Abokali Jimomi
Naga textile weaving is one craft domain in which our women exercise exclusive artistic freedom and power, passed down from mothers to daughters. In Naga craft traditions it is taboo for men to weave textiles—it is believed that weaving could make men effeminate disabling them to pursue ‘manly’ activities such as hunting and war. Thus, weaving has always been a women’s thing; a creative outlet, a woman-space to explore imaginations and innovate. It feels good as women, in our context, to have a sense of complete ownership of an important knowledge system.
Each Naga textile embodies specific cultural meaning symbolizing identity, status and achievements; more than just a piece of textile, it carries our cultural information. The value and significance of our rich and precious Naga textile heritage cannot be stressed enough.
Weaving is a livelihood source for many Naga women. It helps women provide healthcare, education and food to their children in rural households. It has also helped create many successful Naga women entrepreneurs and women co-operatives whose loin loom products now cater to wide clientele of VIPs, tourists, buyers even outside the state and country.
The indigenous method of creating a textile was a household activity and a laborious process – growing cotton, hand-spinning, dye-making and weaving. Unfortunately, the traditional practice of growing cotton and use of natural fibres, hand-spinning and natural dyeing dwindled with the arrival of chemically dyed synthetic yarn resulting in the loss of indigenous knowledge and material diversity in the absence of documentation of the processes. On the bright side, of late, cotton cultivation and natural dyeing is gaining attention is some parts of the state.
Naga loin loom weaving (now using rayon, polyester, acrylic, nylon etc.) is still a living craft, thankfully due to demand for traditional attires by locals and the value attached to ‘handmade/handwoven’ products. However, in recent times, cheaper versions of mass-produced imitation have flooded the local market and with younger Nagas having limited access to learn weaving, specifically the traditional costumes, our hand-woven craft knowledge should not lose out to mechanisation and cheap imitation.
Timely intervention by the Government, Hohos and communities will preserve and revive indigenous knowledge, processes and skills as well as protect the cultural meaning associated with textiles so that important traditional ceremonial costumes and accessories are not abused or disrespected by cultural misappropriation.
It would also be a step towards maintaining ecological balance, preserving biodiversity and material diversity to promote indigenous fibre-yielding cash crops and dyestuff. A study on Naga textile traditions highlights that our craftspeople have always been nature sufficient for all materials but industrialization disturbed this sensitive and intricate relationship causing a drastic growth in the dependency on urban markets. The study observes that there is opportunity to relieve the urban-market dependency while enabling our women and rural cooperatives to create crafts of higher value which can generate sustainable livelihood to the craftsperson, at the same time conserve and restore indigenous skills. This would also help develop sustainable home-grown economy and respond to occupational migration of agricultural communities to cities and urban areas.
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