MADURAI: It was a day of celebration for Madurai Sungudi Textile Manufacturers and Traders Association that completed 75 years since its inception.
Speaking during the function on Sunday, noted textile researcher K Sreemathy said that a sungudi museum should be set up to document the heritage of sungudi for the generations to come.
Made from soft cotton fabric using the tie-and-dye method, the traditional sungudi sarees are hand-woven with authentic sungudi knots and are dyed with natural dyes. Sourashtrians who migrated to Madurai introduced the art form of traditional sungudi dot patterns, under the patronage of King Thirumalai Naicker.
In 2005, ‘Madurai Sungudi’ became the first product from the city to be conferred the Geographical Indication (GI) mark by the Geographical Indications Registry.
On Sunday, the platinum jubilee celebration of the association was organised during which Collector S Natarajan said that the district administration would initiate steps to revive the annual commemoration of Sungudi Day to popularise the art, especially among the youth.
Meanwhile, Madurai South MLA S S Saravanan felicitated veteran sungudi weavers who have had kept the dying art alive for more than seven decades.
Addressing the gathering, Sreemathy said that the authentic manually tied and dyed sungudi art form was long gone with the gradual entry of sungudi variations like wax-printed and screen-printed sungudi textiles and that the traditional sungudi dots were no longer finer.
She further said, “Finer sungudi dots should be revived and it can be best done by teaching the art to school children who can easily master the knack of achieving finer dots with their tender fingers than when done by adults. A museum of sungudi must be set up to document the rich heritage of the art form and to carry it forward for generations to come.”
Also, the youth must indulge in sugundi textile making with a sense of pride and commercialism, she insisted.