillow cases etc.

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5. Making Garments from saree is the job of most of the designers & by making different types of silhouettes from a saree they show their extravagant talent. Their main motif is not to destroy this art but just to give it diverse look. Following is a quilted jacket made from a silk saree.

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CONCLUSION

The study has introduced us to a glorious craft and its untiring makers, and to a million things that go on behind the scenes. It not only gave us a detailed insight into the working of a composite handloom industry but also helped us in getting a practical knowledge on the working of an organization.

We have enjoyed our stay amongst this beautiful world of sarees. But there’s more to it than meets the eye.

The craft is magnificent, but the lives of the people who give life to it are not. The woeful plight of the weavers, made us realize the massive effort that needs to be put for their upliftment.

The government and NGOs need to do their best and as designers so should we. The Assistant director of Handlooms & Textiles of Andhra Pradesh, is doing his best to stand upto his post & continuously working hard to gain the complete support of the government to develop the Handloom industry of Gadwal Sarees.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books Referred:

The Textile Magazine – January 2009 issue The Textile Journal – June 2009 issue Saris of India – By Ṛta Kapur Chishti, Martand Singh, Amba Sanyal

Sites Visited:

www.aptourism.in www.bharatonline.com www.apcofabrics.com hyderabad.clickindia.com www.wikipedia.org www.gadwal.tv www.indianetzone.com www.apind.gov.in www.indiatogether.org www.sareedreams.com www.hinduonline.com www.encyclopedia.com

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