The Hindu Business Line : The shuttling looms of Maheshwar

MAHESHWAR sarees, woven mostly by women of Maheshwar village, have an understated classicism like the deep and quietly flowing Narmada river, on which the village rests.

Worked on handlooms, the sarees with a plain, soft coloured body, have a trademark border and pallu, setting them apart from the Paithani, Potla, Kancheepuram and the rest. Quoting in the price range of Rs 3,000 to Rs 8,000 per piece, modern-day Maheshwar sarees are a blend of 80-120 counts cotton yarn and fine silk yarn though in ancient times, they were of pure cotton with the weave carrying a distinctly Maharashtrian style.

The handlooms are 48 inches in size with silk yarn bought from Bangalore and Benares used on warp and super fine cotton yarn from Coimbatore inserted on the weft.

"The mix gives the soft and elegant feel," says Narendra Kumar Pandya, additional general manager, Rehwa Society. A three hour car run takes one from Indore to Maheshwar village where the Rehwa Society, started by Richard Holkar and his ex-wife, Sally (Shalini Holkar), some 30 years ago, has kept going an art substantially traceable to designs first set on looms by weavers in the regime of Ahilyabhai Holkar around 1760.

The Rehwa Society is located in the killa (Fort) from which Ahilyabhai Holkar ruled the Holkar state, a territory extending up to Indore. The killa made of stone and mortar has two parts: The Palace, where Richard Holkar stays, when in the village and the two-storied administration building entirely resting on black-coloured, beams and columns made from Central Province (C.P.) teak and mortar. The pleasing fact about Rehwa Society, its around 250 weavers (majority women including widows from all communities and religions) and 110 looms is the airy layout. The clickety-clack of fly shuttles speeding from end-to-end as the weavers pull at overhanging white threads is calmed by the winds off the Narmada river ventilating the open air premises.

At one unit, the looms are spread out around an open courtyard with a neem tree at the centre whose trunk one cannot hug with both hands. Other units are equally well-lighted with windows opening into wide spaces providing some relief to the workers. The Fort, basically a Mughal structure linked to Akbar's times, has some of the finest and aged neem trees with squirrels as important denizens, running up and down.

We don't use synthetics at all, says Pandya elaborating on the individuality of the Maheshwar tradition. After World War I, silk yarn creeped into an all-cotton fabric. On either side, the border has a width of 2.5 inches and the designs are geometrical squares and triangles. Pallu is made separately on dobby looms and not jacquard looms. Most of all is the impact of the cool air coming in from the Narmada waters possibly preventing yarn breakages. Sarees form about 50 per cent of the production with the rest being dress materials and chunni. The total turnover at Rehwa Society is about Rs 1.5 crore per annum.

Having set the pace over the years, there are about 1,500 looms in Maheshwar owned by the villagers and the total turnover could be around Rs 40 crore to Rs 50 crore per annum, adds Pandya. Shailendra Singh, the human mobile of Richard Holkar, admits to products from Rehwa Society commanding a premium of 40 per cent to 80 per cent over the market price as it includes the social cost of maintaining the total staff of 300 with weavers getting a fair deal.

A brochure of the Madhya Pradesh Tourism Corporation describes the Maheshwari saree as one which has a plain body and sometimes stripes or checks in several variations. The mat ordered designs have a wide range in leaf and floral patterns. The pallu is particularly distinctive with 5 strips, 3 coloured and two white alternating, running along its width. It has a reversible border known as bugdi.

At some time in the past, even gold threads were weaved in, but that tradition seems to have gone. Yet an ordinary customer will find it hard to separate the Maheshwari from the Paithani and the Potla sarees and Shruti Phagre from the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad agrees.

Perhaps the credit for the premium products should go to the women weavers who enjoy flexi times to fit in domestic schedules. S.C. Mittal, general manager, Rehwa Society, admits to the work force enjoying PF, gratuity and bonus over weekly wages tied to outputs delivered. Tuesdays are closed, being the weekly haat (market) day for Maheshwar, with payments made on Mondays.

Wages range between Rs 400-500 per week to Rs 900 and sometimes more. There are incentives strung, in which come to about 10 per cent to 15 per cent of basic wages if the warp target is met without defects.

As free add-ons, the Rehwa Society provides housing loans of Rs 30,000 with a loom attached for a family to earn a bit more on the side. For breast-fed children, there are creches and free schooling till Class VI with a class added every year, according to Mittal.

Manoramabai Kishore has been with Rehwa for the last 10 years and has three daughters going to school. Her husband is a tailor and she does not carry her work home, as none knows to operate a loom.

She has had a two-term training of six months and a year each. "Sukhi hain par thak jaathe hain (we are happy but the work is tiring)," she says with a drop of a smile and operating a handloom strains the back and shoulders while the hands pull the fly shuttle end-to-end.

One has also to be alert about the threading as a wrong thread could change the weave. "Gulti hua tho maloom pad jaata hai. Aur beech mein hum log vishram lethe hain (We know when a mistake occurs and then one can always take some rest)," she admits.

Chandrabai has been from 1979 and at the age of 55 has married off her 5 daughters, while Anarbai has logged in 25 years with her two girls married.

A point forcefully made by Pandya, Singh and Mittal is the flow effect on Maheshwar village after Rehwa Society. Years ago, weavers had started leaving the village for Surat and other places and the looms lay still. At one time merchants sold a variant styled Indori. Today, the looms at Maheshwar are shuttling.

The Rehwa Society has retail outlets in New Delhi and Mumbai, while others depend on private trade. For now, the weavers are back at Maheshwar.

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