Vankar

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Weaving and cloth trading communities of Western India particularly of

, Heer Bharat, Abhala, Phento and art of Gudri. Vankar is described as a caste as well as a community.

History

A block printed and resist-dyed fabric, whose origin is from

.

As weaving is an art and forms one of the most important artisan community of India. Since Vankars were involved in production and business they were known as Nana Mahajans or small merchants. They have been grouped in Vaishya category of Varna system.

Eighteenth and nineteenth centuries

Britain's Industrial Revolution was built on the de-industrialisation of India - the destruction of Indian textiles and their replacement by manufacturing in England, using Indian raw materials and exporting the finished products back to India and even the rest of the world. The handloom weavers of Gujarat, Maharastra and Bengal produced and exported some of the world's most desirable fabrics. Britain's response was to cut off the thumbs of weavers, break their looms and impose duties on

. The arrival of the East India Company, however sounded the death knell for the Indian textile industry. The weavers were forced into selling exclusively to the British at extremely low rates, pushing them into poverty. The decline was further accelerated by the industrial revolution. Advances in manufacturing technologies flooded markets in India and abroad with cheap, mass-produced fabrics that Indian handlooms could no longer compete with. Weavers became beggars, manufacturing collapsed and the last 2000 years of Indian textile industry was knocked down. So instead of a great exporter of finished products, India became an importer of British, while its share of world export fell from 27% to two percent.

Twentieth century

The freedom struggle brought the Indian handloom sector back to the fore, with

and nationalist pride.

Occupation

The main occupation of Vankars was the weaving of cloth. Since after expansion of British textile markets and decline of Indian textile industry Vankars suffered a lot. Hence started farming and small scale business in the British Raj to thrive better conditions ahead to maintain their livelihood.^[1]

References