Kotpad Textile: A Tale of Natural Dyeing Art

The richness of Indian textiles is reflected in the handloom products, which comprise the largest cottage industry of the country. Millions of looms are engaged in weaving cotton, silk, and other natural fibres across the country. The state of Odisha has one of the richest and oldest handloom traditions in India. The age old tribal weave “Kotpad” created by the Mirgan community of Kotpad village in the Koraput district of Odisha, has retained a distinct native identity. 

Origin of Kotpad Weave

Now the textile industry is moving towards sustainability and eco-friendly technology, therefore Kotpad has occupied a prominent place in the handloom industry. Kotpad is a unique weaving tradition that is preserved by the Mirgan community. There is not much known about the origin of this weave, but it is passed down to several generations. Panika weavers (Mirgan) engaged in Kotpad weaving probably since the 3rd century. Kotpad weave stands out because of the reflection of ancient tradition, and a special bond with nature. Kotpad Textiles have been made in Koraput in Odisha and neighbouring Bastar in Chhattisgarh for many centuries. The Kotpad region is historically the home of tribes like Bhatra, Munia, Gond, Munda, oraon, Santhal, Kandha and Bonda, and earlier this textile was worn by these communities. Men wear it as a shoulder cloth or as a head cloth. Women use two pieces of generally 3.5 meters long and almost a meter wide each. They wrap one piece as a skirt, and another piece is draped around the body and tied on one side of the shoulder. “Kotpad” textile is one of the rarest of Indian weaves and received a GI tag in 2005. 

Raw Materials Required for Dyeing

1. Yarn: Earlier, unprocessed thick, rough cotton locally known as “kachasuta” was used to weave the cloth. But now cotton and Tussar yarn in the form of rolls (locally called muda) are purchased from Jagdalpur, Rayagada, and Sambalpur.  The cotton of 14s and 20s count is generally woven, hence the fabric is coarse and thick. 
2. Aal (Morinda citrifolia /Indian mulberry/madder) Dye: Morinda citrifolia also known as Indian Mulberry, is a straight, tall tree with broad, elliptical, bright green leaves and white flowers, grown mainly in the forests of Kalahandi and Malkangiri forests of Odisha. Today, madder trees are cultivated. The roots of these trees’ are dug out, and the root bark is used for the natural dye. The thinner roots of the 3-4 year old plants give intense colour therefore, roots thicker than 1.3 cm are considered useless and discarded. The bark is separated from the roots, washed, and dried in the sun. Today the dried bark is taken to the mill to be ground to a fine powder   and then stored in an earthen pot to use as the natural dye. The dyers purchase the dried root bark of Morinda citrifolia from the weekly markets or haat from the Muria, Parjas, and Gadvas tribes.
3. Ferrous sulphate (kumahar pathar): Ferrous Sulphate is required to dye the yarn in blackish/bluish red. This is known as kumahar pathar and locally available from the blacksmith. Kumahar pathar is crushed and pound into powder in a dhenki (wooden grinder operated by foot). 

1. Castor oil: Castor oil is ricin oleic acid and used to make the yarn saturated and soft.
2. Cow Dung: Cow dung acts as a bleaching agent and is used when dyeing the cotton yarn.
3. Starch: Starch is made with water and flour. Starch is applied to the yarn before setting it on the pit loom. Starch helps to provide strength to the yarn and also protects the yarn from tangling and breaking.
4. Alkaline solution (Kharapani): It is a solution of water and wood ash or Niger seed husk (Ramtil/kalatil) or gingili/sesam stalk (safedtil).
5. Reetha and shikakai: once the weaving is completed, the fabric is washed with natural soap, reetha and shikakai to make the colour permanent and strong.

Process of Dyeing the Yarn

The most interesting part of this weave is that only the women, the wives of the weavers of the Panika Community, are involved in the dying process. Dyeing of the yarns is done normally during the winter season, and it required a minimum one month to dye the unbleached cotton. They dyed yarn for their own weavers in Kotpad and also for the weavers in the neighbouring state of Chhattisgarh. The dyeing process is manually intensive, tedious, time consuming, and lengthy. Aal dying process is spread over various stages, and the girls help their mother at a very young age. The peculiarity of dyeing with aal is that the yarn is going through the treatment of castor oil, cow dung, and alkaline water before dying because aal has no direct affinity for the yarn. 

(i) Treatment with castor oil:  normally one bundle of yarn is about 5 kilograms. First these hunks of yarn are thoroughly washed with cold water, and after squeezing excess water, they are spread on a chatai (wooden plank). These washed hanks of yarn were either dipped in a solution of castor oil and water or applied by hand to the yarn. Appling the solution by hand is more effective as it spreads the oil evenly. Then the yarn is rubbed with the palm and kneaded with feet for some time for better penetration of the castor oil. This process is repeated few times till the yarn becomes saturated and soft.

(ii) Treatment with cow dung: next step is to apply cow dung, which is used as a bleaching agent, and ensure that the dye is properly absorbed by the yarn and it becomes off-white in colour. The enzyme present in the cow dung helps castor oil to form soap and partial bleaching of the yarn. Fresh cow dung is mixed with water to make a thick paste and rubbed on the castor oil treated yarn. The extra solution is squeezed out and spread on bamboo rods for drying in the sunlight. This process is repeated for darker shades. 

(iii) Treatment with alkaline solution: in an earthen pot, ash of brunt wood or Niger seed husk (ramtil/kalatil) or gingili/sesam stack is mixed with water and kept overnight to allow the ash to settle on the bottom of the container. The clear water from the top is transferred to another earthen pot and heated at a temperature of 50 0Cto 60 0C. The castor oil and cow dung coated dried yarn spread evenly on a chatai (wooden plank). The alkaline solution is sprinkled on the yarns till these yarns are completely drenched and then kneaded by hand and feet. This process is repeated for 2 to 3 times a day and continued till the yarns start oozing foam. This indicates the yarns are ready to react with the dye. Now the yarn is washed thoroughly in clean water and is kept in the sun for drying. After washing, the yarn looks dull yellowish brown. The local ash wood has alumina, which ensures proper dyeing of rich, deep, and intense red colour.

(iv) Dyeing Process with Aal Powder: Aal root powder and water are mixed to get a good dyeing solution in a wide mouthed earthen pot. Pre-treated yarns are then immersed in the solution and rubbed with hands to spread the dye evenly. Aal powder is sprinkled over the hunks and kneaded for 15 to 20 minutes. The yarn is then again put back into the earthen pot with aal solution and is kept in the bright sun for one day. Next morning the pot is put on fire and boiled till the solution evaporates completely. The yarns are stirred with the help of a wooden stick, washed, and dried in the sun. The Same process is repeated if they want a darker shade of red colour. Now the dried yarn called Achi is ready for weaving. 

Dyeing for darker shade; Iron sulphate is used to get the blackish red and coffee colours. Iron sulphate (iron fillings) mixed with jaggery and water and kept for fermentation in an earthen pot for 3 to 4 days till the solution turns black. This fermented liquor is mixed with Aal dye, and the same dyeing process continues.

It takes 25 to 30 days to complete one cycle of dyeing. Five shades of red and brown are obtained from this natural dye, namely “dull brick red” (jyotilancha), “bright brick red” (kariyaancha), “maroon” (jotilgahir), “blackish maroon”(kariyagahir),  “black”(kala) and the white unbleached yarn is locally known as “kora”. The main requirement of dyeing is sunlight and without which the dyeing process cannot be completed, so the best period to dye the yarn is between November and March.

Kotpad Handloom

The men of the Mirgan community are weavers, and they weave on pit looms. Starch is applied to the yarn before it is set on the loom to provide strength and prevent it from breaking and tangling. The fabric is woven with three shuttle weaving techniques for the solid temple border, and extra weft for motifs is inserted whenever required. Tools used for the weaving are Bharni, Tossar, Pawan (Warping Board), Purni, Kangi (Comb), Nathi (Spindle), Chipana, Dongi (Shuttle). Now the minute and detailed work is in demand. So the weavers weave finer motifs, comparatively finer counts, and fabric of different widths, to suit the demand of the market. Once the weaving is completed, the fabric is washed with natural soap, Reetha and Shikakai to make the colour permanent and strong.

Motifs and Designs

Like any other form of weave, the motives of kotpad handloom are passed down from generation to generation. The panikars are inspired by nature and the world around them. Leaves, animals, rivers, farms, flowers, cheeta (leopard), snake, axes, conch, boat, temple, fish, pot, birds, trees, and hut are the traditional motifs, and non-traditional motifs like umbrellas and airplanes are the parts of kotpad fabric. The designs have changed over the period due to the changing market conditions and also as per the demand for the product. These tribal motifs are fascinating and have some symbolic connotation also. Lotus (Padma) is associated with the goddess of wealth Laxmi, the fish symbolises prosperity, the peacock symbolize beauty and strength, the swan (hansa) is associated with the (vahana) goddess of learning, Saraswati, the lion (singha), signifies bravery, authority, and is also associated with the goddess Durga. 

Challenges

Like other traditional crafts the “kotpad handloom” has its challenges. 

• Madder tree (Indian mulberry/Aal tree) is under threat. Though the roots of the madder tree are used as dyeing substances, it may affect the life of these trees in the future. 
• Since the processes of dyeing and weaving are time -consuming and tedious, the younger generation finds the craft labour intensive, repetitive, and less lucrative and moves towards other professions. There has been a decline in the number of artisans over the number of years.
•  Kotpad natural dye handloom fabric are labour-intensive and time consuming, so the products are relatively expensive, and considered as niche and luxury products.
•  Lack of awareness among the consumers about the tedious process of making the products and the beauty of the materials would not share the sentiment and value of the products.
• Facing competition from cheap, more colourful and easy –to- maintain chemical dyeing and power loom products. 
• The entire dyeing process is lengthy, and the dyeing is made between November and March, so there is a mismatch between the demand and supply.
•  In the absence of local markets the weavers sell their produce to the designers in cities. 
• Lack of basic infrastructure in general, such as electricity and internet connectivity.

Simplicity in design. (Source: Biswanath Rath)

Initiatives taken

• An encouraging step of plantation of Aal tree in the Thenguda village of the Kotpad block in the Koraput district by the government of Odisha in 2019.
• From 1985, Panikaras began to get exposure to a wider market by the state government, central government, and designers. Government exhibitions and fairs helped to provide these eye-catching, sophisticated, and outstanding textiles an identity in domestic markets, and weavers started getting orders from Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bhubaneswar etc.
• Under the “Kalinga Vastra Programme” of the Government of Odisha, the Panikar weavers are trained and encouraged by the designers to weave full length saris (6 m).
•  With the intervention of freelance designers, the weaver also expanded the product range to full length saris, dress materials, home furnishing, dupattas, stoles, kurtas etc.
• For product development, training programme for weavers with designers of NIFT Bhubaneswar, NIFT Delhi, and connection with the designers to encourage the use of Kotpad fabric.
• Technology advancements (e-commerce) enable weavers to sell directly to the consumers and eliminate the layers of middlemen to a certain extent.  

Conclusion

The real beauty of Kotpad handloom is that each piece is unique and so special in the traditions of the tribes of this region.  Soft cotton fabric woven delicately into black, white, and different shades of red yarns, defines the identity of Kotpad village in Koraput district. These limited but mysterious colours and motifs drawn from nature transform the threads into an art piece that one can wear. For the survival of one of the very few natural dyeing techniques in the country, procedural inefficiencies should be removed, the younger generation should be motivated to weave, the customer base should increase, and a strategic knowledge- driven support system should be implemented. 

Image: peepul tree

Few Lines about Kotpad Textiles 

• The fabric is organic, eco-friendly and non-toxic.
• Natural dyes are non-allergic, and non-toxic, so not harmful to the skin.
• Fabrics dyed with Aal (Morinda citrifolia), gives cooling   effect and hence men wear it as a shoulder cloth or as a head cloth.
• Aal tree becoming extinct, so plantation of these trees in large scale is required. (The mirgan weavers claim that, harvesting the root is not harmful to the tree. This claim is based on their traditional ecological knowledge acquired with their intimate involvement with the nature, which cannot be totally ignored.)
• Growing demand for this eco-friendly, organic products.
• Motifs are mostly inspired by nature, have symbolic meaning, and in spite of being coarse and  thick, this fabric is simple and elegant. 

References

1. singhee Deepali “Sustaining the future of the traditionally woven textiles of Koraput”, Journal of the Textile Association · August 2021
2. Sahoo Manas Ranjan “Effectiveness of Development Schemes for Handloom Weavers: A Way to Achive the Sustainable Development Goals” SKYLINES OF ANTHROPOLOGY, Vol. 2, No. 2, 2022, pp. 119-133.
3. Dhingra  Sudha “Dyeing withMorinda citrifolia: In Pursuit of Sustainable future”, Textile Society of America Symposium Proceedings Textile Society of America ,2016 
4. Rao .B.kotpad/Bastar textile,https://www.facebook.com.
5. Chaudhury C, the dyers of Kotpad,https://www.livemint.com
6. Dr. Bhowmik Manas Ranjan and Baidya Shantanu, “Technology and Handloom Weaving Industry: Mechanization, ICT and AI’’ JETIR Volume 11, Issue 8 August 2024.
7. Interview with master craftsmen,craftmark, hand made in India.
8. The Red Thread: “Tale of of Kotpad Weaving in Odisha (https:/www.orissapost.com)august, 8th 2018.
9.  Govt of India ministry of skill development and entrepreneurship. Human resource and skill requirements in the handlooms and handicrafts sector,(2013-17, 2017-22) 
10. Tarai Santosh,   Entrepreneurial Development in Handloom Sector through Effective Strategy Formulation: An Empirical Study in         Odisha, state of India. J textile Eng Fashion techno.2020-6: