1. The document provides information about field studies conducted in the villages of Bhasariya and Lodara in India.
2. It describes the key occupations and crafts in the villages, including pottery, handloom weaving, farming, and factory work.
3. Details are given about the potter Babubhai Shankarbhai Prajapati, who makes a variety of pottery products using traditional methods in Bhasariya village.
2. 2
Contents
Acknowledgement........................................................................................................................ 3
About Bhasariya........................................................................................................................... 4
Other activities in Bhasariya:........................................................................................................5
Basic Necessities:....................................................................................................................... 12
Some more details about village:................................................................................................ 15
About Lodara............................................................................................................................. 18
POTTERY.................................................................................................................................... 22
HANDLOOM WEAVING............................................................................................................... 33
Difficulties and Potential Problems............................................................................................. 36
PARTS AND PROCESS OF HANDLOOM......................................................................................... 37
Primary motions ........................................................................................................................ 40
PREPARATION OF HAND LOOM FOR WEAVING:.......................................................................... 44
OPERATING HANDLOOM............................................................................................................ 47
NIFT Initiative ............................................................................................................................ 48
3. 3
Acknowledgement
I owe my deep gratitude to our project guide Mr. Manish
Bhargava, who took keen interest on our project work and
guided us all along, till the completion of our project work by
providing all the necessary information for developing a good
document.
4. 4
About Bhasariya
According to census 2011 information the location
code or village pin code of Bhasariya village is 382705.
Bhasariya village is located in Mahesana Tehsil of
Mahesana district in Gujarat, India. It is situated Kim
away from Mahesana, which is both district and sub-
district headquarter of Bhasariya village. As per 2009
status, Bhasariya village is also a Gram Panchayat.
Figure 1: Overview of Bhasariya Village
The total geographical area of village is 368.3 hectares.
Bhasariya has a total population of 2,914 peoples.
There are about 557 houses in Bhasariya village.
Ambaliyasan is nearest town to Bhasariya which is
approximately 6 km away.
Population of Bhasariya
Total Population:
5. 5
2,914
Male Population:
1,541
Female Population: 1,373
Other activities in Bhasariya:
(i) Farming
Earlier, the mass population was involved mostly in
weaving on handlooms, but now the general
occupation of
the village is
farming. People
don’t do
commercial
farming, they
grow as per
their need and if
the crop is
surplus then
they sell it to get some money. All the basic crops like
wheat, mustard, bajra, and basic cereals are cultivated
in village. Fruits like Papaya, Lemon, Amla. And cotton,
tobacco and castor (Airandi) are mainly cultivated.
Figure 2: Tobacco Cultivation
7. 7
(ii) Factory Workers
A factory nearby village is going famous where village
people tend to work as wage workers. The most
families from the Boonkar community are now
migrated towards factories. There are two factories in
the village i.e. Amla Candy factory and Medical
Hardware Factory.
The Amla Candy Factory is owned by Vivek Bhai and
offers great employment to the people of Bhasariya.
Raw Amla is processed and a candy is made out of it.
The medical factory is an origin to the generally used
medical hardware and machine parts as well. Medical
furniture, machine parts as well as condensers are
made in the factory.
8. 8
Figure 6: Workers of Amla Candy Factory
(iii) Carpentry
Apart from weaving and Pottery, Carpentry was
practiced by just one family in the whole village. It was
Jaswant Bhai who had been working in this field for 30
years. He is 57 years old and studied till 12th
class.
According to him, Experience matters more than
qualification! He inherited the art of carpentry from his
forefathers. He has five members in family. His children
are well educated, Son being a Mechanic while
Daughter being a Computer Engineer. The Carpenter
Jaswant Bhai makes wooden products according to the
demand of people. Example: Handloom Machine for
the villagers of Bhasariya. He has also participated in
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many exhibitions and won awards for his marvellous
talent.
Figure 7: Carpenter’s House
Figure 8: Products made by Carpenter Jaswant Bhai
10. 10
(iv) Shops
There were various shops in the village which fulfilled
the basic requirements of people. Ladies were also
engaged in such activities.
Figure 9: Working Area of Jaswant Bhai
12. 12
This graph depicts
the percentage of
people involved in a
particular
occupation in
Bhasariya village.
Basic Necessities:
(i) Schools and Anganwadis
There is a primary school namely BHASARIYA PAGAR
KENDRA SHALA. It was opened on Jan 14th
1908 and
now has 330 students and 9 teachers including
principal Ankit Patel. It has 1st
to 8th
standards with
subjects including Hindi, English, Gujarati, Sanskrit,
Ganit(Maths), Samajik, Bhugolik and Vigyaan(Science).
It also has a high school which has 9th
and 10th
standards only and has only 3 teachers, a Principal, a
peon and a clerk. Teaching 107 children, this school has
most of the modern facilities including CCTVs, Smart
classes, computer labs with 19 systems, Internet
connection, RO Purified water coolers however toilets
are not maintained and are not hygienic.
25%
1%
30%
19%
1%
24%
% of people involved
Weaving
Pottery
Factory
Shops
Carpentry
Farming
Occupation
13. 13
Figure 11: Anganwadi Kendra
Figure 12: Infrastructure of School
Figure 13: HighSchool of Bhasariya
14. 14
There are total two schools and four Anganwadis
running in that area.
(ii) Hospital
There is 1 primary healthcare centre in the village
which can treat the basic problems of people. In case
of emergency, the people are referred to Ahmedabad.
(iii)Banks
There is only one bank in
the village. In the coming years it has been predicted
that some more banks would be opening.
Figure 14: Bank of Baroda
Figure 13: Hospital
15. 15
(iv) Temples
Since the village was small, therefore it had only one
temple where people could go and worship.
Somemoredetailsaboutvillage:
On an average, most of the households earn Rs. 50 to
400 per day as income. Villagers don’t think this to be
sufficient for living. When talked with the sarpanch
about this issue, the Sarpanch says that only people
who remain drunk and does not want to work
complain about the livelihood. The sarpanch was
elected 2 years before. The village comes under
Mahesana which had a congress MLA until December
2017 when BJP replaced congress out of the political
Figure 15: Temple
16. 16
scenario, winning on most of the seats of Gujarat. The
village has three water tanks, four Anganwadis, two
schools, 24x7 electricity supply, and one bus stop near
Mehsana highway, Bank of Baroda nearest ATM, pukka
metallic roads, one panchayat Kendra, one Mandli,
Underground Drainage system (started developing in
18 January, 2014) and two factories.
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Generally, the weaving families were given more
importance by the students during the field visit.
General survey was also conducted to know more
about village and the livelihoods of common people
living there.
Figure 16: Bhasariya Village
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About Lodara
Figure 17: Lodara Village
According to census 2011 information the location
code or village pin code of Lodara village is 382835.
Lodara village is located in Mansa Tehsil of
Gandhinagar district in Gujarat, India. This Place is in
the border of the District Gandhinagar and District
Mahesana. Vijapur District Mahesana is north towards
this place. Also, it is in the border of another district
SabarKantha.
Figure 18: Streets of Lodara Village
19. 19
The total geographical area of village is 1147.61
hectares. Lodara has a total population of 7,723
people. There are about 1,711 houses in Lodara village.
Mansa is nearest town to Lodara which is
approximately 9 km away.
Population of Lodara
Total Population:
7,723
Male Population:
4,031
Female Population:
3,692
Figure 19: Geographics of Village
20. 20
Lodara village has higher literacy rate compared to
Gujarat. In 2011, literacy rate of Lodara village was
87.06 % compared to 78.03 % of Gujarat. In Lodara
Male literacy stands at 92.98 % while female literacy
rate was 80.64 %.
In Lodara village out of total population, 4105 were
engaged in work activities. 63.05 % of workers describe
their work as Main Work (Employment or Earning
more than 6 Months) while 36.95 % were involved in
Marginal activity providing livelihood for less than 6
months. Of 4105 workers engaged in Main Work, 825
were cultivators (owner or co-owner) while 631 were
Agricultural labourer.
Basically, Lodara is more of a town and less of a village
with having a lot of facilities including hospitals,
general shops, vetenary hospitals, disinterrupted
power supply, water tanks, Dust bins, garbage
collecting vans and modern automobile. It is under the
care of BJP MLA since a long time and the sarpanch is
also the headmaster (principal) of the senior school.
Most of the masses are cow tamers and farmers and
there are generally no focussed families. Here we met
Usha ben, the most learned person of the village (M.
Sc. Physics Hons), 54 in age, happy and sad at a time.
Usha ben is happy to be in her village but she regrets
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her mother-in-law’s decision of not allowing her to
work or study further and to help her husband in
farming.
Lodara is surrounded by many villages and potters
have made their homes next to nearby highways.
Khaman of Lodara is famous all over India. We tried it
and it was indeed mind blowing. The secret ingredient
be told us that makes his Khaman swell and rise was
the lime flower or Nimbu Ka Phool.
Figure 20: Most famous Khaman Shop of Lodara
Figure 21: Khaman
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Major Craft
POTTERY
Pottery is one of the oldest human inventions,
originating before the Neolithic period and dates back
to 29000-25000 BCE. Pottery is the handicraft done by
craftsmen all over world and generally involves
earthenware in India. The craftsperson involved in
pottery are referred as Potter (Prajapati Caste in
Gujarati).
On the third day of Field Visit, we visited Bhasariya, a
small village in Mehsana, a district of Gujarat state.
Here we met one and only potter of the village
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BABUBHAI
SHANKARBHAI
PRAJAPATI
Babubhai is 57 years old
2nd
division B.A. pass
craftsman of the village
who devoted 40 years
of his life to the craft of
Pottery. He just missed
a government clerical
job because of getting 2nd
and not 1st
division in his B.A.
Since he was 17, he formally started helping in his
family’s traditional craft. He creates many lot things
out of earth including pots, utensils, lamps, toys, vases,
bottles and many more. His wife Sharda Ben, 54, also
helps him in completion of the process of pottery. They
have 2 sons, Rajubhai (30 years old medicinal factory
wage worker) and Anilbhai (25 years old auto driver).
He has a small house and a
small teen shed under which
he has his manual potter’s
wheel.
Figure 22: Potter- Babubhai Shankarbhai Prajapati
Figure 23: BabuBhai’s Working Area
24. 24
Babubhai has a low
friction Potter’s wheel,
which is with him since
he was 17 on which he
does pottery 8 out of
12 months every year.
For the raw material of
pottery, Babubhai
uses 1 tractor of clayey
mud per year which he
gets from the nearby
lake beds. The speciality of the mud is that he only uses
that mud which is at least from a 4 years old lake. A
tractor full of mud costs him for 3250 bucks and last for
8 months. On getting the mud, he puts some amount
of mud in a pit, adds sufficient water in it to make a
slurry and then rotates it using a wooden stick. This is
to settle down the impurities, pebbles, gravel and
leaves, sticks etc. After rotating for 3-4 hours the fine
mud or slurry is taken and then laid flat in a 5 x 3 x 1/2
feet pit and left for sufficient time to dry.
Figure 24: Potter’s Wheel
25. 25
Then the cracked mud is
taken and kept under
moisture inside a sack.
Then it is taken and
squished as dough until
a perfect dough is
made. Then he puts a
pointed stick inside a
hole made in the rim of
potter’s wheel and gives
thrust resulting in the
potter’s wheel to rotate.
Figure 25: Drying Clayey Mud
Figure 26: Products made by BabuBhai
26. 26
Then he cleans the centre of the rotating wheel and
then with force places a ball of squished mud at the
centre. Then with the help of some water he shapes
the ball into thin cylinder and makes objects at the top
of the cylinder-shaped mud. Then with the help of thin
metallic or plastic wire he separates the object from
the base mud.
Figure 27: Gullak made by BabuBhai
27. 27
In case of pots, he beats the pots with the help of
Pendi and Thapa until it becomes 3 times its original
size and keeps it for drying. After drying her wife
applies 2 coats of paints on it using sponge, sack and
then rub with stones to make it shine.
Figure 28: Various coats done on pots
Figure 29: Gathering information from BabuBhai
28. 28
Then the pots are heated/burned above the flames in
the Paththa for 4 hours. After heating in paththa, the
final product is ready to be sold.
Figure 30: Paththa (place for
heating pots)
Figure 31: Pots ready for Heating
33. 33
Minor Craft
HANDLOOMWEAVING
A hand loom is a simple machine used for weaving. In a
wooden vertical-shaft loom, the heddles are fixed in
the shaft. The warp threads pass alternately through a
heddle, so that raising the shaft raises half the threads
and lowering the shaft lowers the same threads—the
threads passing through the spaces between the
heddles remain in place.
Shedding is done by pressing the treadles pedal and
picking and beating is done
manually. Hand looms yield less production compared
to power loom.
Bhasariya village of Mehsana has been practicing
Handloom weaving since a long time. For the
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convenience of weavers of that village an association
was formed in 1961 named as ‘Bhasariya Group
Weaver Industrial Co. Society’. All the materials
required for weaving was provided by the association.
The raw material was brought from Kalupur,
Ahmedabad i.e. threads at Rs 170/kg. Two days were
spent for the preparation of yarn beam. Two bedsheets
could be made out of it and were sold at Rs 162 per
bedsheet. They took almost 1 hour to make a bedsheet
and made towel in 30 mins which could be sold at Rs.
60 per piece. Working duration of weavers was almost
8 hours a day. Wage for a towel was Rs 22 and
Bedsheet Rs 45.00 Moreover, their monthly income
was also dependent on the type of designs they made.
Weaving could make them earn Rs 14,000-16,000 per
month.
Earlier Central Government use to provide bonus to
these weavers and did a lot to promote their weaving
skills but from last 5 years the government stopped
providing bonuses to these weavers which was a major
factor in the decline of weavers.
Facts and Information
Name: Ramabhai Ishwarbhai Parmar
Address: Vanakar Vas, Bhasariya, Mehsana
Name of the craft: Handloom
Aadhar Card Number: 6492 9501 7383
35. 35
Part of: The Bhasariya Group of Weavers, Industrial
Cooperate Society Limited (Sanstha)
Figure 36: Weaver KishorBhai
Family:
KishorbhaiParmar (Son,39 years old)
Occupation: Handloom
Ishwarbhai is 70 years old who is working on the
handloom since childhood. He was 10 years old
when his father taught him how to work on the
Handloom.
His main work is to make the towels on the
handloom machine.
He did his schooling till 10th
standard.
He is also the secretary of the Bhasariya Mandli.
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DifficultiesandPotentialProblems
1.Input Quality and Quantity: The availability of
good quality yarn is an issue. The affordable price
is another issue.
2.Lack of Policy attention: Power looms which
witnessed significant growth was given prime
policy attention on the other hand Handloom
sector did not receive adequate attention of
policymakers.
3.Lack of finance facility: Credit facilities which are
currently available to weavers are far from
adequate. Therefore, steps should be taken to
improve the access to the finance facility.
4.Limited Products: Limited product from handloom
sector is another issue, therefore they are not able
to compete with the products from other sectors.
5.Inadequate Marketing: Due to lack of awareness
about various initiative, also due to poor
marketing the handloom sector is not able to get
the right price.
6.Technological Changes: After the introduction of
power loom, there was a drastic decline in
handloom as the power loom was 10 times faster
than handloom.
37. 37
PARTS AND PROCESS OF HANDLOOM
Important parts of Hand loom
Warp Beam: The warp roller which consists of the
lengthwise yarns is located at the back of the loom & it
releases the warp yarn to the weaving area of the loom
as needed.
Handle: The handle is provided on the warp roller to
tighten or loosen the warp sheet which ultimately
changes the tightness factor of the fabric.
Figure 37: Warp Beam
Figure 38: Handle
38. 38
Heddles: it is a frame to hold the heald wires. Heald
wire is a wire with a hole or eye in its centre through
which a warp yarn is threaded. In some casesheald
wires made out of cotton or synthetic yarn are also
used.
Bobbin and Shuttle: The weft yarn wound on a bobbin
(pirn), which sets into a shuttle. As the shuttle passes
back and forth through the warp shed, it releases weft
yarn from the pirn.
Beater: This is inevitably a combination made up of
metallic wires set vertically in a frame. The spaces
Figure 39: Heddles
Figure 40: Bobbin and Shuttle
39. 39
between the wires are known as dents. There is a
beater which has a Reed frame mounted on it. The
weaver holds the beater and gives beater a to and fro
motion for beating the last pick to the fell of the cloth.
Cloth roller: It is located at the front of the loom. After
completion of weaving the woven fabric is wound on it.
Figure 42: Cloth Roller
Figure 41: Beater
40. 40
Treadles: These are located at the bottom of the loom
and are designed to control warp shed formation by
controlling the up and down movement of the heddles.
The weaver presses the treadles by their feet for shed
formation. The shed on a handloom is controlled
manually by giving proper movement to the treadles
using foot.
Motions of Loom
Primarymotions
Shedding motion:
Shedding separates the warp
yarns into two layers for the
insertion of a
pick. The function of shedding mechanism is to raise &
lower the heddles which
Figure 43: Treadles
41. 41
carry a group warp ends drawn through heald eye.
Picking motion:
Picking motion inserts a pick (weft) from one side to
the other side of the fabric.
In Handlooms, pick is inserted with the help of a
shuttle through the shed opened by the shedding
mechanism. i.e. between the two layers of warp shed.
Beating-up:
The function of beat up mechanism is to push the weft
thread that has been inserted across the warp threads
in a shed, up to the fell of cloth. Fell of the cloth is the
position of the last pick in cloth woven on the loom.
The beating up of the weft to the fell of cloth is carried
out by the beater.
44. 44
PREPARATIONOFHANDLOOM FORWEAVING:
PIRN WINDING: A simple Pirn Winding machine is used
for pirn winding in handloom. There is a wheel and a
metallic shaft, which are connected with each other
with the help of rope for transferring motion. The hank
is mounted on the wheel and the pirn is mounted on
the shaft. The yarn from the hank is transferred on to
the pirn by rotating the wheel. Usually, the women of
the house practice this activity.
Figure 46: Pirn Winding
WARPER’S BEAM: For the preparation of warper’s
beam, there is a stand containing almost 90 reels (in
local language: Gharagdo). The thread of those reels
passes through the hooks and reaches the treadle.
Reed wires separates the threads and arranges the
threads over roller and after the process is completed,
warp yarns are wounded on the warpers beam.
46. 46
Figure 49: New Warp Beam
Figure 48: Various Parts in Handloom
Figure 50: Warp Beaming
47. 47
OPERATINGHANDLOOM
Attending to Warp Break:
Find out broken warp ends.
Find out the location of the broken end by visual
examination.
Mend the broken warp end in the sized beams
with the thrums of the same count of the sized
beams, using “weavers ' knots"
Draw the mended warp yarn through the heddles
properly as per the drawing order prescribed.
Draw the mended warp yarn through the beater
properly as per the denting order prescribed.
See that the sleigh has been brought to the back
centre.
See that the shuttle is inserted fully in the shuttle
box.
Run the loom by using proper hand and foot
movements on
the appropriate parts ofthe loom designed for the
purpose.
48. 48
NIFTInitiative
About 30 weavers from Bhasariya village were given
training in weaving. As the designs they weaved were
now outdated. Therefore, NIFT took the initiative to
train those weavers and help them learn new designs
and patterns so that they could increase their level of
earning. Moreover, they were also paid a stipend of Rs.
3000.
Figure 51: Developing New Patterns
