Bigger India
The silence of the looms: Will the interest in Anushka’s Banarasi be enough to revive the ailing handloom industry of Varanasi
When Anushka Sharma wore a Banarasi sari for her wedding reception, the nation was mesmerised. But what is the condition of the city’s weavers who create those legendary saris?
The minute the electricity supply is back, the by-lanes of Peeli Kothi in Varanasi start echoing with a whirring, throbbing sound. It is past nine on a cold January Sunday evening, but the looms are still at work. “Once upon a time all you would hear was the khat khat of the handloom from every house in Peeli Kothi. Today the sound of the handloom is drowned in the buzz of the powerloom,” rues 72-year-old Maqbool Hasan, a master weaver in Varanasi. Hasan remembers a time when his family owned 500 handlooms. “Now we have only 200 looms. No one wants to weave on a handloom anymore,” says the master weaver, a national- awardee for his innovative weaves.