Tripura: Traditional indigenous attire primary source of income for people of Taranagar

Agartala: Located on the outskirts of the capital city Agartala, Taranagar is a small hamlet of Bengali weavers in West Tripura district that stands as a glaring example of the pristine cultural diversity of Tripura. Even though all the weavers in this village belong to the majority Bengali community, their primary source of income comes from the traditional tribal attires such as 'Risha' and 'Rignai'.

Both the traditional garments are an integral part of Tripura's cultural identity and rich heritage, which is why these were accorded the Geographical Indication tag earlier this year. According to the weavers of the village, they had started weaving tribal garments such as Risha and Rignai for the last six to seven years as the demand for the product skyrocketed. Kamala Sarkar, a weaver from the village said that 'Risha' and 'Rignai' are in high demand after the BJP government came to power.

"For the last 30 years, we have been in this business of handloom. For the last six to seven years, we have started weaving Risha and Rignai as well. Even though these are primarily tribal clothes, we started weaving these garments after the BJP government came to power. The government purchase orders for Risha have also been substantially enhanced," she explained.

According to Sarkar, since they are selling most of their products in the open market which is full of competition, the prices of the products have taken a dip in recent days.

"Earlier, we used to get good prices but in recent times the prices are lying a bit low because of the open market competition. If the demands were generated through the village-level cluster organisations, we would have fetched better prices. If the prices of the products improve, we could have made better profit margins," Sarkar pointed out. Another weaver Santi Das claimed that 80 per cent of the state's total production of the Risha is contributed by Taranagar village.

"We mainly weave Risha, bed sheets, and bandages for the government hospitals. For the last 20 years, I have been in this profession and nowadays Risha has become the most selling product of this village," he said.

On being asked about their production, he said, "One handloom can easily produce 10 Rishas a day. More than 300 pieces are produced every month. Most of our products go to the open market but Purbasha (the state government body for handloom products) also issues purchase orders at regular intervals. So far my knowledge goes, around 80 per cent of the state's total production of Risha comes from Mohanpur area." (ANI)

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