Demise of a weaving tradition
Fashion
By Sarita Tiwari

BENARES is more than a city of temples and burning ghats. It is the home of the fabled Benarasi silks, references of which can be found in ancient scriptures and folklore. The Ramayana states that Sita was married wearing a Benarasi saree.

Alas, this centrepiece of every bridal trousseau in India will soon be a thing of the past as more than a million weavers in Benares suddenly find themselves out of work. A large number have already migrated to Bombay and Surat, bag and baggage, to join the powerloom sector.

The reasons for this are not hard to find. Following a government ban on the import of silk yarn from China, the weavers had become dependent on smugglers who obtain this precious raw material across Nepal and Bangladesh borders.

Conse-quently, yarn that used to cost Rs 1,350 per kg shot up to Rs 1,700 per kg at one stroke, three years ago when the ban was imposed. Today, owing to short supply, the Chinese yarn cannot be obtained for even Rs 2,000 a kg.

"The Chinese yarn gives Benarasi silk its sheen," informs Mohanlal Saraugi, president of the Kashi Viopar Pratinidhi Mandal (KVPM) "The Chinese have perfected the art of rearing the right strain of silk cocoons.

"The Chinese also pay attention to their reeling techniques so that the yarn they produce is stronger than what we have in India. We have been importing this yarn for centuries and in one stroke, the basis of the industry has been destroyed after the government announced the ban."

Suraj Bhan, a master weaver, says: "The art of making Benarasi silk is thousands of years old. We have learnt the skills from our fathers and forefathers. We believe this is a gift given by the gods to be treasured forever. But who is there to listen to us?"

The looms that used to produce the once-legendary saree are currently lying idle, or else, being used to make cheap imitations. More often than not, the fabric is purchased from Surat and is cut, polished and embroidered to look like the original Benarasi saree.

Oddly enough, the business in imitations is turning out to be so lucrative that a new breed of weavers has come up in shanties around the city. The poly-mixes produced by them are just as appealing as the Benarasi originals and cost twice as much!

"The imitations are of course, targeted at foreign tourists," informs Anirudh Goswami, a wholesale dealer. "The locals do not have the purchasing power. Besides, why should they buy such stuff when they are famillar with the original?"

Saraugi points out that it is because of people like Goswami that Benarasi silks are getting a bad name. He quotes some fashion designers from Bombay who complain of lack of quality control, little realising that what they buy is not original.

"I am also aware of weavers resorting to underhand measures to cut costs,"he adds. "Some reduce the length of the saree to less than five metres, others cut corners by shortening the width. Whenever we get such complaints, we take prompt action and even refund the money."

There have also been cases when so-called Benarasi sarees have found to have heavy pallavs with lots of silk while the body is thinned out. But the most common problem is the use of silk yarn in the warp and viscose in the weft at the time of weaving.

Some designers have been able to circumvent these problems by setting up weaving studios in cities like Bombay, Delhi and Calcutta. Weavers from Benares are provided employment there and the quality of the fabric they produce is constantly monitored.

Suraj Bhan scoffs at these efforts saying that merely employing a weaver from Benares does not produce a Benarasi saree. "What about the yarn?" he asks. "you could get the yarn from Chamunda or anywhere else in India. But so long as you do not get the pure stuff, that is 100 per cent Chinese yarn, you cannot make a proper Benarasi saree."

There is also the question of designs, which the traditional weavers refuse to part with. These are in the form of stencils of nakshas handed over from one generation to another. Under no circumstance are nakshas allowed to leave the "sacred soil of Benares", adds Bhan. (MF)