Mahibul Hoque

Priti David

Editor

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In the days leading up to the
Assamese festival of Rongali Bihu, the clacking sounds of treadles and shuttles
hitting the wooden frames of a loom can be heard all over this neighbourhood. 



In a quiet lane in Bhellapara
neighbourhood, weaver Patney Deuri is busy at work on her handloom. She is
weaving endi gamusas at her home in Bajrajhar village.
They need to be ready in time for the Assamese new year, held around the month of April. 



But these are not just any gamusas. The 58-year-old is well known
for the intricate floral designs she can weave. “I have orders to finish 30 gamusas before Bihu, because people will
have to gift those to guests,” she says. Gamusas
– woven pieces of cloth measuring roughly a metre and half in length – have
great significance in Assamese culture. They are particularly in demand by
locals during festivals, the red threads giving it a festive air. 



“It is my passion to weave flowers into the
fabric. Whenever I see any flower, I can make that exact flower design on the
clothes I weave. I just have to see it once,” says Deuri, smiling proudly. The Deuri community are listed as Scheduled Tribe in Assam.

The weavers in this village in
Mazbat sub-division of Assam are part of the state’s 12.69 lakh handloom
households with over 12 lakh weavers – the <a href="https://ruralindiaonline.org/en/library/resource/fourth-all-india-handloom-census-2019-2020/">highest</a> for any state in
the country. Assam is also among the top states in the country producing
handloom products, especially silk in four varieties – eri, muga, mulberry and
tassar. 



Deuri uses eri (both cotton and
silk), also called ‘endi’ in the
local Bodo language. “I learnt weaving from my mother when I was young. Once I
learnt handling the loom on my own, I started weaving. Since then I have been
doing this work,” adds the master weaver. She can weave gamusas and fulam gamusas (Assamese
towels with floral designs on both sides), mekhela-chador
– a two-piece traditional Assamese dress for women) and endi chador (a large shawl).



To help with sales, in 1996, she set
up a self-help group (SHG). “When we founded Bhellapar Khudrasanchoy [small
savings] SHG, I started selling what I wove,” she says, proud of her
entrepreneurship. But it is the procuring of yarn that
weavers like Deuri feel is the real bottleneck in improved earnings. She says
buying yarn requires more capital money than she can afford, so she prefers to
work on commission where she gets the yarn from the shopkeepers or vendors and
is told what to make. “To make gamusas, I
will have to buy at least three kilos of yarn for the length and weft. A kilo
of endi costs Rs. 700. I cannot
afford to spend 2,100.” Traders give her yarn for 10 gamusas or three sarees together. “I work on that and complete it
as soon as possible,” she adds.



Madhobi Chaharia says she also slows down her
work as she cannot afford to stock up on yarn. She is Deuri’s neighbour, and is
dependent on others to buy yarn for the gamusas
she weaves. “My husband works as a daily labourer. Sometimes he gets work,
sometimes he doesn’t. In such situations, I cannot buy the yarn,” she tells
PARI.

Madhobi and Deuri’s situations are
not unusual: domestic weavers in the state all face this problem, says this
2020 <a href="https://www.jcreview.com/admin/Uploads/Files/61b5c75b27b581.75017242.pdf">report</a> by Dibrugarh
University which advocates interest-free loans and better credit facilities.
The lack of a strong working organisation among the women weavers has kept them
largely out of government schemes, health insurance, credit and market
linkages, it adds. 



“In three days I can complete one chadar,” Deuri adds. To make a
medium-size gamusa it takes a full
day of weaving and Deuri is paid a flat wage of Rs. 400 for every garment. The
price of an Assamese mekhela chador in
the market ranges between Rs. 5,000 to a few lakhs, but craftspeople like Deuri
only manage to earn around Rs. 6,000 to 8,000 a month.



Her earnings from weaving are not able to
sustain the family of seven – her husband Nabin Deuri, 66, and two children:
Rajoni, 34 and Rumi, 26, and the family of her late older son – so she also
works as a cook at a local lower primary school.

In Assam, almost all (11.79 lakh)
weavers are women, says the Fourth All India Handloom<a href="https://ruralindiaonline.org/en/library/resource/fourth-all-india-handloom-census-2019-2020/"> Census</a> (2019-2020), and
they must juggle home and weaving and some, like Deuri, also work in other
jobs. 



With multiple jobs to finish in a
day, Deuri’s day starts early – at 4 a.m. she seats herself on the bench in
front of the loom, its rusted legs placed on bricks for balance. “After working
till 7:30 to 8 a.m., I go to school [to cook]. On returning at around 2-3 p.m.,
I rest. By 4 p.m. I start again and continue till 10-11 p.m.” she says.



But it’s not only weaving. Deuri
must also ready the yarn, a physically demanding task. “You have to soak the
yarn, put it into starch and then dry it to strengthen the endi. I put two bamboo poles at two ends to spread the threads.
Once the thread is ready, I wrap them into the ra [warp beam]. Then you have to push the warp beam to the very end
of the loom. And then you run your hands and feet to weave,” she explains. 



Both the looms used by Deuri are traditional,
bought by her over three decades ago, she says. They have wooden frames mounted
on two poles of the areca nut tree; the peddles are made of bamboo. For
intricate designs, older weavers using traditional looms use thin bamboo strips
along with the midrib of a coconut palm leaf. They manually take the threads
through selected long-threads to make any design. To get the coloured threads
woven into the cloth, they have to weave the seri (thin bamboo slip) through
the vertical threads everytime after pushing the treadle. This a time-consuming
process and slows them down.

Although the Assam government’s <a href="https://eodb.assam.gov.in/resources/homePage/18/eodbnew/docs/Handloom%20Textiles.pdf">Handloom Policy</a>
adopted in 2017-2018 recognises that looms need to be upgraded and yarn made
more accessible, Deuri she says she has no financial support to go ahead. “I
have no connection with the handloom department. These looms are old and I have
not received any benefits from the department.” 



Unable to sustain weaving as a
livelihood, Taru Baruah from Hatigarh village of Udalguri district has left the
craft. “I was a pioneer in weaving. People used to come to me for mekhela chador and gamusas. But with competition from power looms and cheaper products
online, I am not weaving anymore,” says 51-year-old Taru, standing beside her
abandoned eri plantation which has no
silkworms now.



“I do not see people wearing
handmade clothes anymore. People mostly wear cheaper clothes made from
powerlooms. But I wear only homemade natural fabric clothes and I will continue
to weave for as long as I am alive,” says Deuri, as she continues pushing the
paddle to move the maaku (shuttle)
and design flowers on the Assamese towels she is masterfully creating. 



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

Assam’s gamusa weavers are in trouble

آسام کے گمچھا بنکروں کا ذریعہ معاش خطرے میں

కష్టాల్లో ఉన్న అస్సామ్ గామూసా నేతకారులు

சிரமத்தில் இருக்கும் அசாமின் கமுசா நெசவாளர்கள்

ਵਜੂਦ ਦੀ ਲੜਾਈ ਲੜਦੇ ਅਸਾਮ ਦੇ ਗਾਮੂਸਾ ਬੁਣਕਰ

ଦୁର୍ଦ୍ଦଶାରେ ଆସାମର ଗାମୁସା ବୁଣାକାର

അസമിലെ ഗമുസ നെയ്ത്തുകാരുടെ ദുരിതങ്ങൾ

ಸಂಕಷ್ಟದಲ್ಲಿ ಅಸ್ಸಾಮಿನ ಗಮುಸಾ ನೇಕಾರರು

असम: ख़तरे में पड़ गई है गमछा बुनकरों की आजीविका

નાણાંભીડમાં ફસાયા આસામના ગમછા વણકરો

मुस्किल मं परे असम के गामुसा बुनकर

संकट में बा गमछा बीने में माहिर मेहरारू लोग

মহাসংকটে অসমের গামছা তাঁতিরা

সমস্যাত ভুগিছে অসমৰ শিপিনী

Bajrajhar

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Assam’s gamusa weavers are in trouble

Handloom garments are essential to Assamese heritage and culture, and its largely women like Patney Deuri who are at the loom here, weaving furiously at festival time when demand rises. But the cycle of low wages and limited access to credit threatens this livelihood

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