From Excellence to Survival A Study on the Buddhist Weavers of Odisha

Abstract

The handloom Industry is the village based and labour intensive. It provides large no of newlineemployment to the rural and semi-rural people in a developing country like India. Even more than seven newlinedecades of Independence, India still surviving for development. Most of the people of India are living in newlinethe village and as well as India is also a village based Country. So, if the development of small scale newlineindustry like handloom industry could not be done, then the development of Indian village and India newlinecannot be made sound. Hence, we have to develop the village based industry for the development of the newlineCountry. That s why we have the slogan the development of village is the development of country . If newlinethe economy standard of Indian village can be develops, then the economy conditions of the India can be newlinedevelops. newlineThe Government of India conducted three handloom censuses in the 1987-88, 1995-96 and 2009 newline10. As per Handloom Census 2009-10, there is total no of Buddhist handloom households in Rural is newline23,018 and in Urban is 1658 in Total 24,676 Buddhist handloom households. Most of the Buddhist newlinehandloom households are in the states like Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha and newlineTripura. Very Less no of Buddhist handloom households are in the states like West Bengal, Uttarakhand, newlineUttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Sikkim, Punjab, Manipur, Meghalaya, Maharastra, Himachal Pradesh, newlineHaryana, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh. In the Indian States like Chatisgarh, Delhi, Gujarat, Jammu and newlineKasmir, Jharkhanda, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Puducherry, and Rajasthan there are no newlineBuddhist handloom households are found as per handloom census 2009-10. Most of Indian States which newlinehave Buddhist Handloom Weavers households are residing at Village. Hence, we can conclude here that newlineHandloom Industries Provides employment to most of the village/rural people of India According to 3rd National Census for Handloom in India 2009-10, there total no of households of newlineBuddhist handloom weavers are 850 which constitute only rural households in Odisha. It indicate that newlinemost of the Buddhist Households belongs to rural/village area of Odisha. newlineOur research place is the Cuttack District of Odisha. Most of the weavers are belonging to newlineBuddhist Handloom weavers in the Study area i.e. Cuttack District. The Maniabandha of Badamba newlineBlock, Nuapatana of Tigiria Block, Mahammadpur of Nischintakoili block and Ragadi of Banki Block newlineweavers are possibly the only traditional Buddhists left in India. They are vegetarians and believers of newlinenon-violence that can be seen even in their weaving. Today Maniabandha (Badamba Block of Cuttack), newlineNuapatana (Tigiria Block of Cuttack), Ragadi (Banki Block of Cuttack) and Mahammadpur newline(Nischintakoili Block of Cuttack) are not only important destination for textile lovers, but also for those newlinehaving deep interest in understanding and appreciating the syncretic culture practiced in the region. Now newlinearound 1000 families are engaging in production of different types of sarees, Gamuchha, Scrap etc in the newlineStudy area. The main occupation of these people is weaving of clothes by these handlooms. newline