In Hyderabad, a tribute to artisans who steadfastly held on to their craft

Master weaver Gajam Govardhan has set up a small museum in Hyderabad to showcase the craft and the skill handed down over generations

Fashion shows create an illusion that designers can exist without the help of creators of fabric. Changing this narrative is Gajam Govardhan, a master weaver from Puttapaka village in Telangana, who has brought the battle to Hyderabad. He has set up a small museum in Hyderabad to showcase the craft and the skill handed down over generations. The museum is in a warren of lanes in the Dilsukhnagar area of the city.

The museum is a tribute to artisans who have steadfastly held on to their craft in the wake of destruction wrought by industrialisation, powerlooms and synthetic dyes. The museum has weaves created by Govardhan and his family members over the years, a library of books that detail the fabric traditions of India, clothes woven using similar styles from other parts of the world, hierloom designs, and a small loom to give an idea of the work of weavers. Govardhan and his family has been creating Telia Rumals for nearly 100 years and have breathed life into a dying dyeing style, weave and pattern. The name Telia Rumal comes from oiled kerchiefs. 

The kerchiefs are used to cover the head in Gulf countries where the hint of oil in the cloth keeps the fabric cool. But before that, the handkerchiefs were gifts for lovers. One of the more famous serial lovers to write about the cloth was Casanova: “ Au moment du départ, mon Esther me fit présent de cinquante chemises de la plus belle toile de hollande et de cinquante mouchoirs de Mazulipatan (At the time of departure, my Esther gave me a present of fifty shirts of the finest Dutch linen and fifty Mazulipatan handkerchiefs).” How he might have used the handkerchiefs can best be left to imagination.

“The yarn is soaked in sheep dung for 17 days and castor oil kernels for 21 days before it is ready for dyeing,” says Govardhan sharing the secret about the cloth that’s claimed to be cool during summer and warm during winter. The yarn is one story, but how it is woven into a cloth is a lesson in perspective. Imagine a world in squares. In pixels. It is as if the Oxford checks came to India, flirted, danced and multiplied to become a riot of colours. One of the largest pieces he has created is a cotton spread that is 81 inches by 71 inches framed by a six-inch border of madder colour. “Created in 1983, for the Festival of India that travelled the world, the spread created a global buzz for the fabric and people started coming to Puttapaka to see the process and buy cloth,” says  Govardhan wearing a blindingly white sharply tailored shirt and trousers.

He has worked with Suraiya Hasan. While Suraiya Hasan is credited with reviving Malkha and other fabrics, Govardhan has breathed life into Telia Rumal by imagining the pattern on saris, dress materials, carpets and wall hangings. He has showcased his work on the global stage. 

“This is an old tradition but nearly died out in Chirala. I started work on this in 1972. I began with rumals then I used the rumal design and weaving method to create saris, dupattas, stoles, curtain cloth and bedspreads,” he informs.

The museum couldn’t have come up at a more appropriate time. “Children of weavers are emigrating to the U.S. and Australia. Young men who continue to weave cloth find it difficult to get brides. Parents want to get their girls married only if the man is working and not weaving,” says Govardhan.