An untouched knot of India: The Carpet industry of Gwalior.

The first day in Gwalior started like a treasure hunt game. We just had one clue and we had to find the treasure. We roamed around the entire city asking for addresses of carpet sellers or weaving centres. After wandering for a good 4-5 hours we reached the outskirts of Gwalior. We saw a building that looked abandoned from the outside. There was nothing around other than small thorny shrubs. The building had a board which said 'Mahila Prashikshan Kendra, Kaleen Park'. Finally, we saw the word ‘Kaleen’ in the city. We went inside, and a guard came to greet us. We entered the premises. It was very hot that day and we were sweating like a pig. We went inside the building with zero expectations and what we saw was true beauty.

We saw 20 standing looms, and some weavers knotting carpets quietly. We all were too excited to find out more and talk to these artisans. I saw a very old man working. I looked at him and he gave me a sweet smile. So I went up to him and sat beside him. His name was Jagdish, after a bit of small talk he told me that he has been working on the loom since his childhood. He said “This is the only thing I know, hume aur kuch nahi aata” Jagdish ji is 65 years old, still working to earn for his family.

He lives in Bakra Mandi, Gwalior. He has a son who knows how to weave but is not interested in continuing this craft. He works in a local bank. While he was telling me his life story his hands didn't stop. He kept knotting the thread and I kept untying his story. After listening to him I looked at the loom with a blank state of mind, I was stunned. The carpets that these artisans are creating are mesmerising, and the effort that goes into making these carpets is way beyond our imagination.

(Image: Jagdish ji sleeping beside the loom in afternoon break)

PROCESS OF CARPET MAKING

Chandra Prakash Prajapati is a master artisan who is the head of Kaleen Park. In conversation with him, he told us a lot about the whole process of making these royal floor coverings.

(Image: Chandra Prakash Prajapati- master artisan, Head of Kaleen Park)

They use cotton, wool and artificial silk yarn. The woollen yarn is a mixture of 50% Indian wool and the remaining 50 % New Zealand wool which is ordered from factories in Bikaner. The Bikaner market is one of the largest markets for wool. They supply wool to various cities in India and around the world. The availability of various breeds of sheep makes Rajasthan the biggest supplier in India. Sheep wool is short and has a rough texture so they mix New Zealand wool as carpet wool demands a softer feel. The artificial silk (Rayon) yarn is sourced from Ludhiana and Panipat. Viscose is derived from the cellulose or wood pulp from fast-growing trees like Eucalyptus, Beech, Pine etc. A viscous orange-brown solution is obtained by treating cellulose with sodium hydroxide and carbon disulphide, which is used as the basis for manufacturing rayon fibre. Because of its smooth and comfortable texture, it becomes a good substitute for silk. Cotton yarn is sourced locally from fabric manufacturing factories in Madhya Pradesh. They get the yarn dyed from these factories themselves, there was no specific dyeing area in Gwalior. Usually, the process of carpet-making starts with the separation of yarn to remove clumps and other material that may have gotten stuck in it. But here in Kaleen Park, they get bundles of separated yarn which they call lachhiya.

The colours of yarn that we saw in Kaleen Park were mostly pastel and muted.

(Image: Yarn stock in Kaleen Park)

We were surprised to see such a mature selection of colours. He told us that all the carpets that we make are exported to European countries. This explains a lot about the colour selection.

This led me to research more about the colour psychology of the West. Why do the people in the West like these pastel colours? What must be the story behind this? Can colours be a significant part of any culture?

1. COLOUR PSYCHOLOGY - how colours affect cultures

(Image: Closeup of Carpet made at Kaleen Park)

The people in the West, particularly in Europe, wear black, grey and beige coats and suits. It's almost as if they are walking out of a church or a funeral. Not trying to generalise but even their summer wear is very pastel, on the other hand in South Asian countries we find a lot of colour influence on the practices, religion and aesthetics. To understand this deeply we need to look at the history of this place. Europe had to look at their god dying on the cross (referring to Jesus Christ) and then Nazi Germany happened. Such historical incidents affected the aesthetic of the culture. Mass psychology developed where people did not like the idea of ‘excess’, excess of life, or sexuality, of the body. And colours represent excess so an ordered society is a colourless society for example if you search for an image of a highly developed city you will barely see a colourful picture. You will find blues and greys and blocks of structures. The way colours move within history is very subtle yet very obvious. Due to a series of dark events the Western people have a very muted aesthetic as compared to the East. ( reference guide - Chromophobia written by David Batchelor). Red has been the classic colour of carpets. We often use the term ‘red carpet events' or use phrases like 'it's your red carpet moment' Red is still the ruling royal colour in the carpet industry, but the shade of red is also a bit muted for appealing to the western market.

(Image: Carpet made at Kaleen Park)

1. DESIGN BREAKDOWN OF THE CARPET

The designer creates the Naksha of 1/4th size of the carpet (25%) and which was repeated thrice to become the complete design. In some carpets, the design was repeated only once (the design was 50% of the carpet). The designs were so seamless and flowy that one couldn't find the repeat section. It all came together in the end product. Knowingly or Unknowingly Radhey Shyam Ji was creating William Morris prints. Gwalior carpets celebrate the natural world with its emphasis on design principles like harmony, symmetry and balance of colours. The patterns display the value of artisanship and the intimate connection between form and beauty. The most distinctive designs include - PKD (Phoolon ka Guldasta) design which consists of big flowers placed in a balanced way, Kirman - only border design (empty in the middle)

Khatras - small rectangular boxes placed unevenly (the designer mentioned the words “ khatrass matlab aisa design jo khatakta hai”) by which he meant asymmetry does not appeal to the human eye as much as symmetry does.

The designers here understand design principles way better than we do, they just don't know the technical terms for them. They have their own language of design. Litchi - a repeat design that looked like the fruit litchi he generally uses 5 colours for this design (grey, blue, red, green, black) Amadaan -a design of big symmetrical boxes Amritsari parda - forms a ‘V-shaped motif repeat. Palace dayal - consists of 5 colours, a border and a hexagonal shaped motif, Barfi - diamond-shaped motif design mostly found in the border design, Hunting design - Shikar, it consists of animals like tiger, lion and deers in jungle setting in the background. Animals aren’t popular design motifs anymore they used to be popular 20 years back Horses, elephants, camels and peacocks were popular picks. Buntiya - a floral motif which is peculiar to Gwalior carpet is a flower design having four petals ( mostly used to fill in the negative space). All the carpets have a border, even circular carpets have small borders; Decorated with tassels to give a proper finished look. All the carpet layouts are different yet they have one similar quality i.e they are symmetrical.

Shankarpur was our next destination to see looms in the homes of Gwalior. There was a time when almost every house in the city had one loom, about 25 years ago. Slowly and steadily this craft is vanishing. Now only a few households continue to work from home. Narayan Prajapati Ji accompanied us to Shankarpur. He is the brother of Chandraprakash ji who is actively working with him in his business. He is responsible for managing the work with the artisans who work from their homes. Narayan Ji provides the artisan families with all the raw materials and also warps the loom. The artisans have to only make the carpet by following the given design in a fixed time frame.

Shankarpur is a very small area about 10 kilometres away from the main city. Mostly the houses here were made of mud. The drainage system was very poorly maintained. The place had not more than a two-storeyed building. We could hear goats bleating and cows mooing. We were walking on the bumpy street and suddenly we spotted a big loom in the courtyard of a small house. Narayan ji said, “Yes exactly this is the house where we are going”. We entered the house and the whole family came to greet us We saw the girls and the women of the house working on the loom. Salma Hussain, the head of the family who was 55 years old, has been working on the loom since her childhood. Her daughter Chaman is now continuing the work. Chaman is a 17-year-old young girl who left school at a very young age and has been knotting on the loom since then.

(Image: Chaman)

She is happy that earns something for the family. Salma Ji told us that the work was completely shut down due to the lockdown as there were no orders in the hands of their Thekedaar. She said that the loom was untouched for 2 years. The carpet that they were working on at that time was the first one after the pandemic. Four women of the family were working on the loom at full speed and with complete accuracy. Narayan ji had assigned the family to complete a 14 by 16 feet deep red carpet to be completed in a time frame of 2 months for which the artisans would get 26 thousand rupees after completion. This amount would be divided between the four women working on the loom (which is approximately 217 rupees per day).

The next house that we visited was the Khan family. Here we saw a mother and a daughter knotting together relentlessly. Badrunisah Khan is 55 years old and her daughter Zeenat is 17.

(Image: Badrunisah Khan)

Zeenat has a work experience of 5 years which means that she left her schooling at the age of 12. She did not talk much but mentioned that she did not like school much and kept knotting. Her mother has been working since the age of 10. The next place that we went to was a small Kaleen park in Shankarpur. It was a small centre where Narayan ji had made an arrangement of 4 standing looms where all the women workers were working together. They were of the same family. There we met Sofia, an 18-year-old girl who did not like to knot the carpets. She was more inclined towards school and wanted to study. She had left school after 5th std. We found out whether there exists a proper school in this area. There was a government school in Shankarpur till 10th std. But the artisan families did not want their daughters to go out after a certain age which hampered their schooling.

(Image: Sofia)

THE DILEMMA

We all were thinking about the issue of kids leaving school and working on the looms. What should be done so that the children continue schooling? Will this craft be extinct? What is the solution? At that time we couldn't find any. But later that same day we found a completely new perspective.

We were out of more contacts and again we were at a dead end. Our last hope was Ms Shabnam Khan, an active member of CID. She met us in the Gwalior fort garden. By now we had a fixed questionnaire for everyone. And we also received similar responses.

So we asked her what do you think of this craft. We got an answer that we were completely not expecting. She said, “ I strongly feel that this craft should be stopped!”.

We were shocked and curious. We asked her to please explain to us why she feels this way.

THE LIFE OF AN ARTISAN

A woman works on the loom for more than 8 hours in a day if she has the loom at her home. She gets not more than 200/- per day. The Minimum pay scale for artisans is 400/- per day. The artisans sit in one place and work continuously for hours which affects their health adversely. It affects their eyesight, severe back problems. Shabnam ji also added that artisans have reported lung problems due to breathing in weeps of wool. She said that the artisans should get fair wages. She said that it would be better if the artisans sell the carpet at their own price, but for this, they need to educate themselves.

There is a system in this industry which does not care about the artisans. The middle man is the problem but he is also the connecting link between the market and the artisan. Let’s understand this with the help of an example. A carpet of 10 by 14 feet is to be made of wool on wool material. The price at which it will be sold is 2 lakhs. A contractor will receive this order. The contractor will provide the raw material to the artisans. If 2 artisans work on the carpet on a daily basis it will take two months to complete the whole piece. If the contractor gives 200/- per day to one artisan he will pay 12,000/- to one artisan. So he will pay 24,000/- to two artisans.

This explains how much a contractor must be earning even after cutting the raw material and finishing the costing. This is an example of the clear exploitation of artisans.

WHERE IS THE ART

When one looks at this state of the craft the beauty vanishes. The magnanimous carpet is no longer beautiful when you see its darker side. The artist who is creating these pieces is kept unaware of his own rights. The artisans do not even get the minimum of what they deserve.

This exploitation done by the middleman should be stopped.

One buys these luxury carpets to adorn their living spaces. They are people who appreciate art and want to live and breathe art. They surely don't want the artist of their carpets to be treated this way. Will a true lover of art buy these carpets if they come to know the reality of it all?