BENGALURU : There is a sad story unspooling behind “Guledgudda Khana”, the traditional fabric from Guledgugga taluk of Bagalkot district that has its own GI tag. The demand for the fine cloth had been dipping over the last few years, and the pandemic made it only worse.
Many weavers, who were pursuing the traditional and ancestral craft, had sold their handlooms and moved to Bengaluru in search of livelihoods. They ended up becoming security guards, hotel and bar employees and constructions workers, earning meagre sums.
When Covid-induced restrictions were announced, these weavers wanted to move back to their villages and continue with their traditional profession. But sadly, there are not enough looms and work to absorb them all. The taluk that had over 8,000 handlooms a few years ago has just around 200 now.
“The reason is also that while most old homes had looms, the newly renovated ones do not, as they have tiles on the floor and villagers feel looms damage the flooring. While they were self-employed earlier, they now look for jobs with those who have more number of looms,” said one of the weavers.
Powerlooms use cheaper raw material: NGO head
Eranna ranna Chella once owned two handlooms. He sold them a few years ago, moved to Bengaluru and started doing odd jobs. When the pandemic struck last year, he returned to his village. “Since I don’t have a loom, I am working with a weaver. You need to invest a lot of money to start a loom and source the raw material,” he said.
“The state government is giving power looms under various social welfare schemes. But the beneficiaries are not weavers and are selling the machines. Traditional handlooms require more physical energy and time than a powerloom. But power looms cannot run when there is no electricity,” he pointed out.
Ramesh AV started the NGO, Khanaweaves, a few months ago and promotes the fabric on social media platforms. Explaining why the demand has come down, he said the silk thread used in the traditional khana looms requires an investment of at least Rs 10,000. “In a handloom, weavers are paid Rs 33 for 20 inches.
In a power loom, they are paid Rs 6. While in a handloom, it takes three to seven days to weave 21 metres of khana, in a powerloom, 30 metres can be weaved in a day,’’ Ramesh said. Power looms use polyester threads which reduce their cost to just Rs 3,000 as compared to Rs 10,000 for the silk thread in the traditional loom. Khanaweaves helped sell products worth Rs 10 lakh between March and June this year. The weavers are being given bonds, which will fetch them good returns after some years, Ramesh added.
Inspired by Badami
Guledgudda Khana is a fabric that has distinct patterns inspired by nature, folk art and stone architecture of Badami caves, which are close to this place. The fabric is weaved with the finest cotton and
silk yarns.