Gollabhama Saree

Gollabhama sarees, hailing from Siddipet in Telangana, are a globally recognized textile art form, distinguished by their unique woven motifs and protected by a Geographical Indication (GI) tag. These sarees derive their name from the intricate "Gollabhama" (milkmaid) motifs inspired by the lore of Lord Krishna and the Golla community. Despite their international fame and cultural significance, the weavers behind these masterpieces face significant challenges, with sales remaining discouraging and their numbers dwindling dramatically. This document delves into the art, process, and current state of the Siddipet Gollabhama handloom tradition, exploring its rich heritage and the urgent need for its preservation.

The Art and Motifs of Gollabhama Sarees

This section covers the defining visual and thematic characteristics of the sarees.
The Iconic Motif: The sarees are named after the "Gollabhama" or milkmaid motif, which depicts the bewitching silhouette of women from the Golla community, inspired by tales from the Dwapara Yuga.
Design Structure: A typical saree is often a single colour, dotted with small butas (flower patterns) throughout the body. The main attraction is the border and/or pallu (end-piece), which showcases larger, intricate motifs.
Common Motifs: While Gollabhama is the most popular, other traditional motifs include Bathukamma (a vibrant floral stack from Telangana festivals) and Kolatam (a traditional stick-dance).
Weaving Style: The motifs are not embroidered or printed but are meticulously woven into the fabric, making the border the defining feature of the saree.

The Complex Weaving Process

This section explains the meticulous and time-consuming techniques involved in creating these sarees.

The Technique: Siddipet weave is a "tie and dye" (ikkat) technique. The uniqueness lies in tie-dyeing the warp and weft threads separately with precise patterns before they are woven together.

Pre-Weaving Preparation:

Design Transfer: The design is first drawn on a graph and then translated onto the loom using a set of 80-100 threads, which act as a guide for raising the warp.
Tie-Dyeing: The warp threads are meticulously wrapped and then dyed. The precision of this wrapping is crucial for obtaining clear designs on the final fabric.

The Weaving Stage

The weaver passes coloured threads through the warp according to the pre-set pattern to create each motif.
This process is incredibly detailed and time-consuming, requiring the weaver to pull the loom strings thousands of times while simultaneously swinging the pedal.
To save time, weavers often use a double-thread technique instead of a single thread.
Materials and Durability: The fabric used is primarily pure cotton, and the sarees are renowned for the durability of their colours, which are traditionally derived from natural sources.

The Weavers and the Market Reality

This section highlights the stark contrast between the sarees' glory and the weavers' current plight.

The Weavers' Co-operative: The Siddipet Handloom Weavers Co-operative Society Ltd., established in 1960, handles the marketing and sales of these cotton sarees.
Dwindling Community: In its heyday, there were about 2,000 Gollabhama weavers. Today, that number has catastrophically dwindled to only six.
Poor Remuneration: Weaving a single Gollabhama saree takes 3-4 days of skilled labour, for which a weaver earns a meagre ₹350.
Lack of Commercial Boost: Despite the global fame and the Geographical Indication tag, there has been no significant boost in sales for the weavers.

Efforts and Hope for Revival

Government Intervention: The Chief Minister of Telangana, K. Chandrashekhar Rao, has called for measures to support weavers, including offering subsidies on yarn and buying existing stock to encourage specialty brands like Gollabhama.
Product Diversification: A key strategy for sustainability is getting weavers to incorporate the traditional motifs into smaller, more frequently bought items like stoles, dupattas, and scarves, and to experiment with new colour palettes. This is reportedly happening, albeit slowly.
Market Adaptation: Weavers are modernizing their looms and actively creating a market by organizing regular exhibitions. There is a growing interest among customers for handloom products, which is seen as an advantage.
Leveraging Technology: The advent of e-commerce and social media is helping the tradition regain prominence, providing hope for a strong revival of the trade.

 

https://floatstheboat.wordpress.com/2017/04/13/siddipet-gollabhama-sarees/

http://golkondacrafts.telangana.gov.in/category_siddipet_handlooms.html

https://telanganatoday.com/extinction-looms-gollabhama-weavers