Post Synopsis: The post talks about the life of a small weaver and the challenges faced by weavers in Pochampally from the inside. Through the post we have also tried to give insights into the process of making a saree and the organization of the weaving business in Pochampally. We hope it makes an interesting read for all of you who want to know about the famous weavers of Pochampally.

Narsimha is a resident of Pochampally and has been weaving for the past 32 years. The weaving business is extremely complicated. Itrquote not really a business, itrquote s an art. All this might sound clich’e9d but the truth is that like other weavers Narsimha learnt it from his father. Being engineers, in the week we spent at Pochampally, having visited tens of weavers we couldnrquote t figure out how exactly the tie-n-dying and weaving worked and we stood amazed as Narsimha showed us a graph paper with intricate designs drawn on it which he used as a template for his saree designs. For all those who arenrquote t aware, the Pochampally art of weaving is so famous because unlike the normally prepared dyed cloth which is woven first and then dyed, the Pochampally handloom products are woven from pre-dyed yarn. This means, the weaver must accurately dye the yarn (Silk or cotton) before loading it on the handloom such that the yarn is woven into the desired design. Itrquote s almost like assembling a saree one strand at a time; there is no room for error!

The process: The weaving process is divided into three major stages: Spinning the yarn, tie-n-dying of the spun yarn and finally the weaving. There is a lot of hard work that goes into it and a single saree takes a minimum of 5-7 days to complete. Most of the weavers work at home and on days when Narsimha works from home and not at the museum his family members help in the entire process. His wife, like the women is especially proactive when it comes to the yarn spinning while the dying is done by both the women and men while the final weaving is done entirely by the weaver.

 

A lady helps with the spinning and dying

For the detailed process illustration click HERE

The basic raw materials of a saree: The Silk makes up majority of the cost. Priced between INR 1700-2000/kg each saree would use around 600gms. The other constituents being Zari (Silver or Gold thread) and the coloring agent with both barely adding to the cost of the silk. The total raw material cost for a saree comes in at around INR 1300-1500. A recent increase in the raw material price has hit the weaver the most with his margin taking the hit further.

So having cleared the air about how complicated and unique the art it, lets move on to the basic structure in which the weavers work. The weavers are classified mainly into three categories:

• The employed weavers: This is the lowest level of the chain. These are skilled weavers who donrquote t own looms. They are generally employed by bigger weavers called Master Weavers or other weavers who own more looms than they can manage. These weavers are paid according to their skill and according to the number of units they produce. The designs for the sarees are given to him by his employer and his work is purely to execute the designs. They donrquote t work at their homes and hence they donrquote t receive any family support in terms of their work. Such weavers could easily earn around INR 2500-3000 a month if they meet their targets of around 8 sarees/45 days. The cost of the material is entirely incurred by his employer.

 

• The small weaver: Such a weaver would at best own around a couple of looms and would generally work with only a single shop and would earn as much as an employed weaver. The shop provides him with the design and the silk though he does have to purchase the zari and the color. The shops have the final say at the time of purchasing the saree from the weaver and generally any rebellion isnrquote t tolerated. This category makes up the majority of weavers and the production process described earlier best describes this category. In the life of a small weaver, like Narsimha, there are no Sundays and no other holidays really. His profits are purely based on the number of units produced and as a result he would work 7 days a week 365 days a year. It is appalling that with the remarkable skill these weavers own, they barely earn the minimum prescribed wages. Therefore, it isnrquote t surprising that Narsimha, like most of the small weavers we interviewed wished for their children to enter other professions.

 

• The master weaver: Originally, considered to be more skilled than the normal weaver, they received better money for their work and bought more handlooms. The master weaver would then employ several weavers under him who have been described as the employed weaver. The master weaver basically acts as a node between the shopkeeper and the weavers making it a convenient arrangement for the shopkeeper and ofcourse for himself while the employed weaver receives no appreciation of rewards for his work. Typically a master weaver would own atleast 10 looms and thus be employing as many weavers and ends up earning upto INR 15000/month. In most cases the master weaver is related to the weavers under him and as a result itrquote s much more than a professional relationship between him and the weavers under him. This is where the first level of partial specialization and mechanization (This comes in only at the dying stage and the weaving tool is principally the handloom) comes in. Generally the yarn spinning and the dying is done by a certain set of people while the weaving is done by the small weaver and as a result threatens to take away from the weaver his knowledge of all three major processes. Having lost his knowledge of the most important process, dying, the weaver is pushed into obscurity.

 

 

Narsimha, a weaver in action at the Live Museum

The weavers, though aware of their collective strength seem to have failed, in our opinion, to capitalize on their skill an numbers for a several reasons. We will cover them in detail in the next blog posts.

parThe fact is that a saree that is sold for upto INR 8000 in an upscale metropolis in India or for several hundred Dollars/Euros somewhere in the western world fetches its maker merely INR 2000-2200 (Including the material costs of around INR 1500). If you have any doubts about the demand of this handloom product, let me share with you a few figures. The annual sale of handloom products runs into several 100 Crores just from the Nalgonda district (To which Pochampally belongs). Also recently there has been an INR 50 Crore handloom park project setup that runs 2000 looms, a private-public-partnership, to cater purely to export needs. We will discuss the handloom park project in detail in a later post. And ofcourse the fact that the GI that the art has achieved (For an independent read on the art and the GI click HERE).

Our mentor at Akshara had told us: “ Looking at these people work so hard you feel guilty about the salaries you receive and the lifestyle you lead” and boy was he right!