The indigenous handicrafts that in other parts of the country are confined to professional castes were practiced as household industries in the valley of the Brahmaputra. In Assam proper, there is no dearth of raw materials. Indigenous manufacturers consisted of thread and fabrics, cotton textiles, brass utensils, oil extracted from mustard or til seeds gur or molasses, jewelleries, articles of ivory and agricultural implements. Every family in Assam proper had looms to meet the requirement of the household. The looms were infact the center of domestic economy, the only hope of salvation in an hour of distress or despair. Cotton manufactures- churias, chaddars, barkapors, khania kapor and gamochas- were entirely in the hands of women of all classes, although women of respectability and position usually prepared only the finest fabrics- asu or asuli poreah, gunnah, kotah, gai bonkara- resembling the muslins of Dacca.
Varieties and artistic ornaments distinguished Cotton fabrics turned out by the Assamese and some of the tribesmen. Amongst the Assamese fabrics, ornamentation were either knitted on the fabrics after the weaving or worked along with the weaving. Embroidery was done chiefly in muga silk or gold and silver wire (guna) by artisans called Gunaakatas but these workmen gradually disappeared with the arrival of gold and silver wires from Europe. The Assamese women knew the use of needle for ornamentation of various design and patterns from early times. They were also adept in the art of mixed raw materials; cotton mixed with silk. Endi or eri was woven with cotton. Rarely cotton was combined with pat silk, but often with muga; churi and riha of such materials were usually manufactured.
Assam’s handloom industry is basically silk oriented. The salubrious climate of Assam is suitable for sericigenous flora and fauna. Four varieties of silk worms and their host-plants, mulberry, Eri, Muga and Oak Tassar are popular and important for economic and commercial purposes. Sericulture is an important cottage industry of Assam. Eri and Muga have been producing silk traditionally since long back. Muga is the pride of the Assamese ladies. Oak tassar was introduced in Assam only in 1972. Nearly 90% of the silk produced is from the mulberry sector only.
Sericulture is a state concern and is done in four steps
- The cultivation of the host plant, i.e. som and soalu, requires an ordinary method of cultivation.
- Strains of silk worms, developed at the central silkworm feed station at sibsagar, provides large quantities of moth eggs. The eggs are kept in cold storage until they are hatched. To avoid any danger of epidemic diseases, only pedigreed strains of silkworms propagated from cultures determined to be disease- free are used.
- Rearing of silkworms is a laborious process. An important aspect of sericulture is that it requires great skill and patience. Muga reared in the open air, needs to be protected from birds and bats. The female moth lays eggs on the kharika, and when these are newly hatched, the kharika, along with the worms, are hung upon specially selected twigs of young plants. The tiny worms immediately crawl up the leaves to start feeding. After the last moult, the worms feed even more voraciously. At night, they climb down the trunk of the tree, which makes the task of collecting them relatively simple. To spin cocoons, they are put on bundles of dry leafy twigs called tali and taken indoors.
- The treatment and disposal of cocoons involves unwinding cocoons to make raw silk. The pupae are killed inside the cocoons before they emerge as adults. This is done either by exposing them to the sun or by heating them in a special drying chamber. The cocoons are sorted out for reeling. Before reeling, the muga cocoons are cooked in an alkaline solution of soda ash for an hour. This helps to soften the natural gum, serecin, which holds the filaments together. The true end of the filament is found and a number of cocoons are transferred to the reeling basin containing tepid water. Two methods of reeling are prevalent-the traditional, which involves two persons, and a recent one that employs a fast operating machine with the operator using both hands for reeling. Half of the silk in each cocoon is considered reliable and the remainder, used as silk waste, noil, is transformed into spun silk. After the reeling, the muga threads are dried in the shade for three-four days, following which then they are wound into skeins on a sereki. The sizing of the skeins involves the application of a mixture of powdered rice and water.
The textiles of this group vary considerably in quality, but are all characterized by designs depicting scenes from the life of Krishna. Most of these relate to his exploits as a killer of demons in various animal forms (crane, the snake and others) or as a lover of the cowherds (gopi) with whom he passed his youth in the forests of Vrindavan.
This vastra was to perform unusual role in Vaishnavite worship. The drawing of the figures is fine and well conceived with an interesting variation of scale between rows. The only poorly woven section are the inscriptions which are barely decipherable as the names of the figures are in some cases reversed.
Traditionally men folk of plains wear mill- made dhuties and small or big sized sola/fatua (shirt) and vest or eri-chaddar. In villages, rich men use headgear. They use japi (hat) while working in paddy fields. The young boys use dhuti, genji only on some occasions but they prefer using western dresses. The Assamese wear bare foot. The Assamese ladies enter the kitchen bare foot. The Assamese young boys use on occasions headgears with their gomacha, which they tie to their hip, especially when they are dancing in Bihu to cover the waist with the dhuti. Some young men use Khaddar clothes.
The culture of Assam is incomplete without a description of the weaving culture among the
Bodos. The dress of the Bodo is similar to those worn by the rural Assamese folks. The women wear
Mekhela, Chaddar and Riha while the men use dhoti and Chaddars. In winter, they wear thickly woven endi
Chaddars. However, the design of their Mekhela is much simpler than those of Assamese
non-tribals.
Dimasa Kachchari
The tradition of rearing silk cocoon, reeling and spinning into yarn and finally weaving into fabrics was a flourishing industry among the people of this tribe. The fabric produced by them was superior to any other Endi, produced fabric woven elsewhere in the country.
The dress reflects the culture of the people. This is true in case f the Dimasas too. A Dimasa man wears a Risha similar to Dhoti but deep green in colour. He uses a chaddar called Rimsao beautifully designed to cover upper half of his body. Cotton or endi turban is the common headdress. A dimasa woman puts on a skirt known as Rigu similar to Assamese Mekhela or Meithei fanek. Either it is made of cotton or silk, may be white or coloured to cover her body below her waist. For covering upper part of her body, she uses a chaddar very artistically designed known as Rijamphai. Another chaddar also very beautifully designed know as Rikhaosa used during dances or ceremonial occasions.
Mech Kachchari
Mech Kacharias are famous for rearing silk worm particularly endi or eri and the feed plant that is wild castor or Ratanjyot or era are grown as their hedge plant. While they earn by selling cocoons or converting into cloth for their own need, the worm are used as their food. They spin cocoons to get yarns and then weave yarn to get cloth. Method of spinning is however, primitive so also weaving. The loom they use is known as Kanti loom which is made of bamboo. This loom is no doubt more productive than lion loom used by the Nagas or Kukies but certainly not as productive as fly shuttle loom. However, the spinning tradition is less among the Mech people.
They weave cloth with the help of either traditional kanti loom or throw shuttle loom. They get cotton mill yarn from the market while they get endi silk yarn from neighboring karbi people. It is believed weaving was absent in original Aitunia tradition but they learnt the art from the tradition of Assam. They weave traditional dresses for special or festive occasions. However, the male members have given up the practice of wearing the traditional dresses.
Thai Phakes
The dress of the people of this tribe includes articles of personal clothing’s used mainly for the purpose of covering. There are two types of dress among the
Phakes, namely general dress for every day use and special dress for particular occasions. Scanty ornaments are used. The dress of the elderly male is generally house woven chequered lungi
(Fatong) of green and black colour lined with red, yellow or white yarn, one
genji, one shirt (Sho) of mill made cloth purchased from the market and a white turban
(Fa Ho Ho). A white chaddar (about 2 meters long and 1 meter wide) with a plain border
(Fa Fek Mai) and white long sleeved shirt are worn by the elderly people when they go to the Vihar or to any distant places. In the congregational prayer, every one, except the boys and girls below the age of 10 years, wears the
chaddar. The young men and boys wear trousers and shirts when they go to Naharkatia or to their schools, while in the village they use their traditional
lungi. Girls, who have not attained puberty, use bazaar made frocks.
The Phake women wear their traditional dresses. The elderly female persons wear one girdle (Chin) around the waist extending up to their ankles. It is just like men’s lungi with the differences that the stripes in a Chin are breadth wise and the waist portion of the Chin is much thicker. To cover their breasts the women use a long stripped cloth called Fa
Nangwait, about 2.3 meters long and 1 meter wide). A cloth belt, Chairchin, about 6 centimeters wide and 1.5 meter long) is worn around their waist. Before the attainment of puberty, girls do not wear Fa
Nangwait. Instead, they wear a white cloth, Fafek, about 2 meters long and 1 meter wide, with or without border, to cover their breasts. If a girl has an unmarried elder sister, she does not wear a Fa Nangwait even though she has attained puberty. Wearing a Fafek is a sigh of unpreparedness for marriage. All the women wear an traditional white chaddar when they go to the Vihar or to a distant place. A similar chaddar is used as a veilby the bride during marriage ceremony. Elderly women wear a blouse called
Chekhamchum, which extends up to the waist. Young girls and the unmarried women war blouses of different colours but use of sleeveless or short blouse is not encouraged.
