ERA OF GOLDEN THREAD
I vividly remember the time when my maternal grandmother carried herself every morning with gracious and opulent way. She flaunted her terrific handwoven saree with traditional jewellery. Neither she required any fashion designer nor she took any guidance from others . Always took reference from the local weaving community and goldsmiths . She possessed the most beautiful collections till the end of her life. While flaunting her silk hand woven sari she kept the loose end of sari openly and veil her face nicely. The border of the sari set on her shoulder in such a way that the design itself visible in a beautiful way. The terrific combination of her jewellery to sari project as a ostentatious manner. All these imprinted in my mind perfectly and later it helped me to analyze it.
Then began the journey to find the authentic weaver sections where the so called golden thread means Tusser silk saree would available.It took little inquiry from my in -laws side who are residing at Baripada which is one of the most beautiful town of Mayurbhanja district, Odisha.After interaction with a numbers of local people and family member's then i came to know that the tusser silk saree is weaving at nearby villages. Then the journey began to find out the place and the artisans work.
Though the time was the month of January so the climate was suitable to take local transport . It is always a great benefit by traveling through local bus. Traveling itself is a great learning process to know about the culture ,language,dress, life system , food and the way the locals carry their life .
So, i took local bus from the bus stand of Baripada to Udala which is 42km distance and it took 2hours journey to reach at the destination .Curious increased when other passengers took their seat within the bus. I interacted with them to know regarding the local views about the weaving communities who are expert in the weaving of tusser silk. After reaching at Udala i did not wait for other local bus to reach Dihirakula because no direct transport is there to reach at the remote village. One option was open for me to take auto then after conviction with one local driver he agreed with me to visit Serifed center of Dihirakula.
The distance from Udala to Dihirakula is mostly 11 km distance. The unpaved road with hard surface is narrow and the pedestrians
are not much concerned for the other vehicles. The paddy fields at both the road side are very beautiful and greenery. Once i reached at the cerifed center i came in contact with the staff of that office .
I vividly remember the time when my maternal grandmother carried herself every morning with gracious and opulent way. She flaunted her terrific handwoven saree with traditional jewellery. Neither she required any fashion designer nor she took any guidance from others . Always took reference from the local weaving community and goldsmiths . She possessed the most beautiful collections till the end of her life. While flaunting her silk hand woven sari she kept the loose end of sari openly and veil her face nicely. The border of the sari set on her shoulder in such a way that the design itself visible in a beautiful way. The terrific combination of her jewellery to sari project as a ostentatious manner. All these imprinted in my mind perfectly and later it helped me to analyze it.
Though the time was the month of January so the climate was suitable to take local transport . It is always a great benefit by traveling through local bus. Traveling itself is a great learning process to know about the culture ,language,dress, life system , food and the way the locals carry their life .
So, i took local bus from the bus stand of Baripada to Udala which is 42km distance and it took 2hours journey to reach at the destination .Curious increased when other passengers took their seat within the bus. I interacted with them to know regarding the local views about the weaving communities who are expert in the weaving of tusser silk. After reaching at Udala i did not wait for other local bus to reach Dihirakula because no direct transport is there to reach at the remote village. One option was open for me to take auto then after conviction with one local driver he agreed with me to visit Serifed center of Dihirakula.
The distance from Udala to Dihirakula is mostly 11 km distance. The unpaved road with hard surface is narrow and the pedestrians
are not much concerned for the other vehicles. The paddy fields at both the road side are very beautiful and greenery. Once i reached at the cerifed center i came in contact with the staff of that office .
At the courtyard few women were busy for the extraction of silk threads through their hands from cocoons.
Producing tusser is a local art. The women of the rural areas get training for cocoon processing and the extraction of silk
thread.Most of the women were busy with their work without taking any distraction from their work. After working 9 to 10 hours they receive minimum payment from the society of seri culture. Which is giving them to make financial independence and improve their life condition.
The faces behind making the fabric is very strenuous.The women sections take their powerful role for making all this work. This serifed center set up a long years back around 1962 at that same location. Young qualified candidates are getting training from the co-operative society by getting stipend Rs 3000 per month.Odisha co-operative tusser and silk federation is a state level apex organization.
I did not meet with the supervisor of that center so unable to get chance for the selection of my choice of color combination . With my request one weaver named Kamalkant Behera came and met with me.Both the weavers posed for me to shoot one photography and explained their way of life at their profession still they felt happy due to the way they carried all their work.I stunned to see the designs and the smoothness of one tusser silk which i took from them.
It was very tough for me to convince myself that even after such high intensive art of our own we are running from here to there . Our tradition and culture are full of fabulous beauty. It need only to carry forward . Even staying so much close to that location such rich art of tusser silk is not much more popular among mass.Give more strength to the local artisans whose life depends upon this work.Our little support help them to carry their art for further generation otherwise this may not develop . At this crisis time we all unitedly take steps to motivate the new generation to learn this art so that they can not migrate from their village to metro cities in search of work . If we carry one with distinctively then the beauty of the sari must flaunt in an extraordinary way. The fabric is cooler then any other variety of silk .The luster and the shine of sari is just incomparable with other .This is highly valued for its natural gold colors. Without thinking twice i think this radiant texture sari must be a winner of an era due to its golden thread weaved out of tusser silk. And i remember the reason of aura of my grandmother's beauty and i try to carry this legacy further. And, this is applicable to all the beautiful ladies of this generation who are shining their beauty with brains.
Sapna Acharya
Travel Writer
Date-16. 4. 2020
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