Fading glory of an exquisite fabric called khun

“Iska bavishya nahin hai” Siddharamappa Malagi said in a way that both us who were struggling to make a conversation in Hindi could understand. He is very clear that with his generation khun weaving tradition in his family would end and a slow end overall to the tradition of weaving a special choli or blouse fabric in Guleddgud, small town in Bagalkot district of Karnataka, 22 km from the famous Chalukyan capital of Badami. Malagi’s less than modest home in one of the bylanes of the village hosts four pit looms, though only one was running during much of weavers’ siesta that afternoon.

The threads on the loom were vibrant green, magenta, yellow, bright and shining unlike the dull façade of the village or the drab, ordinary clothes the weavers themselves wore.  But, Malagi proudly talked about the beauty of the fabric he weaves, the purity of its silk and cotton used, and the natural indigo he used for the base blue that runs in the fabric even as other colours bring the waves, stars, squares the dobby would bring to it.

The double bordered 32” khun he weaves are the trademark blouse that women in Northern Karnataka and parts of Maharashtra wore at one point with a flourish. Even the Polka Parkars or the chaniya cholis girls wore in Maharashtra were made of khun for a long period, last century.

Today, khuns have moved away from the wardrobes of rich and ordinary to the living rooms as cushion covers and adorning dining table as mats. Fewer women, either the connoisseurs in cities or the simple rural women continue to wear them. But, a transformation of khun from being fabrics made only for blouses to fabric for upholstery and other uses would help in its survival, say some who genuinely feel for the fabric.  

In the process of metamorphosis of khun into bags, purses, even shoes its uniqueness of being exclusive choli material might be lost.  Khun meets and matches its country cousin Ilkal sarees and they are definitely made for each other – well, Ilkals aren’t doing well either and that is a different story.

Unlike the bleak picture one saw at Malagi’s the office cum residence of wholesale trader Sampath Rathi was bright and brisk handing out yarn to weavers,  handful of accounts people keeping books, and Rathi himself busy handling many who walked in for enquiries. A third generation in the textile trade at Guleddgudd Rathi supplies yarns to weavers, gets them converted into sarees and fabrics for a price, sometimes supporting weavers with advances for setting up looms, for their domestic needs.

Rathi too doesn’t know the background, history or origin of khun material. “Mere dadaji ke zamane se” is all that he can go back to in time. Just a 100 years is all they can think of, and none of them remember how or when khun came into their village. 

While Malagi has stuck to the old 32” inch standard size of khun, Rathi has gone ahead increasing the panna or width to 36”. Why did they make khun in such a short panna? For 32” is  not an easy width tailors these day work with – they demand 1.5 or 2 meters of khun to make a blouse in place of 80 cm or 1 meter of the mill made 2x2 fabrics, the staple blouse fabric of the day. Rathi guesses it must have been to save yarn, for making 32” would be cheaper. Did the small frame of rural women, combined with a peculiar way of patches that made the khun blouse leave it at 32” making it one of the unique just for choli fabric in the country?

The word khun or khana as it is pronounced itself means “a measure” indicating half a meter at present. It is accounted for as half a khana or one khana depending on the measure that was bought.  In a report submitted in 1927 on Arts of Bombay Presidency, G.P.Fernandez records a khun as a measure of 10 hands by 2 hands or the Poona Khun having a dimension of 32” by 20”.  The measures are a bit confusing, as Malagi now makes each khun piece measuring four meters.

Guledgudd finds a mention even then as an important centre of weaving both cholis and sarees. Fernandez reports 3500 looms of all sorts of silk and cotton sarees and cholis woven for a place with a population of 15,000. Further statistics states about half the population was involved in weaving and around 4000 of them to have been in serious debt under Marwaris. Today, the town of over 33,000 population has just 4000 involved in khun weaving.

What is stunning is the fact that 100 varieties of khuns were made in various designs and the weavers were capable of turning out cholis of any design ordered. Designs ranged from lions, elephants, birds, peacocks, tigers and dots, triangles, diamonds.

After much thought Rathi showed an elephant design they used to make earlier and now revived. But, he feels the regular customers are not keen on the animal motifs and his Jain clients avoid them. Yet, he is willing to experiment with new ideas. An Athangudi tile pattern was shown, and Rathi was willing to try. One was also reminded of the diamonds and floral designs seen at the 7^th century Badami Caves, not far from Guledgudd.

Rathi as a trader is working with variety of weavers, including those who work on powerloom. At least in Guledgudd, capital of khun they are trying to keep the “polyester” out but willingly take “art silk”. A Kanchipuram silk weaver, son of a master weaver once looked a khun blouse and challenged that it cannot be cotton because he thought a cotton can never shine like what it does in a khun.

Perhaps time for the Kanchi weaver to look at how Chavhan brothers dye the khun yarn, both silk and cotton. Cotton gets its shine in khun because of the way it is dyed in hot water at a particular temperature the Chauhan brothers insist. The hardworking Chauhan brothers are one among the five dyers in the town, and their sons also are away in the city doing Engineering (EC they emphasize). Guledgudd also has one indigo expert who gets the powder indigo dye from Andhra Pradesh and is a sought after expert, but unfortunately that last says Malagi.

Guledgudd is a vibrant town today with an unmistakable music of the looms all around, but not many of its weavers have moved to get either the handloom trademark or the silk mark for their product that would give them a stamp of authenticity. Khun’s beauty deserves attention, support and patronage. Brocades and designers blouses may cost thousands of rupees, however it would be no match on what rolls out from the looms of Guledgudd.

P.S.This was written for Creative India website, and the edited version was published in 2016. Since the website isn't available now, wanted to archive it here.