The Ilkal weave is a traditional weave from Karnataka in Southern
India.
The Ilkal tradition comes from the ancient weaving centre in North
Karnataka dating back to over a thousand years from approximately the 8th
Century AD. The Ilkal weave gets its
name from the town of Ilkal in the Bagalkot district of Karnataka. This small
town of Ilkal has been the centre point of this weaving tradition for centuries
and it is here that age old weavers and artists can still be found carrying forward
their age old traditions of weaving.
The Ilkal Sari is an integral part of the North Karnataka
tradition. The
growth of these saris is attributed to the patronage provided by the local
chieftains in and around the town of Bellary/
Bagalkot. The availability of
local raw materials helped in the growth of this sari. While the town of Ilkal is the main weaving
centre there are also several towns in and around ILkal, Hubli and Dharwad
where looms and weavers are found.
The
desire to find out more about this weave and the weavers carrying forward these
traditions led me to undertake an adventurous and interesting journey to the
dusty town of Ilkal. It is also important to understand here that while this is
an ancient handloom tradition, this region in and around Ilkal in North
Karnataka has only about 5000 handloom’s left as compared to a whopping 30,000
even as recently as 10 years ago ! Modern technology and the introduction of power
looms has not only diminished and almost removed the use of Handlooms but has
also taken away livelihood from several traditional weavers. There is a marked difference between the
Handloom (actually hand woven) sari and that which comes off a power loom – but
more about this a little later.
I
decided that the easiest way of getting to Ilkal would be to get to Hubli and
drive from there to Ilkal. One can also alternately get to Bagalkot and drive
down to Ilkal and getting there from Gadag (a gain in North Karnataka) is also
another option. The Distance from Hubli
to Ilkal is about 130 kms and was undertaken in just under 5 hours!!!! Badly
maintained state highways and mud roads for the most part contribute to making
this distance a journey of almost 5 hours. The landscape around is stark! All
you see are people busy in their fields and almost no vehicular traffic on this
lonely route. Quite sure this is not a journey (by taxi) one might want to
undertake alone! The other thing common
to most of North Karnataka is the difference in the local language spoken in
these parts. While it is still Kannada ( Language spoken almost all through
Karnataka) the dialect is very different making it difficult even for a native
of the state like me – I usually manage very well with the Kannada I speak !
While
one was prepared for Ilkal to be a really small town given it is in the
interiors of North Karnataka, the one thing that struck me as we got near the
town and slowly began driving through it was the extremely narrow and Dusty
Lanes, Garbage dumps in almost every street corner and general unhygienic
living conditions all over. For some reason the excitement of visiting one of
the oldest weaving centres in the country had taken over leaving me un prepared
for some of the obvious poverty one sees in Ilkal. The other thing here is that
it is difficult to find a genuine and traditional weaver and if one if not
prepared, has not done research etc there is every chance of meeting middle
men. My journey initially led me to the modest home
of a weaver I had managed to find through extensive research and deep digging
into my network. Much to my
disappointment the Saris he had (and it actually turned out that he was not a
weaver himself) were not the type of Ilkal Saris I was looking for. My search was for the old traditional rich
Ilkal Silk Sari – one with Beautiful and bright colour combinations completely
hand woven which also adds to its grandeur. This man however was very hospitable and
quickly understood my problem as well as what I was looking for and was kind
enough to offer to take me to a traditional weaver, to see his Handlooms and his Saris. What is noteworthy here is that this man
showed no hesitation in taking me to someone I was looking for however
disappointed he might have been that I did not really want what he was looking
for.
And
thus we got back into my car and drove further into the interiors of the town
of Ilkal passing huts and settlements, through mud roads on what seemed like a
long and never ending journey to find what I was looking for. Somewhere in what
I now know as the centre of this little town was a small non- descript looking
white structure …. No walls, no compound, just this white structure. This was a master weavers house I was told! You
could only find this place if you knew someone locally! We entered this
building through what I realised was the back entrance and were welcomed by a loud
and deafening humming sound which actually comes from the constantly at work
power looms. Once again a disappointment.
Power loom weaves was not what I was looking for! I was looking for
actual Handloom products.
This
region in North Karnataka is actually very close to Karnataka’s neighbouring
state of Maharashtra. For those of you familiar with the region, the two states
have been engaged in a border dispute for decades. My observations of the people from the town of
Ilkal told me that they seemed to be culturally more inclined to Maharashtra’s
including the language they spoke and the way they dressed.
Coming
back to the master weaver I had just met.
He was from a family of weavers and weaving Ilkal saris was their
traditional means of livelihood for generations. After my initial disappointment on seeing the
power looms, I was in for a surprise. This
building was the weaver’s workshop and home and tucked away in a corner of this
workshop were four traditional handlooms.
My joy knew no bounds! It seemed
like I had finally found what I was looking for. Discussions with the weaver
revealed that these handlooms were traditional looms set up by his
predecessors. However by his own admission, the advent of power looms had
forced him like all others to adopt and use power looms in order to stay in
demand and be competitive. You see saris
that are woven off power looms are less expensive compared to authentic
handloom saris. However in terms of feel and texture, they are much thinner and
there is a certain richness to the colour and texture that is almost missing.
This
Master Weaver took a lot of trouble to explain the intricacies of the weave to
me and also the difference between the saris that some off a power loom and
those which come off a hand loom. The Ilka Saris are not only part of an age
old weaving tradition, but also are an integral part of bridal trousseaus.
These saris are also traditionally used for Kasogi Embroidery which is another
interesting art form from the region.
The Ilkal Saris are available in pure silk, Silk- cotton and cotton
weaves. While the Pallav designs are
similar in all saris the speciality of these saris lie in their vibrant colour
combinations and border designs. Some
borders are simple with no temples, and then there are the borders with small
temples (known as Kyadgi) and the borders with large temples (called Dund).
The
weaver was also at pains to explain that sad as it may be, these saris do not
find a very large market in the rest of Karnataka due to a lack of overall
awareness. They are however popular in
the neighbouring state of Maharashtra due to cultural similarities. This has
also promoted a lot of traditional weavers to move away from the town of Ilkal
for better prospects. Also the largest buyers of these Saris in Karnataka are
large retailers in the Hubli Dharwad area. Here too the only saris that really
sell are those that are woven on power looms. There are not too many takers for
traditionally hand woven Ilkal Saris and therefore it is also hard to find
Labour and weavers who will work on Handlooms. They are all either working on
power looms or have simply given up this profession for better prospects.
The
living conditions and obvious poor standard of living across this town now
somehow explained itself. That being
said the weaver and his family were extremely welcoming and I was also treated
to an authentic North Karnataka lunch complete with their traditional “ Jollada
Rotti “ and “ yenne kai “ meal – ( Corn bread and a Brinjal Gravy).
My
journey to Ilkal was indeed a revelation. I had expected some of what I saw but
was also surprised and saddened by the State of affairs at the weaving centres.
Having successfully completed by search for traditional Ilkal weaves and their
weavers, I knew clearly that there was a lot of work to be done in terms of
re-creating a market for the Ilkal Saris and creating awareness for the
beautiful hand woven Saris.
We
now work with traditional Ilkal weaves at Banna Creations! All saris and
colours can be customised based on specific requirements.
