Indigenous weavers showcase Karbi handloom to promote cultural heritage

KARBI ANGLONG: Assam’s leading biodiversity conservation organization Aaranyak, Community-Based enterprise Pirbi, Chandrasing Rongpi Memorial High School and local communities, in collaboration with Orient, Guwahati, organized a vibrant Karbi Handloom Exhibition on Wednesday at Chandrasing Rongpi Village, Kohora, Karbi Anglong.

The Karbis are one of the significant ethnic communities of Assam, with strong cultural tradition and cultural ethos towards nature stewardship. Their handloom practices are one of the signifiers and metaphors of the Karbi cultural system and represent the Karbi community. Karbi women are proud weavers as they weave their own attire and also for the family. The purpose of the exhibition was to showcase traditional Karbi handloom products weaved by the women of the Kohora and Diring area, and to identify weavers and assess their product for quality improvement, product diversification and subsequently plan for capacity building and market linkage of suitable products.

“As many as 49 Karbi weavers from ten villages of Kohora and Diring area of Karbi Anglong with up to 300 pieces of artistic handloom items participated in the exhibition. In addition, a group of three expert Karbi indigenous weavers from around Diphu also joined the event to demonstrate their special Eri silk (Hon-ki in Karbi) products as well as skills associated with it. Kave Engtipi, Sang-et Killingpi and Mirbon Teronpi demonstrated various traditional handloomproducts using Eri silk and also skills of Eri textile spinning using both traditional drop spindle method and modern tabletop spinning machine. The local weavers expressed their happiness to observe such skills and also expressed their desire to adopt those skills,” Aaranyak stated in a press release.

During the inauguration ceremony, Sashikala Hansepi, an entrepreneur and a renowned Karbi singer, officially cut the ribbon on the exhibition in front of other dignitaries and attendees, including members of the Karbi community of the host village and nearby villages as well as traditional attire connoisseurs from the area. She addressed about the intricate relationship of the Karbis and nature which are reflected upon the different motifs and design of the Karbi handloom and textiles. “The Karbi community has a rich handloom and textile tradition,” said Sashikala. “Every occasion calls for a different set of attire, starting with different age groups, gender and social customs and status in a Karbi society and these are identified through different motifs and textiles design,” she added.

The exhibits were evaluated for its representation of cultural values through motifs, quality and type of threads, quality of the products and also about knowledge of the weavers about various motifs and their uses by a number of evaluators.

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