MALABARI CULTURE

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Puppet Ravana

Ravana the king of Lanka was a great devotee of lord Shiva.He was also a best singer and a great warrior ..

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Sadananda Pulavar

Tholpava koothu artist

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— National Handloom Day . More than eight decades ago, a narrow road in Ottapalam ran between four or five modest, single-storey, tiled-roof buildings. Along that road marched a khadi-clad freedom fighter, carrying the Tricolour and raising his voice:“Bharat Mata Ki Jai! Mahatma Gandhi Ki Jai! Boycott foreign cloth!”The police beat him, and he fell. Yet even as he lay on the ground, his voice continued to ring out: “Bharat Mata Ki Jai!”That forgotten freedom fighter of Ottapalam was none other than Advocate Sundar Iyer.His story takes us back to the days when khadi was not merely a fabric. It was an idea, a political statement and a symbol of national self-respect.Mahatma Gandhi, born in Porbandar, understood that after agriculture, the textile sector provided livelihoods to one of the largest sections of India's population. By encouraging the spinning of the charkha and calling for the boycott of foreign cloth, he sought not only to restore the livelihoods of millions but also to awaken a sense of national pride.Millions responded. Foreign-made textiles were rejected, while Indian-made khadi was embraced with pride. In time, khadi became one of the most recognizable symbols of the freedom movement and of patriotism itself.Even after Independence, both the Government of India and the Government of Kerala introduced several schemes and incentives to support the khadi and handloom sectors.In Kerala, Hantex and Hand Weave were established with the stated objectives of promoting the marketing of handloom products and protecting the handloom industry.Yet, ironically, these very government initiatives would eventually become associated with the decline of the traditional weaving communities along the banks of the Nila.Palappuram — A Village of WeaversPalappuram was once a settlement where weaving was not simply an occupation but a way of life. Generations of families depended on the loom for their livelihood.The weavers were often at the mercy of powerful middlemen and traders. It was with the intention of protecting them from exploitation that a handloom weaving cooperative society was established at Palappuram in 1954.My father, K. Annamala Pulavar, became its first secretary.With the support of Damodara Menon, who was then the Industries Minister of Kerala, my father also played a major role in establishing the Palappuram Weavers' Colony in 1961. The colony consisted of 25 houses.The land on which the colony was established came from our own family property.Those early years were not easy. Ensuring a regular supply of yarn and the timely payment of wages was a constant struggle. My father often had to plead with traders in Kozhikode simply to ensure that the society received yarn and that the weavers could continue working.In 1967, my father stepped down from the society. Later, my elder brother Sivaprakash became its president. It was during his tenure that the building of the Palappuram Weavers' Cooperative Society was constructed.The Beginning of the DeclineThe decline of Kerala's handloom sector began in earnest around 1980.Irregularities and large-scale fraud were uncovered in Hantex and in several politically controlled cooperative societies in Thiruvananthapuram. In the aftermath, the rebate arrears that the government owed to handloom cooperatives across Kerala were frozen.The consequences were devastating.The Palappuram Handloom Society suffered a loss of approximately ₹25 lakh.The Elappully Society lost around ₹85 lakh.The Eravatodi Society also suffered losses running into several lakhs of rupees.For many cooperative societies, these losses proved fatal.As yarn became difficult to obtain and wages were delayed or stopped altogether, weavers gradually abandoned their traditional occupation. One after another, handloom cooperatives began to close.And with every closed society, Kerala lost not merely an economic institution, but a part of its living cultural heritage.More Than an Economic CrisisThe decline of handloom weaving cannot, however, be attributed to financial mismanagement alone.For many years, regulations had reserved the production of certain textile items exclusively for the handloom sector. Items such as set mundu, set sarees and jacquard blankets, among others, could be produced only on handlooms.These restrictions offered a measure of protection to traditional weavers.When such regulations were abolished at the national level, handloom products were forced to compete directly with mass-produced textiles manufactured on power looms and in large industrial units.The traditional handloom sector could not withstand this competition.The loom gradually fell silent.Today, handloom workers in Tamil Nadu are campaigning for the restoration of such protective measures. Their demand is not merely about preserving an old method of producing cloth. It is about protecting the livelihood, dignity and cultural identity of thousands of weaving families.If their struggle succeeds, perhaps there is hope that the handloom industry can once again find its place in India's textile landscape.And perhaps, one day, along the banks of the Nila, we may once again hear the rhythmic sound of the loom—the sound that once marked the heartbeat of Palappuram.On National Handloom Day, that sound deserves not merely to be remembered, but to be heard again.