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Review of Silk Handloom Weaving in Assam

Article · February 2010

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 Review of Silk
Handloom Weaving In
Assam

By: C.M.Bajpeyi,
Naveen V Padaki and
S N. Mishra
 Review of Silk Handloom Weaving In Assam
By: C.M.Bajpeyi, Naveen V Padaki and S N. Mishra

Source: Textile Review

Assam, the state having highest number of handlooms in India is unique with its silk weaving
culture, as the handloom sector. Fly shuttle handlooms and 120 hook jacquards are benignly used
in the Assam for silk weaving. Traditional designs and products still are the major type of fabrics
woven for the domestic market. Presented here is an overview of silk weaving in Assam detailing
the sericulture in the state, hand loom industry, structure of the silk handloom sector with a special
emphasis on Kamrup district, the issues hindering its growth and the interventions needed for the
improvement of the same.

Handloom history in India can be traced back to Indus Valley civilization. Several era of Indian history mentions the
flourishing trade of textiles in domestic as well as export markets. India is currently the world's largest producer of
handloom products with a total production of more than 5,000 million meters in the year 2005. Among the products
produced in India, the most celebrated ones include Jamdani, Ikkat, Kota, Banarasi and Patola. It is estimated that there
are about 12.5 million people dependent on hand loom weaving in India. In the entire country, there are more than 38
lakh hand looms. In northeastern states alone, there are more than 15 lakh handlooms. Detailed statewise distribution
of 470 handloom clusters across India is provided by the 1995-96 survey as given in the following table 1. It is worthy
to note that among the 20 major clusters of India (with handlooms more than 50,000) 14 of them are in Assam state.

Importance of Assam in Handloom Sector

Handloom weaving forms a cultural constituent for the people of Assam, as a traditional household women activity
which can enhance family income and raise standard of living. Weaving activity in Assam is for self consumption as
well as for commercial sales. About one third of the India's handloom weavers live in the North east, mainly in Assam
as emphasized by Table 1.

Table 1: Clusterwise Handloom Distribution in India

As per the reported data of 2005-06, Assam state boasts of over 13 lakh hand looms operating to provide employment
to about 23 lakh people spread out in different districts of Assam; 91 % of this workforce are women. At present, it is
estimated that only 1.50 lakh looms are in commercial use and nearly 17% of these i.e., 25 thousands are used for
commercial silk weaving. Assam is the only state in India which boasts of availability of all the four commercial types
of silk viz., Mulberry silk, Muga, Eri and Tasar silks. A detail of Assam states prominence in silk production is as
provided in the Table 2, which shows prominence of Assam states contribution in wild silks produced in India in the
past two years. As far as production of Muga & Eri silks is concerned, Assam state contributes 105 MT of Muga raw
silk & 850 MT of Eri spun yarn which accounts for nearly 90% & 60 % of the Muga & Eri silks produced in the
country respectively as detailed by the Table2

Table 2: Production of Wild Silk in NE States (Metric Ton- MT)

Assam's traditional hand loom industry had been basically silk oriented. In earlier days of Assam, most of the cloth
required for the family was woven in the family itself. Weaving is a traditional art in Assam practiced by women as a
hobby of finesse that has charmed many poetic souls including Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore. Weaving
traditionally is an economic activity not only undertaken to fuIfiII household needs but also to earn that Iittle extra to
ensure a sustainable living.The Table 3 below highlights the approximate production of silk fabric in Assam state.

Table 3: Production of Silk Fabric In The Assam State, 2005-06

Variety Estimated Average price Estimated value

Production per per meter (Rs.) (Rs.inlakhs)
Annum ( lakh meters)

Mulberry 60 250 15000

Muga 10 500 5000
Tasar 5 250 1250
Eri 21 200 4200
Total 96 25450

Apart from the silk produced in the state, weavers also source mulberry and tassar silk from south and central India.
Even the imported chinese mulberry and tassar silks are used. However, in spite of the rich variety of siIks available,
nearly 90% of the yarn consumed by the hand looms of the state today is cotton and acrylic. Weavers generally do not
do cotton spinning but procure mill yarn from the market which is primarily brought in from southern parts of India.
Apart from silk, cotton and acrylic, other fibres which are used in the Assam state are viscose and polyester fibres used
to weave fabrics on hand loom mainly for the domestic market.
Majority of the weavers who weave for self consumption keep Eri (end i) cocoons to produce Eri spun yarn by hand
spinning technique using takli (a type of yarn winding spindle) as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Talki Spinning of Eri Silk

Most of the commercial handloom weavers use CSTRI model spinning machines and takli hand spinning to
manufacture Eri silk yarn for weaving purpose. Spinning machine spun yarn is used for warp whiIe the takli spun yarn
is used for weft as it has lesser twist and strength. Some of the Eri silk products for winter wear are produced from
coarse takli spun yarn only as these yarns are bulky due to low twist. During Muga silk seasons (June to August and
October to January) commercial weavers produce Muga fabrics using hand reeled Muga yarn as weft and machine
reeled yarn for warp. Hand reeling is carried out on traditional wooden apparatus called Bhir as shown in Figure 2. The
Bhir reeled yarn has low twist due to which the lustre and hand of the silk fabric produced with bhir weft yarn is
superior.

Figure 2: Bhir Reeling of Muga Silk

Earlier practice of weaving was to use the Assamese type looms (loin loom) which are still prevalent in some tribal
settlements. Figure 3 illustrates one such loin loom in which the warp is tied up in split bamboo to the ends of which is
fastened a leather strap which pass across the weaver. Throw shuttle looms can be still seen in some rural parts of
Assam but recently most of the weavers (98%) have started using the fly shuttle hand looms due to interventions
activities from government organizations such as Central Silk Board, Khadi Village Industries, National Handloom
Development Corporation, Social Institute for Rural Development and State Handloom & Weaving Department.

Power looms, shuttle-less looms and such advanced looms are still not in use even for weaving expensive silk yarn for
external markets. The use of accessories is rare in rural areas. Less than 10% of the rural weavers use the jacquard for
textile designs and the rest of the weavers does not use any accessories. The
available 120 hook (single lift, single cylinder) jacquard limits the design potential and fabrics with more prominent
and complex designs are still unavailable in the handloom sector of Assam. This prevents 'self weave designs' and thus
a large market segment is lost out. The weavers feel uncomfortable with these accessories and there is no market
compulsion yet for them to adopt these as the fabrics are used for traditional and ethnic textiles for the domestic market
only.

Figure 3: Handloom Silk Weaving

Structure of Handloom Sector in Assam

Table 4 given below presents the distribution of active handlooms in the Assam state detailing the clusterwise
distribution as per 1995-96 census. Kamrup district is the centre for handloom industry in the state. The weavers of
Assam are largely unorganized. The hand loom weaving in Assam can be divided into three types of sectors, namely;
independent, cooperative and wage weavers as per the Indian c1assification"'. The independent weavers in Assam are
majorly part time weavers who are engaged in weaving at home producing fabric mainly for household consumption.
Approximately one third of the state's 13 lakh weavers are organized into about 3,744 societies registered at the district
and sub-divisional level as hand loom cooperative societies '41. Most of these are single loom household units and
commercial weaving is restricted to few places of prominence. These commercial weaving centres are the main
weaving clusters of the state where a master-weaver who is well versed with the fabric/weaving knowledge invests for
the raw material, decides upon the fabric design, engages weavers for producing fabrics and markets the produced
goods. Although this results in reduced creativity of the weaver, it helps the cluster to develop, weavers to migrate and
hence handloom industry in the region to expand. Most of the master weavers in Assam have reached their prime and
the youngsters are reluctant to take up this profession, as careers in real estate and employment in urban area provide
easy money compared to the struggle in the hand loom industry.

Table 4: Distribution of Handlooms in Assam State

Ancient centre 'Sualkuchi', situated 70 Kms from the capital city of Guwahati and often described, as the 'Silk Centre'
of Assam, is the most well known centre of weaving clusters in the State. Here, silk weaving is a
totally commercial activity with a large number of Mahajan-owned small handloom factories operating with fly hand
looms fitted with 120 hooks jacquard, vigorously emerging from a strong cooperative tradition. The town has become a
core area around which a number of weaving clusters/villages have begun to develop into a prominent expanding silk
region

Other places of significant weaver concentration are jajori in Morigaon, Rampur in Kamrup (famous for Eri), North
Lakhimpur, Sibsagar, jorhat, Dibrugarh, Karimganj and the emerging Boroland territory with Kokrajhar, Nalbari and
Udalgiri as major centres as detailed in the Table 4. Silk weaving is performed in almost all the districts of Assam.
The major silk weaving clusters in the Assam state are Sualkuchi, Palasbari, Mirza, Bijoynagar in Kamrup
district, Nalbari, Udalguri, Kokrajhar in BTC, Dhemaji, Lakhimpur, Mangaldoi districts. The number of urban
weavers was 53,326 and constituted a mere 4.5% of the total weavers of Assam in 1995-96. Women dominate the
overall weaving industry in Assam. But the situation reverses for full time weaving; 53.60% of the full time
weavers were men. As per these 1995-96 figures, there is a distinct male dominance among the fulltime weavers in
the State.

The Table 5 below shows the gender distribution in the rural and urban full time weavers in Assam where even the
children at the home, work on the handloom during free time. However, with an increasing need to earn a Iiving and
with the rapid growth of small urban factories engaged in commercial production, the numbers of full time women
weavers have been on the increase since then.

Table 5: Distribution of Full Time Weavers in Assam

Some of the handloom fabrics produced for domestic use are Mekhla and Patani (lower wear of the women similar to
Saree), Chaddar (upper wear of the women similar to dupatta), Riha (ornamented towel wrapped around waist),
Gamocha (towel), Dhoti (lower wear of men), Bedspreads, Shirts (coats and Kurta), Ladies tops, Shawls, Stoles,
Sweaters and Blankets. Eri silk is generally used to produce Bedspreads, Shawls, Stoles, Coats, Kurta (Shirts),
Blankets and similar winter wear garments. Muga silk is mainly used to manufacture Mekhla, Chadder and Sarees.

The designs of the textiles are in conformity to the Assamese culture and they are initiated at the base level by the
Sipini (weaver women) of Assam. Although Assam is well known as a major silk producing state, complex weaving
techniques and dense figural decoration are not features usually associated with the region. Tribal groups incorporate
some simple extra weft geometric designs into silk cloths. A complicated 'Lampa technique' was carried out in Assam
during pre independent India. The textiles of this group varied considerably in quality, but are all characterized by
designs depicting scenes from the life of Lord Krishna (God Vishnu). Most of these relate to his exploits as a killer of
demons in various animal forms (crane, the snake and others) or as a lover of the cowherds (gopil with whom he
passed his youth in the forests of Vrindavan. Other popular designs are derived from Ramayana, which concerns
another incarnation of Vishnu-Rama and some include depictions of other avatars, such as Matsya the fish, Kurma the
tortoise and Narsimha the man-lion. With the Indian independence, the main market to which these traditional textiles
were targeted were lost to Bangladesh thereby inducing the decline of Lampa technique.

The intricate designs are now produced on the hand loom during weaving using jacquard and jala techniques. Use of
120 hook jacquard revived the traditional textile designs of the Assam state along with few derivatives, prominent
designs among such are Kaziranga design - signifying the Kaziranga national park, Kim-khab-a royal patronage design
of Ahom kingdom and diamond design of Boro origin. These designs are usually used on Mekhla, Chadder, Riha and
Sarees. Approximately 90% of the hand loom products are based on traditional designs, which have been repeated
umpteen numbers of times. The
products are limited to suit the local demand only. The problems of the stitched border, poor selvedge and excess floats
still remain to be overcome. Besides, the trend in production of Muga and Eri products are limited to production of
running fabric either in the form of Saree, Chadar, Mekhala, shawl etc. So far there has been no attempt to produce
readymade garments out of these silks
locally. .

Kamrup District – A Major Silk Weaving Cluster

The district is bifurcated recently in to two districts namely Kamrup Rural & Kamrup metropolitan. The demarcation
of boundary between the two districts has not yet been finalized and separate data for both the districts are not
available. The undivided Kamrup district is situated between 25.43 & 26.51 North latitude and between 90.36 & 92.12
East latitude. The district profile of Kamrup is as provided by the Table 6.

Table 6: The Kamrup District Profile

Sericulture and Silk Status of Kamrup District

Kamrup district (Metro & Rural) is one of the major centres of Silk production and trading activities in India. The
precocoon sericulture activities in the Kamrup are concentrated in Dimoria, Chandrapur, Guwahati, Boko, Bongaon,
Rani, Borduar, Sualkuchi, Hajo, Bejara, Goriamari, Rangia, Kamalpur, jajikona and Goreswar block. There are about
8500 Eri rearers, 4000 Muga rearers and 400 Mulberry rearers having food plantation of approximately 375 Hect., 660
Hect & 22 Hect respectively.

The Kamrup district has 175 notified weaving c1usters, each at varying degrees of commercialization from purely
household sector to small manufacturing units working fulltime to meet delivery schedules against specific orders
placed by small traders and merchants. As per report of 2003, the weavers in Kamrup district have been categorized in
17 development blocks as per the clusters (Table 7)"1. Among 13 lakh weavers of the State in 1995-96, nearly 14%
weavers thrive in this district alone. Majority of the district weavers are organised in 165 hand loom cooperatives and
much smaller number of tiny factories concentrated around Guwahati City and Sualkuchi. Many more were listed in
unorganized but are increasingly forming themselves into 'self-help groups' under State initiatives.
 Table 7: Distribution of Weavers in Different Blocks of Kamrup

Kamrup district is the centre of silk handloom weaving in Assam which contributes about 70% of silk post cocoon
activities of the state. The post-cocoon activities of silk are concentrated in Sualkuchi and Bamundi sectors of Kamrup,
known as one of the major Silk Weaving cluster in North-East India. This cluster is serving as main ground for trading
and manufacturing of silk products. It is estimated that about more than 75% of total Muga cocoons and more than
50% of Eri cocoons produced in NE India are concentrated in Kamrup district of Assam for cocoon trading, yarn
production, fabric weaving and silk cloth marketing.

Table 8 presents the weaving unit classification based on yarn consumption pattern in the Kamrup district.
Presently about 40 thousand commercial and domestic silk looms are engaged in weaving of Mulberry, Muga, Tasar &
Eri silk fabrics in Kamrup district. In addition to this various ancillaries supporting activities like supply of machinery,
looms, equipments, silk yarn, dyeing, designing, supply support etc has also grown in Kamrup district. Apart from
Sualkuchi the other clusters like Hajo, Palashbari, Bijoynagar, Chaygaon, Boko, Kamrup (metro) & Rangia are
prominent to be associated with Muga & Eri silk industry. Cluster-wise silk technological activities are as indicated in
the Table 9.

Table 9: Cluster - Wise Silk Activities in Kamrup District

,

Issues Pertaining To Silk Handloom Weaving In Assam and the Action Needed

The many problems in Indian handloom sector which have

 Establishment of Common Facility Centre for Yarn dyeing

 Establishment of Common Facility Centre for fabric processing
 Introduction of design development product diversification
 Imparting training to the Weavers/dyers

Market Interventions

 Establishment of Cocoon Marketing Centers at district level for marketing of cocoons

 Export potentiality market survey
 Participation/Exposure of the end products at national and international market by supporting
Societies/entrepreneurs to participate in Expos/ fares etc

Financial Intervention

 Financial support to the Weavers/Dyers for adoption of latest technological interventions for production of
quality and diversified products
  Support to the Entrepreneurs for improving their products
 Financial support to Individual / SHGs / Societies / Entrepreneurs for various post cocoon activities under
CDP
 Financial support the Garment Manufacturing Unit

Initiatives Taken For Product Development & Diversification

In the recent years humble effort has been made under various projects/schemes sponsored by Ministry of Textiles,
Govt. of India, Ministry of Rural Development, Govt. of India & United Nation Development Programme for Vanya
silks for product development & diversification. The emphasis has been given forfollowing specific areas:

 Development of product with traditional designs having flair for latest fashion needs
 Necessary focus on high design content suiting to the affluent market segment
 Diversified products by blending with other textiIe yarns to improve marketability
 Product for casual wear for younger generation

The National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad, National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) and renowned
consuItants have provided inputs on fabric, fabric & garment designs etc. by involving themselves with the local
weavers / NGOs. The products thus developed due to the efforts of these Institutes / ConsuItants have got very good
response when exposed at various exhibitions / expos at national/ international level in country like USA, Thailand,
Japan & Philippines. The local weavers/ NGOs meanwhile have also developed sufficient expertise in producing
value added products by themselves and are getting continuous orders for supply of these goods.

Some of the important modifications brought in the field of product diversification by these efforts are as follows:

1) Improved designs & motifs

2) Fabric designs
3) Production of saris with running borders by adding extra warp by weaving on improved looms
4) Minimization of floats in the designs
5) Introduction of natural! industrial dyes for dyeing Eri both at cocoon & yarn stage
6) Production of made ups and garments of latest trend

Conclusions

Sericulture and textile sector is major source of employment in the Assam state since time immemorial. Silk is the vital
constituent of Assam's economy and tradition. Presently silk and hand loom sectors provide job opportunities to more
than 25 lakh people in the state. The main strength of the Kamrup district handloom sector, is its largest and skilled
labour force. There is a vital need to enhance this strength and address factors that weaken the silk sector across the
state. Government's intervention in raw material supply in the form of Muga cocoons throughout the year and in
establishing infrastructure for conducive silk business would be most welcome at this juncture. Such initiatives would
encourage the entrepreneurs and youth to take up the dwindling silk reeling, spinning and weaving activities thereby
uplifting the silk sector. Product diversification through use of silk blends in fabric manufact.ure and actions towards
silk garment manufacture are the need of the hour. Introduction of commercial fabric/garment processing would be a
boon to the industry in the state to enhance the feel of the eri and muga silk to make the products readily acceptable in
markets across India.

References

1) Narasimha Reddy, Crisis in Handloom Sector: Critical Factors to be addressed, Textile Review, pp 34-40,
2008.
2) Joint Census of Handlooms & Powerlooms, National Council of Applied Economic Research, for
Ministry ofTextiles, Gov!. of India, 1995-96.
3) Hazarika S, Potential and prospects of the Handloom Sector, Souvenir, National Handloom Expo,
Directorate of Handloom & Textile, Gov!. of Assam, Guwahati, p-ll , 2004
4) Handloom Report 2005-06, Directorate of Handloom and Textiles, Gov!. of Assam, Guwahati, 2005- 06.
5) Annual report, Central Silk Board, Bangalore, 2008-09.
 6) SN Mishra, Silk Industry of Assam, Indian Silk, CSB, pp 22-26, February 1997
7) Rahman N, Weavers in Assam, Ph.D. Thesis, Dibrugarh University, 2000.
8) Sericulture Report, Directorate of Sericulture, Gov!. of Assam, Guwahati, 2002-03.
9) Baisya, P., Small and Cottage Industry, A study in Assam, Manas Publication, New-Delhi, 1989.

About the Authors:

C.M.Bajpeyi is associated with Regional Development Office, Central Silk Board,Guwahati

,Naveen.V.Padaki and S.N.Mishra are associated with Regional Silk Technological, Research Station,
Central silk board,Guwahati

Originally published in Textile Review: February 2010

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