Migration of Indian Weavers. (Indian sub continent)

Migration of labour is not a new issue and trend in national and international level. Like commodity, in free market human resources move from one place to another even across the frontiers wherever the demand exist. Since the pre-historic-period, migrant workers have been setting vestiges on different civilization and cultures in various parts of the world. Migration is generally taken to involve the temporary, semi-permanent or permanent relocation of an individual or a group of individuals a place of origin to a place of destination. Many factors such as unemployment, underemployment, limitation in self-employment, unfavorable state policy, ambition for economic prosperity and betterment of life etc. make people to move and become a migrant worker.

In my opinion Weavers and Brahmins are two communities that have initiated migrations of communities in South Asia.

Today social media has integrated us and we are aware of each others well being, unfortunately our forefathers didn't have such systems,but depended on growth and decline of each other communities.

The migrations of communities between 500 AD and 1000 AD in different parts of India is the foundation stone of our present societies. The main contributors were the weavers and brahmins,The skills of the two communities were the cornerstone of establishment of villages and towns, and the ambitions of local rulers and chieftains to develop their economy, was the oxygen to the fire that drove our community across India.

Handloom industry is the biggest handicraft industry in our country; it is the second largest source of rural employment after agriculture. This industry is an increasingly essential element of economic, social development and it has become one of the largest economic industries.

This was a period in which many different kinds of weavers plied their trade: some produced directly for the consumer, receiving yarn and weaving cloth in return for an agreed wage. Others wove on their own account, with yarn spun in their own households or bought locally from hand-spinners: the cloth was sold in local markets.

Mobility has long been associated with weavers, including migration as a method of protest. 

There are references exist from medieval times of weavers quitting kingdoms in protest against high taxes. Rulers were often forced to reduce taxes in order to induce them to return. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, there are references to weavers dismantling their looms and leaving without returning advances because of unfair treatment. Quite often, they would withdraw to some spot outside the ruler’s control and bargain for a change in circumstances to facilitate their return.

Weavers were subject to two kinds of taxes – a tax on their looms and duties on cloth.

The longest, most sustained struggle against the loom tax was conducted by the weavers of Kanchipuram, who claimed that they had been granted exemption in the 1780s

The revenue officials sought to plug loopholes in collection and introduced tighter systems of surveillance. Various rulers brought regulations for levying inland duties were introduced. 

New duties were also imposed on cloth, and weavers were forced to have their textiles “chopped” (signifying a mark/stamp made on the cloth with a chop) at the nearest chowkee (or checkpoint) where registers were maintained. 

The introduction of these new duties and procedures led to widespread discontent, the common response was evasion or migrating to neighbouring provinces.

During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the structures of the handloom industry were almost completely reorganized. The hand-spinner disappeared, and yarn production became the preserve of large mills. As access to yarn and consumer markets became more centralized, the old practice of weaving for customers who supplied yarn vanished.

The British government presumed that migration was affecting the economy to ensure harmony among the weavers they set up Textile Control Boards State, national and provincial basis which was soon dominated by the big busines of the textile world: mill owners and other capitalists. District advisory boards, entrusted with overseeing the implementation of quotas, were dominated by master weavers and yarn dealers.

These measures limited migration of weavers and each one of you in your respective cities towns and villages are the result of our forefathers migrations for a conducive environment for business and family.

"Remember, remember always, that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and weavers." 

Compiled by

GaviRangappa S P.

Devanga's Vidhana.

Jai Devanga.