BHUBANESWAR: Aiming at integrating Maniabandha’s centuries-old handloom legacy with tourism, the Handlooms and Textiles department has started work on developing a Maniabandha Buddhist Handloom Village Tourism Centre in the village under Cuttack district.
The department plans to set up the centre over 6,000 sq ft area in the village which will house a state-of-the-art common facility centre, a demonstration and apparel training centre to be managed by Apparel Training & Design Centre (ATDC)-India, tourism amenities (cafeteria, toilets, rest sheds) and a mini museum to showcase Buddhist culture and handloom heritage of the village.
In Maniabandha handloom cluster which includes Maniabandha village, Badamba and Athagarh, there are 20,734 weavers, producing traditional tie and dye and Khandua Patta sarees. They own 14,108 looms. Of this, Maniabandha village under Badamba block has 688 weavers having 624 looms. The cotton and silk sarees woven here with hand-spun threads dyed in traditional vegetable colours have earned a global market for their unique designs and texture.
Located close to ‘Diamond Triangle’ of Lalitgiri, Ratnagiri and Udaygiri, Maniabandha is one of the largest Buddhist village in Odisha with over 520 Buddhist families. All are engaged in handloom work. There are eight Buddhist temples in the village.
Interestingly, they follow both Buddhism and Jagannath culture which reflects in their weaves. While everywhere else silkworms are boiled alive to obtain silk fibre, Maniabandha’s weavers extract silk thread from the cocoons shed by the worms.
“Sarees and other handloom products of Maniabandha are known worldwide for their designs and texture but we want to integrate it with Buddhist and rural tourism through this project. The centre will play a dual role. It will not only provide skill training to the weavers in apparel sector but also allow a tourist to witness various stages of production and procure handloom products directly from the weavers without the involvement of middlemen”, said JP Das, Director, Textiles.
He informed that the project will help brand Maniabandha products in a better manner and also act as a platform to showcase progression of the weave from the beginning to what it is today to an inquisitive tourist. The project would come up within a year with an expenditure of Rs 2.85 crore. Officials said while land for the centre has been identified, tender has been called for construction of its various components.