With her back bent, eyes fixed on the shafts, hands rhythmically changing the heddles and her feet firmly pressing on the pedals of a pit loom, Rajeswaramma (59) spent most of over 30 years of her life weaving cloth in a dim-lit handloom maker’s hut in Pedana.
But now, with age catching up with her and persistent knee pain, she cannot sit for as long as she used to. This has got her worried. With her children all married, leaving for Vijayawada in search of better opportunities and her husband an invalid, she has no one who can continue weaving at her 30-year-old pit loom after she retires. So, she has decided to sell the loom in two years.
Almost all the houses have a pit loom in her colony at Pedana, a small weavers’ town near Machilipatnam in the Krishna district.
4,000 weavers families
“There are approximately 4,000 families engaged in weaving using pit looms in Pedana. In most families, youngsters have left for greener pastures leaving behind their ageing parents,” says S. Raghunandan, Assistant Director of Krishna district, Department of Handlooms and Textiles.
“Sadly, there will not be anyone after me to take up weaving after I retire,” says Ms. Rajeswaramma.
“There are approximately 4,000 families engaged in weaving using pit looms in Pedana. In most families, youngsters have left for greener pastures leaving behind their ageing parents”S. RaghunandanAssistant Director of Krishna district, Department of Handlooms and Textiles
The skill of weaving was taught to her by her husband, who learnt it from his father. But they must still pass on their skill set to their four children. “They were never interested in weaving,” says Rajeswaramma, who depends on the income earned to run her house of two.
₹250 for 8 hrs of weaving
“I sit eight hours a day these days to reach the target of at least 12 sarees a month,” she says. She is paid ₹250 to ₹300 by the master weaver for weaving a saree, which she takes two days to complete.
Her neighbour K.K. Subrahmanyam (63), says youngsters wish to seek jobs elsewhere because there is no future here.
“We get ₹7,000-8,000 a month for weaving 12-13 sarees. From this meagre sum, we have to buy groceries, educate our children and set aside some of it for use during the rainy season when we can’t work on the loom. Many of us are saddled with debts” K.K. SubrahmanyamWeaver, Pedana
“We get ₹7,000-8,000 a month for weaving 12-13 sarees. From this meagre sum, we have to buy groceries, educate our children and set aside some of it for use during the rainy season when we can’t work on the loom. Many of us are saddled with debts,” says Mr. Subrahmanyam, who began using the loom at 15 years of age. His family has been in the profession for as long as he can remember.
“Now, we are the last generation in our family to be working on looms,“ says the weaver whose son works in a bank.
Weaving cloth requires the contribution of all family members. “But no matter how many are involved, the amount paid per saree is not more than ₹300-₹400. Some, like Rajeswaramma, get lesser than this. How can our children benefit from this?” he asks.
‘More needs to be done’
While they thank the State government for extending financial aid of ₹24,000 per year under the Nethanna Nestham scheme, they say more needs to be done.
Besides, pit looms are prone to damage every time it rains, and weavers must spend a lot on restoring them. In Odisha, pits were concreted to prevent seepage in monsoon. “But here, given the town’s proximity to the sea (Pedana is 15 km from Manginapudi beach), it is impossible to concrete pits here,” the official said.
How the system works
Raw materials, costing around ₹20,000 per month, required for weaving a saree are given to them by a master weaver. He comes every month, hands them the material and takes back the finished product once they are done. The master weaver then sells the saree for not less than ₹1,200 in the markets of Mangalagiri.
“Only if we were more educated and had access to easy loans, we need not depend on master weavers for selling our products. Getting raw materials and hiring labour is difficult when you do not have money. We do not dare ask the master weaver for a raise. We know we do not get a due pay for the work we put in. We know the master weaver earns more profits than we do. But who will listen to an individual worker? There is no progress here,” Mr. Subrahmanyam says.
Pitchuka Srinivas, known for promoting Kalamkari art, recalls that the weavers’ community was going well until 15 years back. “The town was full of handlooms in my childhood. Later, with education becoming more accessible, many youngsters left for higher studies. While it is a good, few returned to work on the looms. The government should bring in initiatives so that people do not have to look for jobs elsewhere,” he says, lamenting that handloom weaving might become a thing of the past at Pedana in another 15 years.
Awareness should be raised of the importance of traditional handloom weaving. “One pays $1,500 for a one-hour weaving course in Australia. But handloom hubs here are a sorry state of affairs.
