Weaving a dream

“There are lots of expectations from the Centre as well as State governments. Weavers hope that they will get better wages and their work will get more exposure,” said Govardhana.

Hailing from the Puttapak village in Nalgonda district, this Padma Shri awardee works towards the betterment of the weavers. “I am a super master weaver and I try to give more work to weavers who work in remote villages. We try to give them full freedom to come up with their own designs,” says Govardhana.

In 1975, Govardhana worked for the Ministry of Textiles, Weavers’ Service Centre. He toured many places and came to know about the dying art of Teliya.

At Chirala, in the Prakasam district of Andhra Pradesh, the weavers had almost stopped making Teliya Rumals. He studied this dying art and introduced it in his village, making saris and dupattas from the designs.

Papul Jayekar, a senior member of the Handloom Advisory Committee, came to know about it and ordered it in bulk for the Festival of India in London.

And soon the international market took an interest. “By 1983, weavers started getting orders. This is how the Teliya was revived. Teliya is a process of dyeing using oils (natural dyes),” says Govardhana.

He is a recipient of the National Award (1983), the Unesco Excellency Award for Teliya Rumals (2006) and the Shilpa Guru Award (2007).

Stating that weavers do not need raw materials in subsidised rates, Govardhana adds, “What they actually need is the price for their final product. If the end product is bought by the government, the weavers will get the direct benefit,” he says.

Also, weavers need to be retained. The reason that handloom is a dying art is because weavers don’t want their children to take up the profession. Govardhana, along with Craft Council of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, pay a stipend to 50 such families to enable them to educate their children, provided they learn the art.