The Brotherhood of Weavers.

The anthropology of India has been dominated by an emphasis on caste that has inhibited an integrated approach to understanding castes in India. 

Using an ethnographic approach that takes into account the symbolic and material aspects of caste and communities, this blog focuses on the attempts to flowchart the brotherhood of weavers.

1.Community is a social unit who have something in common, like common customs, values and identity.

2.Caste is a hereditary transmission of a lifestyle which often includes an occupation, status in a hierarchy, customary social interaction,& exclusion.

Half a century ago communities were always interlinked with each other and castes had a special identity and their profession was essential to each other, irrespective of the differences of their religion or customs. 

A weavers needs a carpenters to fabricate their looms, an embroiderer needs fabric to embellish her veil, and everyone needs milk,butter and ghee for nourishment,the farmer needs cowbells for the cattle and blankets for protection from the cold. 

Weavers produces are not just functional objects, they were closely tied to the identities of other communities.
Today weavers are leaving the art of weaving as it's no longer profitable and Govt policies are discriminating weavers: the Karnataka government, in it's recent textile policy announced a differentiated approach. The state government gives just 10% subsidy on new machinery for units in South Karnataka, while it is 40% for units in North Karnataka.

The Current Scenario of weavers in India: the workers who are engaged in textile sector, close to four-fifths of the workforce, is in the rural sector. Only 16% of these are in the urban sector.Rather than the rural- urban divide, a more significant attribute of the industry is the highly skewed geo­graphical distribution of the workforce in a few major states. 

According to ministry of textiles more than half the weavers are concen­trated in states like Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Northeast States of India.

Apart from few communities among weavers, majority of the castes are not active weavers, this constitutes a weak link in the brotherhood of weavers and on numerous occasions have affected goodwill among themselves.

As devangas we ought to analyze the following  statistics- according to The Department of Handloom and Textiles Govt of Karnataka: There are about 40000 handlooms engaged in weaving in silk, cotton and wool. And about 120000 powerlooms engaged in silk and cotton.

From the above data I can reconcile that only 50% are from traditional weavers communities, are we devangas dominating the Brotherhood of weavers ?

"I sought my soul, but my soul I could not see.I sought my God, but my God eluded me. I sought my brother and I found all three."

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