Powerloom threat looms large over Mangalagiri weavers in Andhra Pradesh

Inadequate wages, a dearth of youngsters taking up the profession and the stiff competition from powerlooms mar the once glorious traditional Mangalagiri weavers’ craft

At the outset, Ratnalacheruru, a village near Mangalagiri in Guntur district, seems like a quiet place. It is 12 p.m., and except for occasional whistles from pressure cookers and chattering of men and women, the village seems to be wrapped in an all-encompassing silence. However, as one goes further inside the road that connects the National Highway-16 and the village, one can hear a faint hum of the looms and tunes of an old familiar song.

Following the song takes one to the ‘bazaar’, a cluster of four to five worksheds. There are around 15 such sheds in Ratnalacheruvu. While the number of looms in every shed is not the same, every shed has more than 10 units.

The sheds, made by placing wooden logs loosely together, are a source of livelihood for many weavers who do not own a loom. The master weavers provide them with raw materials, and the weavers have to give the finished project in a time-bound manner.

Playing old S.P. Balasubrahmanyam songs loudly in the background so that the music does not drown in the chugging hum of the 23 looms, 60-year-old Venkateswara Rao and other weavers work with intense concentration. Heads bent over the pit loom, the weavers pulled the thread of the loom, giving life to the fabric.

Mangalagiri sarees are pure cotton fabrics, with the zari sourced from Surat in Gujarat. They are characterised by a lack of designs or ‘buttis’ on the body. The ‘Nizam’ border is unique to Mangalagiri sarees.

Mangalagiri’s connection with weaving goes back a long way. In her thesis, submitted to the University of Hyderabad for a Doctorate of Philosophy in History, P. Swarnalatha explains how important weaving was in the 18th century and why looms were confined to a few regions, including Mangalagiri.

The thesis, ‘The World of the Weaver in the Northern Coromandel, 1750-1850,’ was later converted into a book.