Khadi: Reviving the heritage

Khadija Farhana

The survival of khadi and the subsequent rise in its recognition is worth mentioning both in terms of tradition and economy. Khadi has been very much an ingredient of our life and fashion, and in its hundreds of years of survival it holds the history of the people's evolution. From the economic point of view, khadi's growing recognition and acceptance by the people since early nineties has kept our local weaving industry somehow surviving while the market was flooded with Indian goods. However, in the last fifteen years or so, local fashion houses have succeeded not only in bringing khadi back into the mainstream of clothing business - but, more specifically, utilizing the originality of khadi they have transformed khadi into fashion wear.
   Khadi or khaddar refers to miscellanies of coarse cotton cloth, which have been hand woven using hand spun yarn. Peasants and artisans in pre-industrial India always wore Khadi that had been made from locally grown organic cotton, harvested by local labourers, spun into thread by their womenfolk and woven into cloth by men from various specialist weaving castes. The exact technology involved in the production of Khadi would vary from region to region, as would the techniques used for its decoration (dyeing, embroidery, printing etc). It is a versatile fabric, cool in the summer and warm in the winter. However, being a cruder form of material, it screws up much faster than other preparations of cotton. In order to improve the look, khadi is often starched to have a stiffer shape. It is widely accepted in fashion circles.
   
   Gandhi and khadi
   The first true Indian designer was Mahatma Gandhi when he recommended to the people of India to wear khadi garments. It was not only an identity to elevate self reliance but a call to wear something that could establish the unity of India. Khadi was given the central stage by Gandhi after his return from South Africa.
   While in search of the charkha Gandhi felt that for a nation to turn self-reliant, it had to revisit to indigenous manufactured goods. Gandhi wrote: Swaraj (self-rule) without swadeshi (country made goods) is a lifeless corpse and if Swadeshi is the soul of Swaraj, khadi is the essence of swedeshi. Consequently, khadi became not only a symbol of revolution and resistance but part of an Indian uniqueness. Gandhi acknowledged: "When I first discovered the spinning wheel it was entirely through perception. It was not backed by knowledge so much so that I confused charkha with kargha (handloom). These two forms of fabrics have always confused people. While khadi is hand made, handloom yarn is processed in the mills".
   
   Historical legacy
   Comilla has been playing a significant part in producing woven crafts since the days of the Mughals. There were numerous weavers in the Tripura state during the 17th century. The 1890 Tripura Gazetteer notifies us that a woven craft existed in the area which employed thirteen thousand men and two thousand women weavers. Among them most were Hindu in religion and came from Mainamoti, Chandina, Gauripur, Nobinagar, Kalikachha, Dhamti and Borkamta. Brightly colored lungies in check design as well as sarees and gamchhas were made in Mainamoti. These cost between taka two and five in the currency of that time.
   The weavers from Shorail, Kalikachha and Nabinagar used to make very good quality dhuties and bed sheets. These used to cost from taka two to five a pair depending on their quality. Woven craft was mainly concentrated within the areas of Mainamoti, Muradnagar, Gauripur and Chandina. These weavers who had been practising this craft for generations were apt in this field long before the craft became famous in Europe. Even when the demand for material imported from London and Manchester was high, the demand for material woven within the country remained unaffected. Apparels of modern design were made from the posh imported material whereas the everyday clothing of the people of the country, such as lungies, duties and sarees were made from our own material.
   Mahatma Gandhi's exemplary principles and protests against foreign cloth inspired the beginning of Khadi work in Comilla. In the year1920-21 Mahatma Gandhi came to Chandina for inspiring the weavers and he himself taught them the handling of Charka. A branch of the Nikhil Bharat Tantubai Samiti was founded in Comilla which supported to promote the exceptional products of the Khadi industry in Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai. After the partition of India in 1947, Khadi work was almost on its way to extinction due to various changes in the political and social environments. Comilla also suffered because of changes. As a result about 5000 spinners in several thanas of Tripura district were thrown out of their part-time employment. Though Abhoy Asram, comilla tried their best to keep the programme alive, but its organizational capacity was found to be inadequate to cope with the demand of such a large number of spinners.
   
   Akhter Hamid Khan
   After the language movement of 1952, Dr. Akhter Hamid Khan, who was a Professor of Victoria College and the Director of the Bangladesh Academy of Rural Development, Comilla, along with the then Governor Firoz Khan Noon established "The Khadi and Cottage Industries Association". The objectives of the association has been stated in the by law as to encourage and provide facilities to produce and manufacture Khadi and other cottage crafts like tanning, pottery and sericulture etc and to arrange sale and marketing there.
   Akther Hamid Khan in his report for the first quarter (from October 1, 1956 to December 31,1956) mentioned that the aim of the association was to revive and encourage cottage industries by providing trained workers to organize production of Khadi. Another objective of the association was to educate and organize the village artisans to form various types of artisan cooperative for their self- improvement.
   Mr. Khan received three Amber charkas with one trained operator as donation from Indian government in 1957 and took up a small project on an experimental basis for six months with the donated charkas. The purpose of the experiment was to ascertain the productive capacity and the cost of production and the quality of cloth produced with Amber yarn. The result was encouraging and later on the Small Industries Corporation approved a scheme of Rs. 3.5 lakhs and imported 400 Amber charkas from India. The charkas were handed over to the Khadi association but later on they were given to the women's programme of the academy for propagation of Amber spinning among the village women.
   On the other hand, some weavers of Comilla region had played an important role to produce and promote khadi in our country; among them Shoilen Guho is considered as one of the pioneers of the Khadi creations and was known as Khadibabu. Shoilen was so influenced by the craft that he used to gather the thread from surrounding villages and spin and sell his own cloth and spent a lot of time in his own village Chandina, Comilla to promote Khadi as well as to instruct and educate the locals in the art of spinning. His business expanded, as there was a boom in the demand, and he started supplying his products to Calcutta. After his death in 1995 his eldest son Arun Guho has been continuing his father's dream to protect our heritage by improving the Khadi to make it more attractive and acceptable to all classes of people. A few names that must be mentioned when speaking of Khaddar art of this region are Prabodh Das, Noni Saha, Taruni Mohan Raha, Dinesh Babu, Manmohan Dutta, Shantosh Dutta, Samar Majumdar, Swapan Majumdar, Bahar Mia, Jairam Shaha, Prodip Kumar Datta and Shankar Babu .
   (More next week)

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Faraha Nawaz

Bangladesh is my dear motherland. I love my country from the core of my heart. But my heart bleeds when I see my beloved country is in danger. The Pilkhana tragedy shocked me profoundly as I think that those senior army officers were great assets of our country. We have lost those great sons of our motherland suddenly. It is obviously a great tragedy for many families in particular and for the nation in general.
   The Bangladesh Army was formed during the Bangladesh Liberation War. The core mission of Bangladesh Army is to protect the nation's territorial integrity against external forces.
   
   Army officers rank 2nd in UNPSO
   The Bangladesh Army has been actively and admirably working in a number of United Nations Peace Support Operations (UNPSO) since its formation.
   It is great achievement for Bangladesh was ranked second in terms of its contribution to United Nations Peace Keeping Operations. Now Bangladesh Army is one of the top foreign currency earners for the country. Over the years we have lost more than sixty-four Bangladesh soldiers in different Peacekeeping Missions of the UN.
   Senior Bangladesh military officers work as commanders and liaison officers at UN Peacekeeping Missions may be seen as further recognition of the Bangladesh Army's growing esteem in the peacekeeping community. Our army officers have earned international appreciation for their outstanding contribution in UN Peacekeeping Missions.
   Bangladesh Military is assisted and supported by our paramilitary force, Bangladesh Rifles, whose primary duty is to guard the borders.
   But they don't have officers of their own. Highly capable commissioned Army officers are posted for a certain period of time on deputation. The BDR jawans may have disappointment in performing their activities --- but how could they kill their own officers?
   It is learnt that officers regard their subordinate jawans of the BDR as their sons or younger brothers. There could be some other hidden agenda in this tragedy that needs to be brought to light. The aftermaths of their death are too many.
   It is evident that sovereignty is the key indicator of an independent country. Our armed forces are appointed in order to ensure overall security of our motherland. They always work to save our country from external forces or enemies.
   
   Leadership crisis in army
   The deaths of top level army officers are a great loss for Bangladesh and it has caused serious leadership crisis in our defence forces. Our enemies may take advantage of our crisis. During the past 38 years the successive Governments had to spend a huge amount of money for their basic training and further education in command and management.
   Their deaths have caused serious shortage of officers in our defence establishment. The Bangladesh Army, like any other defence force, is a disciplined and well-trained national institution trained and dedicated for national defence and security. It would take long time and huge resources to train new officers.
   
   Killers' real motive
   Pilkhana tragedy made us thunderstruck. As conscious citizens we need to know everything regarding the actual killers and their real motive of this killing. Is there any outside force involved in this heinous crime? We need to know. Proper investigation and right judgment are highly desirable to find out the truth behind this carnage. It involves a core question and that concerns the very existence of our country. We all need to be concerned about it.

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