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66 years after Independence, a powerful symbol of self-reliance, industry and determination still reta ins its followers and admirers, find

RAJNI ANAND LUTHRA and SHERYL DIXIT

dtfter trying his hand at Mahatma Gandhi's cheris h ed spi n ning w h ee l at the Sabarmati Ashram, Arnitab h Bac.hchan, one of India's best loved film personalities, w rote that 'peace and serenity' descended upon h im There \Vas never a stronge r modern advocate of the cause of using this simp le, yet highly sym bolic piece of equi pmen t.

Gan dhi hin1self had said of the spinning wheel, "Take to spinning to find peace of mind. The music of the wheel will be as b alm co your soul. I believe that the yarn we sp in is capable of m e n ding the broken warp a n d woof of our life".

Many symbols epi tomise India's independence from Br itish rule, b~it the 'charkhc/ or spinning wheel is perhaps one of tbe most power ful signs of the valu es and asp irations of Indi a's people of the ti.me.

The wheel of history

The legacy of the spinnin g wheel is an ancie n t one, h ailing back to the traditional role of women in Indian society. Wo m en would spin as p art of their daily routine, which wo uld often become a social activity as they spun in groups and rook the opportunity to socialise as weU Cotton and silk fibres were generaUy sp Lm on the rharkha, into c.loth o r rugs. The charkha was generaJ.ly included as part of a bride's dowry, when she left her father's home for that of her husba nd.

British imperialism at its worst

Durii1g the colonisation o f India, the British realised tha t growing cotton was a cash crop that could enri ch the ir coffers. Co tton was grown in India, then harvested and sh ipped to Bri t ain by the co lonialists, where it was woven and spun into cloth. This was then shipped back to India and sold at unaffordable prices.

Natural.ly, Mahatma Gandhi opposed this b latantly unfair practice and propagated tl1e concept of weaving homespun c.loth on charkha in India, and wearing tl1is ii1 defiance of th e price of English - made cloth. He made spinning o n the charkha a symbol of ilie passive resistance movement in India, through this seemi_ngly mild, yet powerful activity.

The homesplm cloth was cal.led 'khaddm' o r 'khadt', meaning ' r ough'. Always one co lead by examp le, Gandhij i began spinning his own khadi on a cbarkha, and through his rnAuence, thousands of Indians took to the spinning wheel, dealing a severe economic blow to the British.

Swadeshi self-sufficiency

The entire network of cotton g rowers and pickers, weave rs, carders, distributors and charkha makers benefitted from tlus rno,, ement that represented self- sufficiency and interdependence on themselves as a comrnrnucy Khadi embod ied the dignity of labour, equality, unity a n d independence, as India rook con u-ol of her in digenous industries. le employed millions from smvii1g of cotton seeds to spinning the final c.loth, to creating an outfi t; it provided the b asic need of clotl1ing for th e population, also creating a feeling of patriotic pride in the product. indeed, Nehru called khadi 'the livery of our freedom'.

Besides h elping local business, this gesture heralded t he start of a nascent 'be lnruan, buy Indian' movement, as Indians began boycotting foreign goods and choosing locaJ.ly produced ones instead. T his was a significan t boost to Indi a's Aeclgling eco n omy The 'sm1desbl (homegrown) movement had taken root, and was here to stay.

More than a message

Al tl1ough it's li kely Gandhiji began the ch,11khc1 movement to make a statement to tl1e colonialists, he soon discovered the merit ii1 spinnii1g, as i t aided him in silent meditation. It is recorded that he found tl1e action of the spinning wheel soorb.ing and pleasing to the psyche Gandlu ji spent many an hour p lacidly spinni ng on his charkha, engulfed in the sile nce of his own thoughts To ta.ke this concept to the masses, Gandluj i al so spun in public. It is said tl1at since the traditional chm kha was bulky and difficult co move, Gandluji held a contest co design a charkha tha t woLtld be compact, portable and easy to afford. The winner was me box design of the chark.ha, and history recounts that tl1e accelerator wheel was his idea Also, the role of spinning chat was traditionaJ.ly associated wim women, morphed into an activity that could be performed with ease and relatively pleasing results by men too.

Embedded in Independence

So powerful was the infl u ence of the charkh,1, that tl1e first d esigns of the Indian flag created inclLtcled the tra ditional spinning ,vbeel, a symbol of self-refoince. However, a few clays before India became independent, a specially constituted Constimenc Assemb ly decided that the Aag of India must be acceptable to al.I parties and c ommuniti es, and the co lour schem e, saffron, white a.nd green \Vere chosen for the three bands, representing courage and sacrifice, peace and truth, and faith and chivalry respectively. The charkha was replaced by the Ashoka chaknt, representing the eternal wheel of law

The Rag of lndia is only allowed to be made from khadi, although in practice many Rag manufacturers, especially those outside of Tndia, ignore this rule. Some Indian currency has a charkha on it and even political parties use the cbarkha as their symbo l ro d enote the ir patriotism.

Iconic image

The black -and-wh ite image (above left) of Gandhi wich his spinning wheel tbat has become an iconic image of the Mahatma, was taken by American phocographer Margaret Bourke- White in 1946, and published in Ufa magazine in 1948. Margaret Bourke- \Xi'hice said lacer, "It would be impossibl e to exaggera te the reverence in wh ich (Gandhi's) 'own personal spinning wheel' is held in the ashram".

In notes accompanyi ng the .image, Bourke -White observed, " (Gandhi) spin s eve r y day for 1 hour, beginning usu al ly at 4. All members of h is ashram muse sp in. He and his foUowers encourage everyone to spin Even M. B- W was encouraged to lay (aside) her camera to spin \'Vhen l remarked that bod1 photography and spinning were handicrafts, d1ey told me serio usly, 'The greater of me rwo is spinning.' Spinning is raised co the h eights almost of a religion with Gandhi and his followers. The spinning whee l is sort of an ikon (sic) co ilie111. Spuming i s a cure all, and is spoke n of in terms of the highest poetry".

Even though some of Gandhi's contempo rari es did not understand his obsession wich the sp inning wheel (Rabindranath Tagore d1ought the chm-kha and khadi movemem were akin to a cult) , ic ca nnot be d e nied that i t became an agent of change, by heralding d1e Sll'adeshi ed10s, recognising d1e dignity of labour, bringing in social and economic upliftment, and importantly, unifying t he Indian masses against a common t h reat.

Modern mission

The charkha remams an icon of me swadeshi movement, and despice economic, u1dusrrial, political and social change, h as never lost irs populari ty Homespun kbadi is still in demand despite mechanisation of the production process, a nd the cbarkha is stiJJ used to create wo nderful, rare and uniqlle pieces of cloth ing, rugs or other decor. Charkha spinners are soug h t after for thei r trade which, while not as aggressively promoted since t he past 66 years, still retains its followers and admirers. Indeed, some are found here in Australia, keeping alive the legac y of the spinning w heel. Gandbi ji's charkha a nd alJ that it embodies stiJJ lives on as a symbo l of resilience, selfreliance and stren gth in a changing world.

The charkha in Australia 's Indian community \':(/e may have the impression that the cl1t1rkha is indigenous co India and ics

(Below) colonial history, but ic certainly made its presence felt through expone nts of the art.

For Dr Nana Badve, a much - loved member of Sydney'.s Marathi community a nd the RAIN seniors group, the charkha ·was a lifelo n g passion until he passed away in 2010. H e worked in the textiles industry for most of his Life, and there is little doubt that it was his early introd uction ro the char-kha at just 12, chat inEluenced bis career choice.

His daughter Swari Lele remembers fondly, ''T he foLmder member of the Spinners and Weaver s Guild in Australia, the late Mrs Pat McMahon asked my dad i f he would demonstrate tl, e use of the chark.ba. This was the begin ning of a rewarding journey for h im as he conducted man y workshops over 25 years around Melbourne, Brisbane, Newcas tl e, the B lue Mountains, Gosford and Sydney In J anuary 1989, he was a spec ial invitee to the Melbourne Craft convention where he held a large workshop on spinning"

Nana's wife Sarojin.i Badve was always b y his side, and a helper at the workshops. Nana not only owned many sp inning wheels, but also sourced some 100 charkha.s

Guru l ru1ak used it as a metaphor for life's exigen c ies

This year's Teeyat1 festival in Sydney is coming up sho rtly, ru1d once again, V irinde r Grewal's cherished cht1rkha will get a good wo r kout.

The Powerhouse Museum

Another rhr1rk.ha sits i n state at the P owerhou se MuseLUJ1 in Sydney. A prized boxed charkha dating fro m the 1060s, it was donated by a fabri c sp inner of many rears Accompan ying documen t atio n claims a friend bought the item in Bombay for $4 00 and presen ted it to the donor as a gift. The donor approached d1e museum to see if it would acquire cbe artifact, and the gift was gladly received from India for spinners here.

T he Mahatma a dvocated the Lise of the chrnkha as a spirin1al act, ,vith t he hope that its inherent attribute of fostering sel fsufficienC)' wo u ld alleviate poverty and bcing about much -needed soci al upliftmen t. And i ndeed, histor y proves tl1at it did! This intended message of d1e ,hmkha, to become self- reliw r and to live m ore local and com mun al lives as a means of resisting che g lobalis ing power of corporations, i s p erhaps even more relevru1t today d1a n it was in Gandhi's time. It i s hoped that d1e cbmkha will continue to inspire generations to c o m e throLigh its message of h ope, humility and pe rseverance.

Born in 1929 to a famil y m uch in flue n ced by t he Mahatma, young Nana was encouraged co spe nd so m e ti me spi nning daily, like others in the family. He fu:st l earnt to spin cotton on a spindle, called takali. le was hard not co fee l drawn coward s the political str uggle of the times.

"He stayed at Gandhiji -led ashrams and got involved in the movement for lndependence," Sarojin.i reveals. '1n bis early childhood, he enrolled himself as a vo lLmteer at youth o r g ani satio n s and was a member till almos t 1950 He atte nd ed many meetings ad dressed by Gand h iji and his contemporaries" ln fact, wi th his charkha, I an a reminded many here of the great man bin1self. Sudha Nararajan, a c lose frien d from the RAIN group, recalls, "Nana would often quote Gandhi: ' Live ;imp(y, so thaJ othu:, l!Jtl:) .rimp(y live'. These words ring so true today in these times of wastefu l exa:avagance Nana would insist that we need to simplify our lives.

Followi n g in Ga nd hi j i's footsteps, Nana even visited several Indian v illages, where he encouraged the use of the chr1rkhtl'

Towards the end of his life, ana would often pl)' the cl1r1rk,ha for bis RAIN friends

''\'v'hen he passed away, we m ad e sure to display his favourite charkha during his memot;al service," Sru:ojini says. " His woven poru-ait of Mal1atma Gandhi, which he made as part of his Bachelor's degree in 1952, h as now been donated to the Cavalry Hospital in Sydney. It hangs in d1e foyer there"

And a cha rkha contest!

The charkha makes a regular appearru1ce at one specific annual event h ere in Austra lia. The Teeyru1 festival held in the Prn1jabi communities of Sydney ru1d Melbourne i s doing its bit to keep the age -o ld tradition alive. Organised b y the Indian \Xlomen's CLiltural Associatio n of Australia, chis festival, celebrated primarily by women, strives to provide a 'culmral r enaissance' for of PLmjabi heritage now settled here. It was l aunched in 2005 b y Harpal Kaur, Virind er Grewal and Amandeep Grewal.

"Arts, crafts, music, poetry and dance are all packaged in to a day- long affair, wi tl1 presentations and in a variety of categories," Harpal Kaur says.

O n e c o nrest invo lves the art of wo rking cbe rharkha. The o rganisation owns four spec iall y created Pw1jabi style charkha flown in fro m India, ,vhich are brought out for e ach year's event.

"\V/e provide the pa r ticipants with cotton pm1is (ro Us of carded c ormn) w hich they have to sp in into thread," exp lains Harpal.

JLidges note the time taken to spin me yarn, as weU as the qualit y of the final produc t; t11e finer the thread , the better the quality

Harpal Kaur says, "O ur attempt is really to re con n ect to our r oots by having the older members of our comm uni ty den1onstrate o ur traditional arts and craft, and to encourage t11e yoLmge r members to cry their band ar tl1e u-adicional charkha"

A nmnber of young women have given the charkl1r1 a go at the a nnual Teeyan festival. While it may not bear much significance to their dail y lives, tl1eir g rru1dmothers in tl1eir day, would probably have been judged b y their prowess at the ir ch111khr1 abilities. For d1em, it was an important skill of 'cultured living', ru1d girls of 'good upbringing' ,vere expec ted to be adept at it

Over the ages, the chat-k.h,1 pervaded many aspects of t11e cul tural life o f P1mjabis. Philos o phers and p oets from Bu1Je Shah to