Cost estimation and Technology of Banaras Handloom [Pit loom]
Introduction
Handlooms are widely used across India to produce silk fabric. Varanasi silk fabric, especially Banarasi silk sarees, is widely popular in the country as well as in the outside world for its uniqueness in design and brilliant look. Varieties of popular designs are produced by the expert weavers of Varanasi, such as Katan, Satin, Chiffon, etc., using handlooms usually termed as pit looms. There are approximately 34,000 pit looms available in Varanasi, which is most specific in construction, and the mode of operation of the loom differs from handlooms available in other parts of the country. The uniqueness of these looms is the production of a specific design with 3/4 different weft threads and is popularly known as Varanasi design. Although Varanasi pit loom is very popular amongst the weavers of these areas, the information regarding technical specification, material used, and costing of these looms are not available for further study. Therefore, a survey across Varanasi has been done for cost estimation and technical details of Varanasi handloom, and the findings are presented in this paper.
The survey period is from the month of September 2010 to October 2010. Areas visited are Lohta, Natiimili Kotwan, Ramangar, Saranth, Hirayanpur, Pandeypur, Bikapur (Jagatpur), Bajardiya, and Pili Koti.
The authors D. Sargunamani, Jayanta Ghose & Dinesh Tomar are associated with Textile Testing Laboratory, CSRTI, CSB, Varanasi, U.P, India, and Shambulingappa and B. Hubbali are with CSTRI, CSB, Bangalore, Karnataka, India
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