Have you ever wondered what are the reasons that bring tourists to a town or a city? If a city is not situated in the most scenic places like that of a coastal city or a hill station, then what can attract travellers to explore it? Jaipur is one such city. It appears on the map of international tourist destinations for its forts and grandeur of the past – the Nahargarh fort, the City Palace, Albert Hall museum, and a village set-up called Chokhi Dhani in the urban heart. But there is one more thing, and that is shopping. The old city, which is called the walled city as it is surrounded by a thick wall built by the rulers for protection sake, is a thriving market place, with buyers from all over the world, especially when the temperatures are not breaking all previous records. The most-wanted items are bandhni (also called bandhej) products, which are clothing items. The process through which this cloth is made is called tie and dye.
Rajasthan is famous for its tie and dye products. The same industry can be found not only in other states of India like Gujarat and Uttaranchal, but also in countries like Japan and Pakistan. But as Rajasthan happens to be the place of origin of a particular style of tie and dye, there is an added attraction among the connoisseurs. Bandhej and leheria are two distinct methods of tie and dye. The clothing ranges from salwar kameez, kurta pajama, sarees, dupattas, to stoles, skirts and tops. The material can be used for other purposes too. A lot of designer wear is available in the market. Once the cloth is ready with the design on it, it can be cut and used for a variety of purposes. There are many varieties – shibbori, ghatchola etc. Every piece of bandhej is unique, as the same pattern cannot be repeated as it is. To give an idea of the range – the cotton suit length begins from Rs 350 and goes up to Rs 2,000 without any additional work. Mirror work on it adds to the amount. Silk products are much more costly and can cost upto few lakhs at times.
The process
The whole process of tie and dye is quite interesting and is an evidence of the ingenuinity of human beings in infusing colours on clothes when there were no machines, not even the basic ones. This method of designer dying is nearly 5,000 years old. It is an extremely time-consuming work and asks for a lot of patience before the whole piece is ready. The steps are called (in order) likai, bandhai, tipai, bani lagana, laddu bandhna and rangna. For bandhni grains of pulses, are tied on the cloth with thread, one at a time. Then the dye is applied, thus leaving the portion under thread in original shade of the cloth. Different permutations and combinations of this process are applied, with dying the cloth multiple times, to arrive at a pattern. For leheriya (drives name from leher, meaning wave), the cloth is tied with threads and then dyed. A pattern resembling waves appears on the cloth. From the final product the thread has to be removed. A small-looking piece of cloth unfolds itself into a saree with a riot of colours on it.
Many designers mix and match these styles with other forms and make designer clothing. These patterns can be produced on cotton as well as silk. There are many new kinds of clothes available, like glazed cotton, which are in fashion and are extensively used for tie and dye.
Community work
“Tie and dye artists are khandani (family legacy). They are mostly Muslims residing in various parts of the state, most importantly Sikar. They belong to sub-communities called nilgarand chhipa. Tie and dye is the primary work that these communities do and hence derive their names also form the work of dying,” informs Kailash. He is manager of the handicrafts Emporium situated at the prime location of Amber fort in Jaipur. A particular section of the emporium is devoted to bandhej products. He is also involved with the production process and acts as a middleman between the customers and the workers.
“Traditionally some Muslim communities have been involved in the industry of tie and dye. We do not receive any formal training. Just being involved with the family work from the childhood and learning it in the process is good enough to master the art. I know in and out of this work – from the first act of choosing the size of grain to the last act of final dying. I do not think any particular training is a must,” says Iqbal, resident of Hasanpura village and co-owner of a business of bandhej.
He further adds that there is no rigid rule which says that only a particular community will do this job. It is more of a matter of convenience. He gives instance of a young artisan from some other village and religion, who worked in his factory for a year and then opened his own business which is running successfully now.
Ninety per cent of the work of tying the knots with thread and grain is done by women – mostly from rural areas, but some of them also from urban areas. They do the work at home after finishing household chores. This is seen as an added income to the family. This also empowers them to a certain extent.
Colour patterns
One area where tie and dye fails, compared to other types of clothes, is colours. There are two major shortcomings – one that the colours are not fast, and the other that the choice is very limited. “Vegetable dye is costly and we use it only on order,” says Kailash. “We mostly use direct colours. This creates problem in using deep colours. Silicate is used to make the colours fast,” informs Iqbal. Despite all their efforts the colour problem does not seem to be solving for these people.
Hurdles
The old craft faces many hurdles in the new environment. These troubles are due to a multiplicity of factors. The machine-made cloth poses the biggest challenge. The same motifs can be printed in factories, though they are too neat to be even close to hand-made product. The haziness around the basic design marks the beauty of the work. Nonetheless, as machine-made cloth is far cheaper, it has more buyers. As it is not a highly profit-making business for the artisan and the dyer, much research and development on usage of colours is not possible. Thus, the colours remain very limited to choose from. As they are not fast, there is less credibility associated with the cloth. Although these shortcomings are sorted out to an extent in silk products, but then the cheaper cotton bandhej still has to suffer!
Insensitive industrialisation is also taking its toll. “Water is used at every stage of dying from mixing colours to washing the piece in the end. Good quality water is crucial for superior attractive colours. Even costly dyes do not help in case water is not of high quality. The water in our locality became hard once the industry for producing nuts and bearings came up. Factory water polluted the ground water. Our business started to suffer as other people were producing better colours. Now we get water from another village. Tonnes of water is used everyday and it is a very costly affair for us. We drink the tap water but get outside water for the business,” Iqbal narrated his tale. In fact, for the last wash, the artisans are getting Bisleri water!
The hurdles also come in the form of conservative mindset. There seems to be a resistance to change traditional print and colours to suit modern needs. “Tie and dye is traditional art. It will remain traditional. Modernising it will be a problem and will lead to dilution of its ethnic flavour. It will also be a problem to train artisans into newer patterns,” says Kailash. But Iqbal disagrees. “We need to be innovative and there are regular new creations. It is we who set the latest trend, as we are most proficient in this field. But I do not think a formal training is needed for this.”
This argument might be true as far as the technicalities and basic design is concerned. But to be creative and producing stuff to keep up with the everyday changing demands of customers, one definitely needs to know more about fashion and designing. Adaptation to newer patterns is taking place in big designer houses. Famous designers and brands make extensive use of these motifs. But the benefits do not reach to the lower level due to self-imposed restraint.
Melting opportunities
The financial meltdown has affected the whole handicrafts business of Rajasthan, in which textiles are also badly hit. Around 1,000 handicraft units have been closed down, many of them being of tie and dye workers. This has happened largely due to bad performance of the export sector, due to the recession in buyer countries like the US and some European nations. “The sales have been reduced by 60 per cent this time if we compare these to the same season last year. Luxury items are badly hit. The season for tourists is about to get over and we did not see many footfalls in our showroom,” says an unhappy Kailash. I was a witness to his plight. I was sitting in his showroom on a Sunday afternoon in March, a month when many tourists throng the streets of Jaipur before it gets too hot in the subsequent months, and there was not a single buyer in his famous handicraft shop. The lights and fans in the showroom were switched off and were put on only when I entered. The desperation of cost cutting was just too visible!
Making it economic
Tie and dye is a labour-intensive work, as are most of the handicrafts. This puts its products on the costlier side. But then there are ways to reduce the cost. As the cost of materials used can’t be cut down, the labour has to pay, by asking for lesser amount for a tedious job. “I get Rs 10 a day or Rs 60 for tying a whole saree. Of course the amount is different for different kind of work and different cloth on which it is to be done. But this is the average rate,” says a worker from Hasanpura village who can’t find a job though she needs to contribute to her family income. She adds, “It is better to earn less than to not earn at all.” It is astonishing that somebody’s unemployment keeps the market price of bandhej low!
The way out
Having said that, what is the way out? The government should increase the amount it is investing to bail out export hit industries due to economic slowdown. Specific cases should be looked into and the industries which are indirectly affected by the crisis also need to be provided good enough benefit. The employers of bandhej workers should be provided some relief which can be extended to the workers too.
From the long-term perspective, the subsidies for tie and dye industry should be increased. This industry is a major source of employment to large tracts of Rajasthan. Village after village one will find people engaged in this work alone. There is a lot of potential to improve working conditions and wages to the workers. The government should work toward preserving the art and maintaining employment rate in this field. With unemployment rates on a steady rise in the country, workers leaving this work too will be quite unproductive for the economy.
This work should be promoted and tourists visiting India should be encouraged to buy bandhni products. At famous tourist destinations in Rajasthan, an artificial factory can be created which can showcase the process of making bandhej. This will help in sensitising the buyers about the amount of hard work put in to making of each piece and help them understand why it is costlier than many other clothing designs.
Bandhni dresses look beautiful. It is amazing what a grain can do!
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