From a sleepy hamlet with struggling weavers to a bustling town known for sarees, it’s taken many years for Maheshwar to appear on India’s handloom map. Sally Holkar, known for reviving the sector, tells us about her journey.
If some years ago you asked someone about a temple town located by the banks of a holy river, which is also known for the fine textile handwoven by skilled local artisans, you were likely to come across Varanasi as the answer. The reply may perhaps be different now.
And if do come across Maheshwar as the answer, a big credit for that goes to Sally Holkar, the co-founder of Rehwa Society and the founder of WomenWeave Charitable Trust, who is known for reviving the Maheshwari saree, and giving a much-needed spurt to the crafts industry of the town in Madhya Pradesh.
Holkar, who moved to India from the United States after marrying Richard Holkar, the scion of the erstwhile royal family of Indore, co-founded the Rehwa Society with him in 1979. Over four decades later, the Stanford graduate is still an active force in the handloom sector in the town, which has come a long way over the years. Holkar never dreamt big though.
“All of us, myself included, can only dream so far. I tried not to think beyond a year or two at a time,” she told us during a conversation at the Handloom School campus in Maheshwar. She added: “It’s when something starts to succeed that we feel more confident and take another little step. The years have passed quickly as almost every step we have taken has been successful. That’s very encouraging. Also, it’s not us doing something, but all of us doing something together.”
The Handloom School is one of the several initiatives established by Holkar to promote the local craft, including the WomenWeave Charitable Trust set up in 2003 to empower the women of Maheshwar and Dindori to spin khadi on semi-automatic charkhas, and the Gudi Mudi project launched in 2007 to train 500 women in weaving, spinning and ancillary activities.
Also Read: Can handlooms provide a viable rural livelihood?
But there was a time when things moved slowly.
“It’s much smoother now because communicating with each other is so much easier,” said Holkar. “When we started Rehwa society we had to do exhibitions over and over again at different places. But the weavers saw that the products they had been creating for years at this little place are desired and admired by so many people.”
Ask her about the popular perception that prices may deter widespread sales of handloom and handicraft products, and Holkar expresses confidence about there being a dedicated market for it.
“From the first day, when people came and saw the weavers at work and what it took for them to make a piece, there was no hesitation in them about buying,” she said. “You just have to like something or not, and then see if you can pay for it or not. That’s not in anybody’s hands. Because we have to see that everyone earns something at the end of it.”
And while adapting traditional craft forms to contemporary designs and products may be the trend of the current times, Holkar expresses caution about following it.
“It can get out of hand,” she said, adding that one has to be a sensitive person not to let it go the wrong way. “Maybe there should be a central place online where you could take the opinion of people experienced in it, who have knowledge of the market,” she added.
The same appeal for striking a balance comes in when you ask her about more initiatives entering the field of weaving.
Also Read: Are handlooms in rural India only capable of weaving poverty?
“It makes me feel cautious,” Holkar said. “Things can go the wrong way, in pricing or the look of products,” she added, pointing out that all the people involved have to collaborate with each other in the weaving field. “We aren’t against each other, we are all in this together,” she said.
She has seen Maheshwar change from being a small sleepy hamlet to a bustling town placed prominently on India’s handloom map. And she has mixed feelings about the way it’s developing now.
“It’s scary. There is too much traffic, and a lot of people around. At the same time, it makes you feel so good,” Holkar said.
The townspeople still need a lot though, she feels, like better housing for the weavers and education for the youngsters. “They need to be taught more than just math and grammar, but something useful for people weaving cloth, designing it and selling it,” she said, suggesting that each weaving area could have a little “club” where “the weavers could come together and discuss their products, problems, hopes and dreams together.”
She is happy to see the change unfold in the handloom sector across the country.
“In the beginning no one was proud to be a weaver or to say that their parents were weavers,” she said. “Now around India they aren’t ashamed of it anymore. Things like Instagram have changed things so much. You can be a hero today.”
Also Read: Caught by cotton – the thread that binds Team VS
Pallavi Srivastava is Associate Director – Content at Village Square.
