By Jahnvi Sreedhar
Photography: Courtesy World Wide
Web
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A two-hour drive and hundred-odd kilometers from Ahmedabad, is a
precocious weaving town, Pattan. This north Gujarat town is the house of one of
India’s finest hand-woven saris. IAnD finds out what makes these saris special
and what lies ahead for this art…
Weaving is one of India’s oldest and richest forms of art. G.K. Ghosh
and Sukla Ghosh, authors of Ikat Textiles
of India, talk about Patola as
one of the finest fabrics found in Gujarat. “Uniqueness of the design being it
is double ikat i.e. both warp and
weft are dyed and adjusted on the loom; therefore the design is extremely sharp
and prominent,” they write.
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Over a telecon with IAnD, one among the few remaining families,
who are preservers of this art, lament this indigenous art form being at the
brink of extinction. “Patola is
famous for its extremely delicate patterns woven with great precision and
clarity; it involves a lot of patience and hard-work, which sadly no one is ready
to do now,” says Vinayak K Salvi.
Another important quality of Patola
is that it is spun of pure silk only with natural
dyes. This practice lends itself to the famous proverb that prevails in Patola - "Padi Patole Bhat, Fate Pan Fite Nahi" meaning "The design laid down in Patola may tear but it shall never fade."
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The Patola is
surprisingly a male dominated craft. While women are part of the initial stage of
dying the threads; men do the weaving. Woven on a hand-operated harness loom
made of rosewood and bamboo strips, it’s an intensive and laborious process
that involves a high level of proficiency. A slight shift in the positioning of
the thread and the entire design is ruined! Furthermore, undoing it is not an
option.
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It takes 3 - 4 months to prepare the tie and dye design on
warp and weft threads for one 6-yards sari. It requires two craftsmen to do the
weaving and together they weave just about 8 - 9 inches per day. A simple sari may take up to 40 -
50 days and based on the intricacy of the design,
probably 5 - 6 months and 4 - 5 weavers to complete an elaborate design. An intriguing
secret is that different colours and patterns are matched exactly on horizontal and vertical threads while weaving; thus the
pattern evolves with each thread.
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Known as originally handcrafted, Patola
cloth is custom-made. Since so much labour and craftsmanship goes into the
making of this product, the cost of this double ikat cloth is extremely high. Only a handful of Indians are said to
be owners of a real Patola. Low cost
imitations have been experimented with and are quite popular to cater to the
masses.
Patola saris have been nominated to the list of “Intangible Cultural World
Heritage” promoted by UNESCO and government of India. The government has been
extending their support to preserve and promote this indigenous art form through
various awards and by issuing postal stamps as marks of appreciation and
encouragement. Among many, this art form has contributed significantly to place
India proudly on the world handicraft map.
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