khadi

KHADI

In India, khadi is not just a cloth; it is a whole movement, which was started by mahatma Gandhi. This movement promoted an idea that Indians could be self reliant and free from the high priced goods and clothes, which the British were selling to them.  By this it aimed at promoting Indian goods. Gandhi wanted people to spin khadi on the wheel, become self-reliant this way and in this way they will have the virtue of patience and self-reliance. This was part of the swadesi movement and to boycott foreign goods. It symbolized the political ideas and independence itself, as many political leaders started wearing it and till date have been wearing it at certain occasions.

In class when we were asked to brainstorm on the word khadi we came up with several associations mainly: revolt, handicraft, handspun, coarse, raw, pure, self sufficiency, spinning wheel, grey cloth, unity, movement, natural, political, identity, livelihood. All these aspects were right and said a lot on their own about what the movement spoke.

Khadi was introduced as a way of people to be self-reliant and give employment to the rural. It also acted as a subsidiary occupation and soon became the fabric of communication and charkha became the weapon against the British. It was easy to spin and reclaimed lost skills during the colonial environment. It divided the people into 2 classes: believers and non-believers. People who did not believe in him were mainly the moneymaking businessmen and some of the people living in the cities.

In my opinion khadi today, is not promoted well. Cotton is produced in large numbers and as it is available so easily people don’t really want to wear khadi and also because khadi is expensive. Now we don’t look back at khadi as a symbol of self-sufficiency but as an association with the old and that’s how we want to revive it. Many Indian designers such as sabyasachi, ritu Kumar, rohit bal are promoting khadi by designing whole line on that fabric but its not being accepted well according to them. In the end the fact remains that khadi is one our major symbols of the road to independence and we should not let it die so easily.