Handicrafts And Textiles - The Pride Of India

Every region in India has its unique handicraft tradition, mostly using locally available material. Being a labour intensive sector, it supplies employment to lakhs of artisans all over the country. While for many artisans and workers, making handicrafts is a full-time livelihood, it also serves as an alternate source of income for the agricultural workers, who keep themselves employed in this sector during lean periods in agriculture. Womenfolk in farm families also use this as a means of gainful employment after their menfolk go to the fields. The handicrafts and textiles sector is a major source of livelihood throughout rural India.

The sector is also an important foreign exchange earner, as it has very high export potential. Indian handicrafts and textiles are in great demand abroad with their unique motifs and colourful textures. Indian handicraft products like shawls, jewellery, bags, wooden carvings, embroidered materialare all popular at international levels as well.

Every student of Indian history knows about the artefacts that were found at the site of the famous Mohenjo- daro and Harappan civilization. The statue of the dancing girl, the jewellery - all are testimony to the fact that handicrafts have been part of Indian tradition since the period of the Indus Valley civilization, if not earlier. Subsequent races and dynasties continued this glorious tradition, incorporating their individual styles and using specific materials, be it wood artefacts of Saharanpur, bidri work in Andhra Pradesh, the floral motifs of the Indo-Persian style, the rich zari work found in Kanchipuram silks, the puppets of Rajasthan and all.

The heritage of Indian textiles also goes back to the Indus Valley civilization, where homespun cotton was used to weave clothes. Every region has its typical textile tradition. The rich Kanchipuram silk sarees of the South, the muga and tussar silks of the north east, the grand Banarasi sarees.