Khadi’s still here, to keep us rooted

One of the best-known photographs of the Mahatma shows him sitting at the

Charkha

(spinning wheel) with his legs folded and looking down at a sheaf of papers. The black and white photograph was taken by American photographer Margaret Bourke-White at Gandhi’s ashram in 1946. As Bourke-White recorded, Gandhi used to wake up at 4am and spend an hour spinning. It was an activity that all residents of the ashram had to practice. She wrote later: "Non-violence was Gandhi’s creed, and the spinning wheel was the perfect weapon."

The image suggests both the stillness at the heart of events that were just beginning to swirl around Gandhi, and the simplicity of the means he employed to liberate India from British rule. Many decades later the same image was reproduced on the ‘pallu’ of a jacquard woven silk saree — perhaps to pay homage both to the iconic image and the skill of the weaver and the designer. While the charkha as a symbol of the Indian independence movement has been immortalised in the annals of history, its product — the humble

khadi

— is still around, although amid an altered set of perceptions.

To understand the hand-spun fabric’s relevance in the 21st century, one has to go back to the time when it was not a mere fabric, but a tool of self-reliance and protest against foreign good.

In his autobiography ‘The Story of my Experiments with Truth’, Gandhi writes, "I do not remember to have seen a handloom or a spinning wheel when in 1908 I described it in Hind Swaraj as the panacea for the growing pauperism of India." It was Gangabehn Majmundar, who helped him find a spinning wheel.

The simple act of spinning the charkha became a symbol for Gandhi’s message of truth, non-violence, non-cooperation and self-rule to the nation. While a majority of Gandhi’s followers were happy to don khadi, there were many who did not. Among them was poet and firebrand nationalist Sarojini Naidu. She wore her rich silk sarees. "She believed in the economic benefits of khadi, but not in its aesthetic merit, nor in the benefits of austerity," we are told.

But as Emma Tarlo writes in her book ‘Clothing Matters: Dress and Its Symbolism in Modern India’, "Gandhi hoped that khadi would help unite ‘Hindu-Muslim-Sikh-Parsi-Christian-Jew’ but he did not insist that everyone adopt the same style. As long as it was a simple style, he was content."

There’s also a wonderful description of the pale pink khadi saree worn by Indira Gandhi at her wedding by her cousin Nayantara Sahgal. "Indi came down from her room in a shell-pink khadi saree made from yarn spun by her father (while in jail) and edged with delicate silver embroidery," Sahgal wrote.

Some of these stories may sound far removed from the reality of our lives that revolve round destination weddings and Bollywood-style extravaganza. But thanks to the efforts of a handful of revivalists and designers, khadi today is not only popular in fashion circles in India, but is also going places. While ace designers like Manish Malhotra, Sabyasachi Mukherjee and Ritu Kumar are creating masterpieces out of the fabric, closer home designers like Puducheery-based Uma Prajapati (Upasana) and Chennai-based Anaka Narayan (Brass Tacks) have reinvented the khadi-look.

Then there is cultural activist Dr V R Devika who teaches spinning khadi on a folding charka to children and enthusiasts in Chennai. There are others like Hemalatha Jain and Dr Rohit R Phalgoanker, who are on a mission to revive extinct handloom cultures. The saree revivalists recently spoke on the occasion of national handloom day at Kamala, the shopping outlet of Crafts Council of India (CCI) in Chennai. Jain has revived the Pateda Anchu, a handloom weave from Gajendragarh in north Karnatka by creating a new palette of colours for the saree which was traditionally worn by women working in the fields. Phalgoanker, is reviving the Kunbi sarees, worn by the Kulmi adivasi women of Goa.

CCI chairperson Gita Ram spelled out the economic issues underlying both the khadi and handloom industry — the imposition of GST on an already fragile sector. At present 5% GST is being levied on yarn and khadi cloth and 12% on sale and purchase of ready-made khadi products. "It’s a severe burden on our weavers" Ram rued.

The good news is that there is no GST on the sale of Gandhi caps, or the National Flag. So, on the 70th Independence Day make sure you wear your cap and wave the flag.

(The writer is a freelance journalist)

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