Delight in double weave

Ranjani Govind explores the fascinating history of the Ikat, in the wake of Pochampally being awarded the ‘Best World Tourism Village’ tag by UNWTO.

By now we are all fairly acquainted with the exceptional Ikat that Pochampally weavers magically weave in cotton and silk sarees and materials. The handloom weavers of the village of Pochampally (about 40 km from Hyderabad, in Telangana’s Yadadri Bhongir district) who create fabric with complex geometric designs, textures, and hues, not only have successfully weathered the power loom invasions but also have managed to get the Pochampally village the tag of Best World Tourism Village by the United Nations World Tourism Organisation.

But what is Ikat? In the Indonesian language, it means, ‘bind.’ It is a dyeing technique said to have originated from Indonesia for patterning textiles. It employs ‘resist dyeing’ on the yarns, prior to dyeing and weaving the fabric. This traditional method of dyeing textiles has a resist-technique used where one can prevent the dye from reaching the cloth, thereby creating a pattern.

“One single Pochampally saree requires silk threads running to approximately 15 kilometres! The stamp of Ikat textiles is in bringing an apparent blurriness to the design; this requires intensely skilled labour that has to have a precise line-up arrangement of the dyed yarns for the patterns to emerge flawlessly. Textile collectors have an eye for the blurriness; the more of it makes it classier and pricier,” Mallesham narrated in his TEDx talk. He has been credited with the invention of the Laxmi Asu Machine to mechanise and process yarn involved in Pochampally weaving, a major technological revolution for Pochampally weavers.

Many skilled Pochampally weavers boast of the ‘Double Ikat’ created by resist-dyeing both the warp and the weft prior to weaving. “When our warp and weft overlap to create common identical motifs, we call it double-Ikat, explains second-generation weaver Boga Balaiah who has taken the art of Pochampally-Ikat to another level.

But how are the weavers able to tackle the soaring prices of raw materials, cheap replicas, and power loom competitions? “We are in touch with half-a-dozen weavers and within the ambit of traditional Pochampally, we customise designs so that, as an arts revival boutique, we are able to give something inspirational to the customer and help the weaver take up innovative designs. This helps the weave become relevant to the present generation,” says Bharathy Harish of Madhurya Creations as she spreads a deep red and yellow Pochampally across to explain the imaginative piece. “The two-feet elephant interspersed amidst birds, animals, and flowers is a double-Ikat creation surrounded by various flora and fauna brought out in Pochampally’s geometrical identity. It has taken three months for a family of weavers to tell a story with this rich and intricate detailing,” adds Bharathy.

South-east Asian influences

Ikat is special because of its South-East Asian influences. “The intensive labour involved in producing the weaves has survived in Gujarat, Odisha, and the Andhra-Telangana regions. While Patan Patola (Gujarat) brings in nearly a dozen designs of flora and fauna including the Nari Kunj, Pochampally has mainly stuck to its geometric versions, although it has had fleeting romances with other design ideas from nature, thus diversifying its platter. The Cambodian interpretations that have moved on curiously have Ikat now with a Jacquard mix,” explains Padmaja Sakhamuri, Committee Member of the Crafts Council of Karnataka, and Convener, Vastrabharana.

Pochampally Ikat (prized in the range of Rs 6,000 to Rs 80,000) is characterised by its bold and colourful designs in cotton and silk. “One of the most famous Pochampally double-Ikat design is the Telia Rumal, which was originally used for head scarfs,” says Siva Devireddy, founder of GoCoop, a national award-winning online initiative to support weavers. GoCoop works with nearly 400 co-ops, weaver entrepreneurs, and craft-based organisations across India through its online marketplace and offline exhibitions. The World Tourism recognition tag is another milestone in their quest to see their weave gain global recognition.

Pochampally even inspired director Shyam Benegal to do a film on the life and times of the Indian handloom weavers in his 1987-flick Susman; he chose to portray the angst and struggle of the Ikat handloom weavers when power looms started their mass-production. “The richness of our weave has women politicians of our country preferring to wear our sarees. In 2003, Air India had ordered Pochampally sarees for their cabin crew for a couple of years and the Telangana government also presented a handloom silk saree to Donald Trump’s daughter, Ivanka Trump,” says Bharata Vasudev of the Pochampally Handloom Weaver’s Co-op Society.

Loom Chronicles is a monthly series on India’s diverse handlooms, their signature elements, and the history hidden within their folds.