East India, Bhagaiya, Jharkhand
Bhagaiya’s silk weaving with Madhubani art.
The village called Bhagaiya in Godda district of Jharkhand has over 200 families doing spinning and weaving. There are around 4000 female spinners and about 2000 male weavers here. In this village they practise the whole end to end process of fibre to fabric. The raw silk cocoons are bought from Chattisgarh.
This is called Desi cocoon or wild cocoons. They are spun by ladies here on their thighs and then reeled on to bobbins and woven. They have dyeing facilities, calendaring and screen printing done here itself. They also have ladies doing Madhubani paintings on sarees using the brush. The fabrics on the warp are mostly reeled silk, which can be Korean silk or Bangalore silk, procured from local traders. The weft has Katiya, Gheecha and tassar and sometimes reeled silk. They have enough artisans to carry out medium to large orders for Yardage, Soft furnishings, Sarees and Dupattas.
