Warangal dhurries facing a slow death

Warangal: Warangal dhurries that once adorned the billets of the Indian Army and shined in the global markets face a waning demand. Thanks to the imitation dhurries which cost much cheaper than the thick flat-woven carpets made in Warangal that made the life miserable for the thousands of artisans in the region.

The locally weaved jamkhana or satranji elsewhere known as dhurrie, was shot to fame in the mid-1970s with orders pouring in from all over the country and abroad, especially from the Gulf countries. With the increasing patronage, the local artisans improved the quality of the dhurrie to suit to the needs of Indian Army. By mid-1980s, the designing and colour transformation of the dhurries reached a new level with no less 5,000 artisans engaged in the profession.

“The time the local weavers spent on research and development for improving the quality and design of the dhurries was something incalculable,” Kuchana Lakshminarayana, who owns a dhurrie-making unit in Kothawada here and has 35 years of experience in weaving dhurries, told The Hans India.

Notwithstanding this, the business, which had seen the pinnacles by exporting thousands of dhurries, started to wane away in 1990s. This was the time when dhurrie manufacturing units mushroomed in the north India, in places like Panipat, Jodhpur, Agra and Sitapur in Uttar Pradesh. This dealt a death knell to the industry in Warangal thus forcing 70 per cent of the artisans to leave their inherited trade in search of a livelihood.

With all those interlocked design carpets such as jacquard and tie and dye dhurries losing their ground in the market, the local artisans switched to Kalamkari dhurries, a unique variant of Pedana in Krishna district of AP, in the new millennium, this despite not having flowing water facility close to Warangal. It may be noted here that after the printing process, the cloth is washed in the flowing waters.

Lakshminarayana, who mastered the manufacturing of Kalamkari style dhurries made of vegetable colours, said that he would take the product to Godavari river near Etur Nagaram for the washing process. Even today, the dhurries designed by the local artisans are unique. The traders procure sample pieces from Warangal and reproduce them in the north, he said, lamenting over the absence of business platforms in the region.

With the growing demand for the Kalamkari style products, the Handicrafts had conducted a four-month training camp in dye printing. Training was given to two batches (20 each) by bringing experts from Pedana.