Kotpad Handloom is a vegetable-dyed fabric woven by the tribal weavers of the Mirgan community of

Kotpad Kotpad is a town and a notified area committee in Koraput district in the Indian state of Odisha. Nearest railway station to Kotpad is Kotpad Road station which is a part of East Coast railway. Kotpad is famous for Saree and Handloom products. ...

village in

Koraput district Koraput is a district of India in southern Odisha, with headquarters at Koraput. The district is located in the Eastern Ghats and is known for its hilly terrain, rich and diverse types of mineral deposits and its tribal culture and traditions. Th ...

Odisha Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of ...

, India.

Cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus ''Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor perce ...

sarees with solid border and Pata Anchal, duppatta with typical Buties / motifs, Scolrfs on cotton,

silk Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoons. The best-known silk is obtained from the coc ...

, handloom stoles, and dress materials are all dyed with organic dyes. The natural dye is manufactured from the

aul An aul (; ce, oil; russian: аул) is a type of fortified village or town found throughout the Caucasus mountains and Soviet Central Asia, Central Asia. The word itself is of Turkic origin and simply means ''village'' in many Turkic language ...

tree grown in this area. The Kotpad tussar silk saree with tribal art and Kotpad

handloom A loom is a device used to weave cloth and tapestry. The basic purpose of any loom is to hold the warp threads under tension to facilitate the interweaving of the weft threads. The precise shape of the loom and its mechanics may vary, but t ...

fabrics with natural color is its specialty. Kotpad handloom fabric is the first item from Odisha that received the Geographical Indication of India tag, in 2005. The Mirgan community of Kotpad is famous for their exquisite organic dyed textile. They usually weave this textile for "Bhotada", "Dharua" and other motifs of their neighboring tribal communities. Recently,

Biswanath Rath Biswanath Rath is an Indian film director, screenwriter, editor and producer. His films have received awards and recognitions in a total of 366 International Film Festivals. He is the founder of production company BnR Films LLP. Work His fir ...

, an Indian Writer-Director, has made an English Documentary titled 'Kotpad Weaving : The Story of a Race Against Time' about Kotpad Handloom, dyeing and weaving which has been produced by PSBT in association with

Doordarshan Doordarshan (abbreviated as DD; Hindi: , ) is an Indian public service broadcaster founded by the Government of India, owned by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and one of Prasar Bharati's two divisions. One of India's largest bro ...

. This documentary was telecasted on DD National on 24 March 2018. The film explores the uniqueness of Kotpad Handloom, the issues and possible solutions for revival of Kotpad Weaving and Dyeing. In 2018, Gobardhan Panika, one of the master weavers of the craft, was honored by the Government of India with the fourth highest civilian honor of the

Padma Shri Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, ...

Raw materials

Cotton yarn, Tussar silk and Aul tree roots are the main materials used for textile work. Using organic dye is the most important aspect of these textile products. It takes approximately 15 to 30 days for processing the color and dyeing threads into different colors. The main colors extracted are black and maroon. Sarees and shawls are the most important and attractive textile products from the Kotpad weaving community. The textiles are very comfortable to wear during summer and winter.

Natural dye colour

The characteristics of natural dye colouring are derived from the aul tree or

madder ''Rubia'' is the type genus of the Rubiaceae family of flowering plants, which also contains coffee. It contains around 80 species of perennial scrambling or climbing herbs and subshrubs native to the Old World. The genus and its best-known spe ...

dye (''

Morinda citrifolia ''Morinda citrifolia'' is a fruit-bearing tree in the coffee family, Rubiaceae. Its native range extends across Southeast Asia and Australasia, and was spread across the Pacific by Polynesian sailors. The species is now cultivated throughout th ...

'') extracted from the root of the Indian madder tree. Since it is prepared out of natural resources which are non-toxic, the dye is not harmful to the skin. Even though it is only a limited colour range, it is eco-friendly and shades developed are very suiting and pleasant. The colours ranging from deep maroon to dark brown depend on the age of the root bark and the proportion of the dye used and is obtained with the addition of harikari or

iron sulphate Iron sulfate may refer to: * Ferrous sulfate, Iron(II) sulfate Iron(II) sulfate (British English: iron(II) sulphate) or ferrous sulfate denotes a range of salts with the formula Fe SO4·''x''H2O. These compounds exist most commonly as the hept ...

. These colours mixed with the natural unbleached off-white color of the cotton yarn produce dramatic results. The motifs used on the fabric are

conch Conch () is a common name of a number of different medium-to-large-sized sea snails. Conch shells typically have a high spire and a noticeable siphonal canal (in other words, the shell comes to a noticeable point at both ends). In North Am ...

, boat, axes, crab, bow,

temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...

, fish, and fan, which reflect the culture of the area. These motifs are developed by the extra

weft Warp and weft are the two basic components used in weaving to turn thread or yarn into fabric. The lengthwise or longitudinal warp yarns are held stationary in tension on a frame or loom while the transverse weft (sometimes woof) is draw ...

s. By use of multi-shuttle by interlocking method, a solid border effect of the fabric is brought up by the pig by pig insertion of thread.

References

{{Odia culture Geographical indications in Odisha Handloom industry in India Textile arts of India

Raw materials

Natural dye colour

See also

References