Kosa Traditions
A
fter the British Raj when India got freedom, the
Government of India had a lot of issues and problems to solve and to make the country a developing Nation. One of the issues was definitely the re-establishment of the Handloom/ Handicraft sector of India. In the first five-year plan All India Handicrafts Board and All India Handloom Board were set up. Handicraft Design centres and Weavers Service Centres were set up to execute the new policies. The Central Cottage Industries Emporium became the main showcase of marketing the crafts; Handloom Houses across the country provided a platform to market the wide range of textiles from India including the silk saris. The Handicraft and Handloom Export Corporation was set up for centralized channelling of exports.
WEAVERS SERVICE CENTRE, RAIGARH During our visit to Champa and Chandrapur we were not able to see some of the old sari samples, Shri Ayaz Khan suggested us to visit the Weavers Service Centre at Raigarh, to see some of these samples. Weavers Service Centre Raigarh was established on November 1977. There we met Shri. O.P. Mishra who is the Superintendent Officer at WSC Raigarh. He informed us about the work that WSC does for the development of the Handloom and Handicraft sector. t
Design development is done by the art designer at the
Shri. O.P. Mishra talking to us at WSC, Raigarh
organisation. t
It works for the weaver’s and master craftsmen for making the pattern graphs. They use 8x8 graph papers.
process involves the study of the collections by the Raigarh's King and the assets under
t
Designs are taken by the weavers as samples at a nominal
Archaeological Department. He showed us some of the old designs and patterns of Tussar saris.
rate of Rs. 200/- for their own production.
(Refer photos in Chapter 8).
t
Their designs have no copyright it is open to all.
t
Services are open to all especially handloom sector.
woven in Chhattisgarh. He gave us information about Mae saris which is woven in Ambikapur
t
Enhancement and development of handloom is the main
and Jagdalpur by the Oraons. The width of this sari is 90 cm; the count of cotton used is 10’s
agenda.
or 20’s. Another sari made by the Oraons is called Panka which is cotton based 10’s count.
t
They keep workshops for weavers from time to time.
Weavers’ Service Centre, Raigarh targets the client group of decentralised and dispersed
t
Designing is done CAD and also manually
handloom sector of Chhattisgarh. It works as a friend and partner in progress of Handloom
t
They also do printing and develop blocks for the same.
At WSC we saw a range of blocks which were inspired by the Bastar art and bell metal craft of Chhattisgarh. Also, we 148
noticed a lot of art works done by the designers of Design Development Cell. Their design
Smriti Prasad Sneha Ghosh
We also looked at Bapta. He told us that apart from Tussar saris, cotton lugda is also
sector through skill and technological up-gradation and product development. The motto of WSC is well defined as Excellence, Facilitation and Promotion of handloom sector.