From the Himalayas to the Kanyakumari, this is India, the best in the world, my country. From the desert in the west to the seven sisters in east, it would take many lives, to know and understand my country in the least.
Indian handloom goods are known across the world for their striking designs and exquisite craftsmanship. The northeast area of India is a compelling cultural patchwork rich in tradition and wildlife. The linguistic variety, as well as different traditions and heritage, are represented in handloom goods from the Northeast.
Each state has a centuries-old handloom heritage that teaches how to weave colorful, beautiful, and intricate handloom patterns. Northeast goods have magnificent designs and patterns that symbolize each state’s cultural identity.
Each tribe in the Northeast Indian states excelled at weaving. It is one-of-a-kind in terms of ginning, spinning, and weaving techniques. Nevertheless of whether it is used to meet fundamental clothing needs, for a formal event, or as an ornamental piece, hand-woven textiles serve a significant role in constructing colonial and artistic individuality, practices, and atmospheres.
The hill people weave on tiny ‘loin looms.’ Some Brahmaputra Valley tribes, including the Dimasa Kachari, Bodo Kachari, and Mishings, utilize a type of ‘fly-shuttle loom.’
Let’s dive into each state’s handloom heritage.
Arunachal Pradesh
Arunachal Pradesh, which literally means “land of dawn-lit mountains,” is India’s most eastern state. Arunachal Pradesh’s culture is really multifarious since the state is home to 26 major tribes and sub-tribes. Each tribe has its own set of traditions and customs. Colorful festivals define Arunachal’s cultural lifestyle. Because agriculture is the backbone here, people typically celebrate festivals as a way of thanking the Almighty for a bountiful crop. These festivities also highlight the various tribe’s creative abilities.
Northeast Handloom goods not only have strong, historic roots in Arunachal Pradesh’s exceptional artistry but also colors and patterns have profound importance for several tribes.
Arunachal Pradesh’s 20 tribes and 100 sub-tribes exhibit a strong sense of color and design via their vivid craft heritage, which includes carpet making, masks, painted wood containers, bamboo and cane crafts, woodcarvings, and jewelry crafts. They can also make a variety of items out of goat hair, ivory, and boar’s tufa.
Textile designs seen among Arunachal Pradesh tribes such as Adi, Mishmi, and Apatani are always geometric. Zig-zag lines and geometric patterns are the most common motifs. The floral and Zemorphic motifs are geometric in nature. The most popular patterns are basic and straight lines, stripes, Aa bands, and similar other designs. Contrasts and color combinations are quite popular. The extremely disciplined Adi and Apatani focus on basic straight lines, whilst the strongly individualized Mishmis celebrate pattern.
Manipur
Manipur is a major contributor to the commerce and cottage industries, making it a necessary employment for the state.
Manipur is well-known for its unique textiles such as moiraingphee, leirum, lasingphee, and phanek. Tribal textiles are made on a loin-loom, a form of back-strap loom used among hill people. A reasonable length and width warp is made and secured at one end to a house wall or two permanent poles, while the other is linked to the weaver’s waist with a cotton or leather belt. The belt is sometimes made from cane or bamboo. Weaving is a global skill, and every female knows how to do it. Her dowry includes the loom. Women weave solely for personal use, whereas males engage in highly organized commercial weaving.
Manipur’s craftsmen create stunning cloth embroidery influenced by Indian heritage and Vaishnavism. Manipur handicrafts include a variety of Kouna items, beautiful weaving and wood carving, sturdy bell metal bowls, cane and bamboo, mats made of spongy reeds, and Longpi ceramics.
Assam
Assamese textile designs have traditionally been inspired by the epics and Mother Nature, with significant geometrical/ floral motifs made in vivid hues for ethnic clothing. Brindavani textiles were the most well-known traditional Assamese fabrics, with patterns portraying many avatars of the God Vishnu. Kimkhwab, Boro diamond, Ohol jonberi, Cosa sazia, Miri, and Hatipati patterns are now utilized for ethnic textiles and include geometrical, floral, nature-inspired, and traditional festivals. With the application of jacquard fitted looms, the evolution of traditional textile design in the dominating handloom industry has been observed throughout a couple of decades after Indian independence. The region’s major traditional clothes are Mekhla-Chadar, dhoti-kurta, dokhna, sarees, riha, and japi, all of which make extensive use of indigenous Assamese patterns for fabric decoration.
Assam, the birthplace of true Northeast Handloom goods, specializes in a variety of arts and crafts, including cane and bamboo works, sitalpith, brass and bell metal works, ivory, woodwork, shola pith, pottery, and fiber craft.
Assam’s Northeast Handloom goods are world-renowned for their Eri, Muga, and Paat fabrics, which represent Assam’s uniqueness and tribal traditions.
Meghalaya
Meghalaya, despite its tiny size, is the home of three historic hill communities, the Khasi, Jaintias, and Garos, and is a country of great natural beauty. Cane and bamboo craftsmanship, creative weaving, and woodcarving are all significant crafts. Weaving is the traditional activity of Garo women, and it is now practiced by nearly every household. Cotton textile manufacturing is mostly limited to dakmanda, which is worn from the waist to a bit below the knee. Shirting, bedcovers, bed sheets, and tablecloths are also woven by the Garos. The texture and durability of Meghalaya’s endi silk are legendary.
Weaving can commence as soon as the first fruit of the fresh rice is consumed. The loom used in Meghalaya is fascinating to watch in action. The loom is a simple back strap one with a continuous horizontal warp made up of six sticks that serve as warp beams, lease rods, healing sticks, beating swords, and additional warp beams. To begin establishing the loom, the warp beam is firmly connected to the house wall or any other acceptable type of support in a horizontal position. Two loops of bark string are put onto this. The length of the loops is adjusted from a previously woven piece of fabric, and they are put at a distance apart equal to a little more than the breadth of the piece of cloth to be woven.
The bottom bar or cloth beam has notches on both ends to allow the weaving belt to be connected to it. The operator wears this belt at the small of her back. She can retain the appropriate tension on the warp by sitting on a low seat in front of the loom with her feet pushing on a sturdy support. The woman maintains the appropriate tension by sitting with the belt (Aphi) in the small of her back, attached to a bar from which the warp (kotong) flows to the beam, which is securely linked either to the house’s well or stakes planted in the ground. The heddle, lease rod, and bar above the lease rod, around which the warp is originally wound. The shuttle is fired by hand, and the weft is pounded up with wax or a very fine white powder obtained on the bottom of a kind of wild plantation’s leaves.
The patterns in the fabric are created by combining different colored threads in the warp and weft. Weaving specimens from Meghalaya’s many districts provide a diverse variety and quantity of objects that, as pieces of priceless treasures, demonstrate a high level of design and processing. Wrappers and shawls, waistcloths and bodices, girdles, scarfs, skirts, aprons, and lungis are among the various costumes and apparel, each with its own fashion and style. A skilled weaver needs roughly 10 hours to complete the simple strip, or 30 hours to weave a whole fabric.
Mizoram
Mizoram is known for its beautiful highlands and dense bamboo forests, as well as its rich customs and culture. Weaving is an important component of Mizo culture, bamboo and cane handicrafts, woodwork, and metal kitchenware are also important.
Women are primarily responsible for weaving elegant “Puan” (clothes) patterns that depict traditional culture. Puan is a Mizo term for cloth that is decorated with exquisite needlework in the shape of a stripe or an arrow. Both men and women typically wear a Puan, reflecting the colorful culture.
Nagaland
The traditional occupation and art of Nagaland are weaving clothes. Nagaland Shawls (Naga Shawls) – are the most prominent items of Naga dressing. Every major tribe of Nagaland has its own unique shawl pattern that depicts its unparalleled design and color.
The warrior shawl of the Ao tribe is called the Tsungkotepsu. This shawl generally contains the figures of a tiger, elephant, Mithun, human head, cock, Dao, and spear. Another warrior shawl is the Sangtam Rongsu, shawl of the Santam tribe. There is a red & yellow colored shawl for Angamis which is called Lohe.
Some of the other Naga shawls are – Kaksi nei, Silang nei, Tobu nei, Yimchunger, Aneak & Mokhok khim etc.
Tripura
Tripura is a well-known name in the Northeast Handloom goods industry, noted for vertical and horizontal stripes with dispersed embroidery in various colors. Bamboo screens, lamp stands, tablemats, Shital Pati (or sital pati and sittal pati), woodcarving, silver decorations, and brass and bell metal are popular Tripura handcraft products.
The simplicity of Tripura’s weaves and products is represented in Risa, one of the most popular apparel items on the international market. The Tripuri indigenous tribes’ devoted and meticulous workmanship gives them a distinct character and global renown.
References
Khneng Embroidery: Meghalaya’s weave of beauty – INNFINITY
Fabric Tour Of India – Get To Know All The Unique Handloom Heritage (fashionlady.in)
Weaves Of Northeast India – Textile Magazine, Textile News, Apparel News, Fashion News (textilevaluechain.in)
Naga Shawls – the Colours of North-East – OK! North East | Adventure, Travel, Explore North-East India (oknortheast.com)
