PANJAWEAVING

1.INTRODUCTION
1.1.TheDifferencebetweenCarpetandDurrie 1.2.History

2.CARPETPRODUCTIONININDIA
2.1RegionsSpeciallyKnownforDurrieMakinginIndia

3.PRODUCERCOMMUNITIES 4.RAWMATERIALS
4.1.Cotton 4.2.Wool

5.TOOLSUSED
5.1.TaanaMachine 5.2.LoomFrame 5.3.Panja 5.4.Charkha
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5.5.Scissors

6.THEPROCESSOFPANJAWEAVING
6.1.Designing 6.2.RawMaterialProcurement 6.3.Dyeing 6.4.YarnOpeningforWeft 6.5.Warping 6.6.Weaving 6.7.Finishing

7.USEOFTHEPRODUCT 8.SECONDARYSOURCES APPENDIXI:THEMATICREPRESENTATIONOFTHEPANJAWEAVINGPROCESS


1.Introduction

PanjaweavingformspartofIndiasgloriousweavingtradition.Thiscraftismostlyused formakingdurries,(lightwovenrugsusedasakindoffloorcovering).Thecraftgetsits namefromametallicclawliketoolcalledpanjainthelocaldialect,usedtobeatandset thethreadsinthewarp.

1.1.TheDifferencebetweenCarpetandDurrie Although durries have a similar weaving process to carpets, they differ on various counts.Adurrieisaflat,woven,lightrug,usuallyreversible,whereasacarpetisusually heavier, with one display side. A durrie is lighter because it is mainly made of cotton, whileacarpetuseswoolandisthickeraswell.Thisalsomakescarpetsmoreexpensive. Theprocessofdurriemakingisdifferentfromthatofcarpetmaking.Normally,themain toolindurriemakingisaverticalframecomposedoftwohorizontalbeamsonwhichthe warp is fitted, unlike the big looms carpet making involves. Durrie making is also less timeconsuming. Duetothedifferenceinprice,theclienteleofdurriesandcarpetsdiffer.Durriescanbe found in many poor households of the country, whereas carpets normally adorn the abodesofthewelloff. 1.2.History TheearliestformofcarpetweavingwasreportedinIndiaaround500B.C.inBuddhist texts.1Also,evidenceofuseofcarpetscomesfromMongolia.Thesecarpetswerevery similartomodernPersianandAnatoliancarpets.2 MarcoPolowritesofthewidespreadpopularityofflooringsinIndiainhischronicles.3 However, although simple forms of flooring like namda (handwoven wool) and durrie (simple carpets woven by women in rural areas on two horizontal parallel bars) have found daily use in the villages of India for long, the carpet in its current form was imported by the Mughal emperors from Persia at the beginning of the 16th century.4 They not just imported carpets, but also invited and provided patronage to Persian artisans to live in India and to train Indian artisans in the art of making carpets. Soon after, Indian weavers were competing with Persians with their product in terms of qualityandvariety.Althoughinitiallymostofthedesignsandcolorcombinationswere imitated from the Persian art, very soon Indian weavers started experimenting with their own designs. Under the patronage of great Mughal emperors like Akbar and Shahjehan, Indian carpet making soon reached its zenith. Carpets from this era later forced modernday art connoisseurs to consider them amongst the most beautiful worksofartevercreated.5


2.CarpetProductioninIndia

Under the patronage of the Mughal emperors, carpet weaving traveled across the lengthandbreadthofthecountry.Today,thiscraftisfoundinIndiafromJammuand Kashmir in the north to Tamil Nadu in the south, and from Rajasthan in the west to ArunachalPradeshintheeast.SomeofthecarpetmakingareasofIndiaare:6 JammuandKashmir(Persiandesigns),Ladakh(Tibetandesigns) Delhi(carpetsaswellasdurries) Rajasthan:Jaipur,Jaisalmer,AjmerandBarmer MadhyaPradesh:Gwalior Uttar Pradesh: Mirzapur and Bhadohi (where 90 per cent of all carpets of countryareproduced) Northeasternstates:ArunachalPradesh,SikkimandManipur(Tibetandesigns) AndhraPradesh:WarangalandElluru TamilNadu,Karnataka

2.1.RegionsSpeciallyKnownforDurrieMakinginIndia Although the carpet making industry is spread all across India, there are certain areas knownspecificallyfordurriemaking.Someoftheseare:7 HaryanaandPunjabParticularlyPanipatinHaryanaisfamousforpanjadurries TamilNadu:SalemdurriesinBhavani Karnataka:JamkhandurriesinNavalgund AndhraPradesh:BandhaorikatdurriesinWarangal Rajasthan:JaisalmerandBarmerforwoollendurries4

3.ProducerCommunities

Accordingtopanjaweavers,therelationshipofthecraftwithcasteisnegligible.Though there are few individuals from the bunkar caste for whom weaving is the traditional sourceoflivelihood,castewiseweaversareaheterogeneousgroup.Manyweaversare from the same region: Sultanpur, Pratapgarh and Faizabad districts of Awadh, Uttar Pradesh (UP). This can be attributed to the fact that these districts are very close to MirzapurandBhadohi,themainbeltofcarpetproductionunits.Mostoftheseweavers own agricultural land in their home villages in UP where they have to visit for long periods during the major agricultural operations of land preparation, sowing and harvestinginthecroppingseason.

4.RawMaterials

Bothcottonandwoolareusedinthemakingofpanjadurries. 4.1.Cotton The warp is invariably made of the cotton. There are different kinds of cotton thread requiredforthewarpandtheweft.Mostlybothoftheseareprocuredfromdealersand notproducedbytheweavers.Thespecificationsforthesethreadsare: Forweft(orbaana):6singlecottonthread(fromRajasthan).Thisremainssamefor thetwoqualitiesofthedurrieproduced,regularandstonewashed.Itcostsaround Rs.450/perbundleof4.5kg(ason25August2004). Forwarp(ortaana):Inthisthequalityofthethreadusedvariesbetweentheregular product and the stonewashed variety. For regular quality, the thread used is 6/6 (fromRajasthan),whileforthestonewashedone,itis12/20(fromDelhi).Thelatter ismoreexpensive.ItcostsaroundRs.650/perbundleof4.5kg(ason25August 2004). 4.2.Wool Wool as weft is extensively used in making expensive durries. There are two types of wool: Handspun:ThisispurewoolprocuredfromthemarketsofBikanerandJodhpurin Rajasthan. This type of wool is used for durries that are colored using vegetable dyes.Thiswoolisnotofuniformgaugeasitishandspun.ItcostsaroundRs.225/ perkg(ason25August2004). Millspun: This, too, is pure wool, procured from Panipat and Bikaner. In durries madewiththiskindofwool,normallychemicaldyesareused.Thisischeaperthan handwovenwoolandisofuniformgauge.ItcostsaroundRs.150perkg(ason25 August2004).

5.ToolsUsed

5.1.TaanaMachine

[Photograph1:TaanaMachine] Thetaanamachineismadeoftwobasicparts:abigoctagonalhorizontalcylinderthat rotates on its axis; and a vertical frame on which a number of thread rolls can be attached. 5.2.LoomFrame

[Photograph2:LoomFrame]

Unlikethecomplexloomsusedinweaving,thisonehasaverticalframemadeoftwo beams(ofwoodorsteel)thatarehorizontal.Thefirstbeamisabout2feetabovethe groundandtheotherisatabout6feetfromtheground.Theupperbeamismovable andthetwobeamsaretightenedbyusingascrewandchainmechanism.Thelengthof thesebeamsvariesdependingonthedimensionsofthedurrietobewoven.Thetaana or the warp tightened on these beams has two layers that pass through a horizontal metallicframecalledthereed.Thereedkeepsthethreadsstraightandequidistantfrom eachother.Ofthetwolayersofthetaana,oneremainsontheoutersideandtheother ontheinnerside.However,thispositioncanbechangedusingamechanismcalledthe kamana (a vshaped wooden frame where the ends are bound with a tight piece of rope)andruchh(twobamboopiecesonwhichthekamanainattachedwiththebeam, justabovethereed).

5.3.Panja

[Photograph2:Panja] Panjaisametallic,clawlikeforkusedforbeatingtheweftthreadsinthewarpsoasto adjustitthere.Thebeatingisdirectlyproportionaltothestabilityofthedurrie. 5.4.Charkha

[Photograph3:Acharkhaisusedformakingrollsorbundlesofyarnfortheweft]. 5.5.Scissors A pair of scissors is used to provide the finishing touch to the durrie by cutting protrudingknots,weftthreads,etc.

6.TheProcessofPanjaWeaving

Theprocessofpanjaweavinghasthefollowingsteps: 6.1.Designing Thedesignsareeitherprovidedbytheagenciesplacingtheorderwiththeweavers,or are supplied by the weavers themselves based on traditional designs found in the region.Theymayalsobeinspiredbydesignspublishedinvariousbooksormagazines, orfromanexistingproduct. 6.2.RawMaterial

[Photograph4:Rawmaterials] Raw material for the process (cotton for the warp, and cotton and wool for weft) is readily available with local dealers. It has to be processed further in order to make it suitable for using in the process of weaving. These processes are discussed in detail later. 6.3.Dyeing

[Photograph5:Dyeing] Dyeingisanimportantpartoftheprocessofdurriemaking.Itmaybedonebothona smallerscale(wheretheartisansdyetheyarnintheirsmalltubs)orindyeingfactories (where the process is more or less automated). Two types of dyes are used in this process:vegetabledyes(whichuseindigo,harad,mangeetha,pomegranatepeel,etc.) andchemicaldyes(normallyfastdyesareused).Yarndyedwiththesetwotypesmaybe

differentiatedbytheuniformityofcolor.Whileayarnbundledyedwithchemicaldyeis uniformlycolored,abundledyedwiththevegetabledyehasvaryingshades. 6.4.YarnOpeningforWeft

[Photograph6:Charkha] Afterthedyeingprocess,theyarnisnormallyreceivedbytheweaverseitherintheform ofbundlesorrolls(thelatterincaseofdyeingfactories).Incaseofbundles,thethread needstobefreedfromtanglesandstretchedinordertomakethemtighter.Forthis,it is taken through a process of reeling using a charkha. This process is mainly done by women.

6.5.Warping

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[Photograph7:WarpMaking] The master weaver carries out the process of warp making depending upon the requirementofthedesignandcolorcombination.Heusesthetaana(warp)machinefor this.Thethreadrollsareputontheverticalframeinthedesiredcolorcombination.This is a movable frame. The ends of the thread are taken from the rolls, passed through another, smaller, gridlike frame that guides the thread, and are wound on the octagonal cylinder in a combination that the master weaver decides for making the taana roll. This process starts from one end of the cylinder and goes on till the entire cylinderiscoveredwiththread.Oncethisisachieved,theloguponwhichthetaanais woundisfittedintotheblocksbetweenthecylinderandtheframe.Thetightlywound threadonthislogisthenprovidedtotheweaverwhousesitontheloomframe. 6.6Weaving

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[Photograph8:Weaversweaving] Forweaving,thewarpisboundonthetwobeamsoftheloom(thewarprollformsthe upperbeamanditiswoundonthelowerbeam).Thewarphastwolayers,whichpass throughaflatmetallicreedthatguidesthethreadsbykeepingthemequidistantfrom eachother.Onthebenchprovidedjustinfrontoftheloom,facingthewarp,oneortwo weaverssit,dependinguponthewidthofthedurrie.Ifthewidthofthedurrieismore thenfivefeet,itwilloccupythewholebeamandinthiscaseonlyoneweavercanwork ontheloom.Ifitswidthislessthanthreefeettheninthatcasetwoweaverscanwork atthesametimeontwodifferentcarpetsoflesswidth(threefeeteach)onthesame beamandsameloomframe. Theweaverskeepthedesigninfrontofthem(eitherintheformofagraphorasample) while weaving the first few articles of that design. After a while, when they have memorized the pattern, the work becomes faster. They pull a fixed number of warp threads, depending on the design, towards themselves and take the small bundle of weftacrossthewarpthreadstofillthegaplongitudinally.Tofacilitatethedesign,the warp is marked at regular intervals to guide the weaver about the location of a particularfeature(likeaflower)inthedesign.Onceonerowofweftiscompleted,the weaversbeatittosettleittightlyintothewarpbyusingthepanja.Ithasfivemetallic fingersbentlikeaclaw.Thesefingersmovebetweenthewarpthreadssimilartoacomb in hair. Once the weft threads are tightly beaten between the warp with a panja, the weaverexchangestheupperandthelowerlayersofthewarpbyusingthekamanaand rucch.Thislockstheweftbetweenthetwolayersofwarp,providingmorestrengthand durability to the durrie. The weavers keep tightening the warp by adjusting the two beams with tightening screws. This makes the durrie crisp and strong and its designs symmetrical.Theygoupthewarpastheyfillthelowerpartofthewarp.

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6.7.Finishing Oncethedurrieiscompleted,theweavertakesitofffromtheloomandhandsitoverto themasterweaverforproperfinishing.

In case of a stonewashed durrie, the master weaver sends it to the washerman who washesitusingwater,detergentsandpotassiumpermanganate.

The master weaver then knots the loose ends of the durrie and also rectifies any problemsthatitmighthavedevelopedduringtheweaving.Forexample,thedurriemay develop differential width at the fringes due to shrinkage. If so, it is set it tightly on a

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frame and kept there for a day or two so that it is stretched properly. The master weaverthensendsittotheclipper,whoclipsoffallprotrudingthreadsandknotsusing apairofscissors,givingthedurrieasmoothlook.

Thedurrieisnowfinishedandisreadyforsale.

[Photograph9,10,11,12:Showingvariousstagesoffinishingprocess]

7.UseoftheProduct
Durries woven in the panja method are used in a variety of ways. Since these durries comeinvariousdimensions,theyareusedasflooring,sittingmatsandevenupholstery (incaseofethnicdesignslikenaga). 14

10.SecondarySources

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. http://www.jigyasao.tripod.com www.carpetinfo.co.uk Ibid. http://www.jigyasao.tripod.com Ibid. http://www.chennaionline.comandhttp://indianmirror.com Ibid.

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APPENDIXI:ThematicRepresentationofthePanjaWeavingProcess

Raw materials (cotton, wool) Dyeing enterprise Warp/taana machine (master weaver) Dyed yarn Warp roll Yarn opening with charakha On loom frame for weaving Weft bundles Raw durries Stone-washing Final touches by master weaver Clipping of knots/ threads by clipper
FINISHED DURRIES

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