Kabir and the fraying fabric of Dindori weavers

Chadariya jhini re jhini, chadariya jhini re jhini
Raam naam ras bhini chadariya jhini re jhini
Asta kamal ka charkha banaya, panch tatva ki pooni
nau das maas binan ko laage, moorakh maili kini
Chadariya jhini re jhini

[This garment so fine, oh so fine.
Drenched in the name of Ram. Oh, this garment so fine
An eight-fold lotus spinning wheel makes the yarn,
and raw fibres of five elements,
nine-ten months of weaving, and you soil it, you fool
this garment woven fine, so fine…]

There is a finesse, a flawless coordination in Nehru Das Ji’s fingers moving across the harmonium keys, weaving a pattern of musical notes and emotions as he sings a Kabir verse. It is easy to imagine the way they must have danced on the loom once. Though these days it is more natural for him to sing than to weave. He has passed on that legacy to his two sons. But a Kabir panthi (a follower of the 15th Century mystic poet Kabir), he is keen to show us the connection between the song and his work.

“The way god takes time to weave this body, it takes nine months before the baby in her mother’s womb is born. Hamar Kabir Sahab e bat ko aur kapade binne vaali baat ko ek doosare se jod sansar ko samajha rahe hai [Our Kabir Sahib explains the truth about this world by connecting this to the act of weaving].” The 78-year-old Nehru Das calls himself the oldest weaver in Baigachak.

The region comprising 52 villages within Dindori district, including his own Sarwahi Mal, is largely inhabited by Adivasis. The Panika community to which the veteran weaver belongs, is not listed uniformly across Madhya Pradesh. In Dindori, where he lives, they are listed among the Other Backward Classes and not as a Scheduled Tribe. And yet for ages they have lived a life of co-dependency and harmony with the 64 per cent Adivasi population in the district. Panikas practice weaving, their traditional occupation.

“We have been weaving for generations,” he says. “Hamar daai dada jo the vo bhi ihi la bin bin ke poshe hai aur unke jane baad ke hum bhi hamar baal bachhako ihi la se poshe rahi hai, aur ihi dhandha karke hamar ladaka bachcha bhi haman la paal rahe hai. [Our parents raised and nurtured us through weaving. After them, we took care of our own children through this work; and now our children are looking after us by doing the same.] This is our primary occupation.”

Nestled amidst the dense forests of the Maikal Range, Baigachak is home mostly to Baiga Adivasis living on the hills and practicing bewar kheti (shifting cultivation). But there are also Gond Adivasis who are into settled agriculture, the Agharias doing iron-smelting, the Ahirs who tend cattle. The Panikas living at the foothills are weavers, providing clothing and textiles to Baigas who form a majority in the region and are classified as a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group in the state.

“In those days,” says Nehru Das Ji says recalling his of a decade ago “we would weave garments just the way the Baigas requested us to. Their men and women both wore clothes crafted by us. While the men would get bandi jackets made, the women would ask for bagra, mungi, chakdariya.” He is rattling off the names of different Baiga sarees, each with a unique weave pattern. Panikas used to receive grains or other essential commodities in return for the sarees they made.

“The bond between us and the Baigas has been there from the very beginning,” he says. “From the time this universe came into being. In those days, whenever we went to the market to sell cloth, the entire stock vanished in 10 minutes. Even the sheets that Baigas used to cover themselves in were made by us then."

The villages had a strong system of self-governance (naar vyavastha) and the communities believed in the concept of village commons. Within that worldview everything in nature as well as in the lives of people was interconnected. An adverse impact on one was to affect all. “A village’s head was called mukaddam. There was no hierarchy in our society at that time. But now things have changed a lot,” says Sunil Das, in his 50s. He is part of the extended family of Nehru Das Ji.

Fewer people are interested in continuing traditional weaving today. There is more money in wage labour. “Weaving is demanding. This is handwork, it takes time. If two to three people in a family are busy weaving one saree for two days and if we sell that saree for 2,000 to 2,300 rupees, how will we even recover the labour? You tell me how we will manage,” ask Sunil Das.

Nehru Das Ji’s diminishing eyesight and advancing age have made weaving a challenge for him and his wife now. Many in the family like Sunil Das’s uncle Gangu Das, about 65, has started incorporating other items in addition to weaving traditional sarees. “He makes kurtas, pyjamas and other kinds of cotton sarees according to customer demand, and earns a little more. The Baigas have stopped wearing the traditional sarees like before and so the craft is suffering,” says Sunil Das.

The government has tried introducing frame looms in place of traditional pit looms (built into the ground) in the region. “With the new looms we can make between 15 to 20 sarees when three people work as a team for a month. As against the two-three sarees that we can weave on a pit loom in the same time. The government helps us with the loom and trains us,” says Sunil Das, who also uses a frame loom. But 30,000 rupees for three in a month is still one third of what they would make as construction labourers in the city.

“Under the Ajivika scheme the government gives 10,000 rupees, once every six months. They even help with the yarn, the loom, and access to the market. But even then, we cannot make enough from weaving. We do not benefit from these,” says Gangu Das who has tried taking the traditional weave to the world outside. He has had his stall at government exhibitions.

The way ahead has to be through a government textile college, according to Sunil Das. He has four children. One of his unmarried daughters is in college and his son studies in Class 11. He dreams of sending him to a college to learn new weaving techniques that can help the family business.

“Kabir Sahib is like our god. This work is his grace.” There is clarity in Nehru Das Ji’s voice when speaking of the legendary poet. “It’s his blessings on our parents and our ancestors that we are still doing and will keep doing this work. If they stop wearing the sarees we make, we will weave for ourselves. But we shall continue to weave.”

The photos of the sarees in the story are taken by the weaver Sunil Das himself.

This story is originally reported in Hindi.

This story is supported by a fellowship from Mrinalini Mukherjee Foundation (MMF).