Manipuri weaving: A part of their lives

The wind was blowing swiftly outside and his mom was calling out loudly. She said in a quavering tone, “Quickly go and pluck out the cotton from the cotton trees or else, the cotton will be blown away by the wind or get wet.” Little Lakshmikanto ran fast and climbed up the trees and brought back the cotton safely. There are several memories in his heart about Manipuri weaving and all these special memories go back to the 1970s. He witnessed for many years the artistic minds and the magical hands of Manipuri women.

Lakshmikanto told me that Manipuri weaving is a part of their daily life. This is their own culture and heritage. Manipuri women used to tie their infants to their backs and the thing they used for it was called `Ngambong’. When a woman gets pregnant her parents get her an ngambong.

The Manipuri people used many types of clothes. For example, their traditional dresses, towels, sarees, veils, shawls and etc. This is why Manipuri women were questioned before marriage on what type of clothes they could weave. Weaving clothes was an essential skill for women. During marriage one of the main gifts given by the parents was a spinning wheel.

The necessary clothes in a family were always woven by the women. Every house had about 4-5 Carpus cotton trees. The cotton contained a small black seed. By using a tool called ‘Kaptreng’, they would extract the seeds from the cotton. They also made this tool by using natural wood. The cotton was converted into yarn by using the spinning wheel. After this, the yarns were dyed naturally at home with a variety of colours. After lunch and dinner, the Manipuri women used to use the spinning wheel to make yarn and weave.

History says, at the end of the 18th century. The king of Manipur, Ghomvir Singh, came to Sylhet with thousands of tenants. Since then, they are maintaining the same culture as they did before. In their culture, there are two major aspects that they are very proud of. One is their weaving and the other one is their dance. In their culture, these two things are deeply connected. These major factors are done completely by women. Here, women are independent, industrious and self-dependent.

Thousands of years ago, in India, during the Moirang Empire, the weaving industry started its journey. Moirang is a word from the Manipuri vocabulary. Moirang is a special motive that is used in Manipuri clothes. This motive applies to sarees, veils, shawls and etc. In saree crosses and other clothes, triangular images are attached to one another. This is known as moirang. Nowadays a lot of people work on fake moirang designs to convince customers about it being real. For many years, moirang is not being implied artistically and correctly as it used to be. Moirang is woven with a thin and soft cotton yarn, which is costly. As people now, want to get moirang deigned clothes for a cheap price, the real type of moirang is woven less now.

To weave a Manipuri saree by using cotton yarn and following the correct steps, it is estimated if a weaver spends 5 hours a day, it would take them about 22 days. A weaver has to be paid 3200 taka. Adding the costs of yarn and other extra costs, it is estimated to 6000-6500 taka. On the other hand, to weave a synthetic Manipuri saree, takes 2 weavers about 2-3 days. The total cost of this is 700-800 taka. After selling the saree, both the weavers split the income among themselves.

During the mid-1990s, the crisis of the Manipuri weaving industry began. Working on this issue, a local organization called Ethnic Community Development Organization (EDCO). EDCO is saying that currently, the Manipuri weaving industry is in an identity crisis. In malls and in local shops, Manipuri-designed clothes and other things are not really hand-loomed by authentic weavers. Those are woven with synthetic yarns and made lightly, which is less expensive. By looking at those, people are being scammed. Our real Manipuri things are unique, beautiful and made specially. In 2013, to present it properly, we worked with Oxfam.

In this project, famous designer, Chandra Shekhar Shah lead this program, working alongside some professional authentic Manipuri weavers. During that time, they worked on their trademark Manipuri design. Oxfam provided them with their needs. At that time, they made some products and an exhibition was held at Krishibid Institute. Chandra Shekhar said, “I have worked with many designers in my 22 years as a designer, working as a designer myself.

The experience I have had while doing this has never happened anywhere else. In a short amount of time, some weavers have worked with efficiency and excellence, and by seeing this tears of joy rolled down my eyes. I felt proud after seeing their work. To lead this weaving industry forwards, everyone’s participation and cooperation are needed and the workings should be preserved. In this way, we can save the tradition”

Still, EDCO and other organizations could not successfully save the Manipuri weaving industry. Moreover, day by day it’s getting worse. What are the reasons behind it? Entrepreneurs have said “Nowadays, the work of Manipuris weaving industrial works are done by lesser amounts of

Manipuri families. They are learning how to read and write and are bringing in changes to their lifestyle. They do not like the idea of doing the type of work unlike their parents or grandparents did. They want job security and they feel safe doing a job rather than working in the weaving industry. They are moving to an updated lifestyle and have high ambitions in life. Negligence and inconsequence from the Manipuri tribe are leading towards the downfall of the weaving industry.

BISIC trains people to master the Manipuri way of weaving. Not only are they getting free training from them, they are also getting allowance from them. Female students from schools and colleges, train for this course but do not end up choosing hand looming as a career or passion. The women who are hand looming in the weaving industry, if they took this course then it would be helpful to them. So, if the trainees are right, the quality of the work will increase and the eagerness for hand looming in the industry. A wrong selection is done in the other hand looming industries and traditional products. This should be changed.

Currently, there is a demand for Manipuri handloom products, to sustain this the Muslim Manipuri people and the Bangladeshi society are working on it but these people do not know the authentic way of Manipuri weaving. Not only is Manipuri weaving a piece of cloth but has a heritage of Manipuri tradition, culture, art and religion.

For example, there is a certain measurement for Moirang design. Which should be done in an authentic process, they believe if it’s done in the right way it will grant them good luck. Another belief of theirs is that if they weave new clothes on Saturday or Tuesday it would bring them bad luck, so to avoid this they do not weave new clothes on these two specific days. They maintain some rules and regulations about their beliefs on weaving clothes. In the 1990s, Manipuri women used to follow all these rules and used cotton yarn to make clothes, now it’s on the verge of extinction.

Still, a few women are making authentic Manipuri products, and original Manipuri weavers are being fooled by vendors and are having a loss of profit. They are facing market crashes; this is a costly process and they do not get a reasonable price for their sales and this is the reason why they work normally. By this, Manipuri weaving is not able to retain its thousands of years of integrity.

Entrepreneurs are also saying that in the entire country, there is a huge demand for Manipuri sarees, shawls, three-piece, veils, towels and etc. In Narsingdi, these are made out of cheap material and sold at a small price. Even if all the Manipuri women meet the demands, they would still not be able to keep up with the numbers. But we are still not able to find weavers to weave the Manipuri products. In today’s modern society, women are not willing to work in the weaving industry, and this is a major problem. Their community is not giving importance to themselves. Maybe society gave less importance to them and they are upset about this. Additionally, there is no patronization of the state.

To keep an industry ongoing, there is a necessity for skilled craftsmen and an art-mined weaver. Other than this, capital marketing, market management and patronage are needed to sustain any industry. But who will work on this issue sincerely? The lack, neglect and indifference of these things can be seen in nourishing any divine industry in

our country.

Government patronage is essential to protect the Manipuri weaving industry. If necessary, they should be given loans.

The writer is a freelance contributor. She can be contacted [email protected]