One of the most traditional cultures of the country, handloom is the rich traditional practice of the country. Geometric patterned durries are the most famous durries from Warangal and are in demand both in national and international markets. This is Warangal’s famous durries are now available to the world.
Recently, e-commerce giant Amazon signed a memorandum of understanding with the Telangana Department of Handlooms and Textiles to help handloom clusters in Warangal, etc. Durries of Warangal till date and just one of the few crafts left in the country that is still done by hand.
In a few past years, the new screen-printing techniques and Kalamkari prints were evolved and adapted to warragal durries. And the designs of durries are geometric, angular motifs, and colored horizontal stripes.
Furthermore, the Warangal Durries are made on 3 different types of looms, Pit loom, Frame loom, and Power loom. Let’s understand these terms.
Pit Loom– A pit loom is used for weaving the carpet, which is completely hand-operated. The Shuttle is manually moved by hand and it is called Pit Loom because a pit needs to be dug in the ground for inserting pedals.
Frame Loom– it is just similar to a pit loom; it has a pedal but does not need a pit to be dug. The only difference is that in a frame loom the shuttle is not operated by the weaver, and moves by the mechanism of pulling.
Power Loom– All the operations that are being done on a power loom are automatic and only require manual insertion of the yarn.
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You know, the Warangal durries are so famous due to many reasons, the first reason is, the durries or rugs are been made by using vegetable colors and washed in flowing water after printing and then became a hub for weaving these rugs, as the availability of cotton is present in a wide range, which is grown by farmers.
However, only two colors are being used in this that are red and blue, the design also has flat weaves with raised or extra weft patterns. Pit looms and frame looms are equipped with pedals here. As the wide range of durries are been woven in cotton and also in jute and wool, then export to the market.
This is a very ancient tradition, and people used the old technique in making this taught by the elders, even in some families this is been used for centuries and passed this technique from one generation to another. The weavers make the durry at such a small amount. The technique needs years of practice to make durry by hand, as the art of making durries is at a risk now.
However, Warangal is an important durry weaving center with a strong local flavor for a long time, the tradition of making durries is going from the Mughal Era when the Mughal army came down to south India, and an army comprising of artists and crafts person started making carpets and soon later, the people accepted this thing as part of their income and passed it from generations after generations since more than hundreds of years.
If you remember, most parts of the handloom crafts were done by females, same as, in making durries females are working more. However, the pit loom part is only done by men, and all other activities are done by females.
The main and important concern of making durries is Ventilation and cleanliness, as weavers only rely on the natural sunlight and you could not find any artificial lights or not even fans at the workplace, even the ceilings have been designed in such a way that allows the maximum sunlight to come inside. The raw material is cotton and it is spreading everywhere at the workplace those fibres are not removed because it gets dirty if they are removed it.
Moreover, durry weaving is a big industry in Warangal with a large number of skilled weavers, fine craftsmen, and durries becoming popular across India as well as abroad. According to the Handloom Export Promotion Council, the 80% of handwoven durries sold in European and American markets are woven in India.
Additionally, the first weaver Pitta Ramulu awarded a National Handloom Award in 2015. It is the first time that a weaver from the 100-year-old handloom industry of Warangal district got recognized with a national award.
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