“Clothing for Liberation”

Khadi was used by Gandhiji less as a garment but more as a message to Indians and British. Against the British, khadi was used as a symbol of unity, absence of status, and sign of simplicity, and uniform clothing of unity.

Gandhiji, had anticipated the impact of large-scale industrialisation and market economy that fed the Indians. He felt that such economic ethics would divide economic life and the Indian morals, and would make the chase of wealth the ultimate human goal and disturbed the man and nature; thus dividing the Indians into classes. He, therefore, supported the fact of minimum wants and insisted on; a need-based as in opposition to greed-based life. Gandhiji created the idea of “consume only what you can produce”. And he believed that production of a home spun cloth was an ideal medium for this to begin. It was a symbol for political agendas during the fight for independence in India against the British rule.  As it was primarily means to provide employment to the unemployed rural population of India at that time. They had also insisted to make the Indian flag from khadi material. Thus it holds national importance; and thus we could call it the national fabric of India.

Gandhi’s Khadi movement was the first social movement in modern India that brought poverty to centre stage of Indian consciousness and made livelihood rights an issue of mass production. Gandhiji presented khadi as a symbol of nationalism, equality and self-reliance. He believed that modernization of the society and effective Satyagraha against the foreign rule can be possible only through khadi. According to him there could be no swaraj without universal and voluntary acceptance of khadi.

Present Day Khadi

Khadi is sustainable not only because it doesn’t harm the environment, but also because it provides employment. The logic of shifting to khadi may be convincing, but its adoption has not been easy due to the reasons cited earlier. Unlike other fabrics, khadi has stood as a testament of India’s past and is proof that ‘old is truly gold’. Despite the competition from other fabrics, khadi has survived. There is often an incorrect theory that links khadi with other handloom products. What classifies khadi from handloom is that khadi is hand-spun with the help of a charkha (spinning wheel),whereas handloom yarn, on the other hand, is processed in the mill. Also khadi has a unique aspect as it keeps the wearer warm in winter and cool in summer.

Yesterday it was politics and manure; today it was spinning and textiles.

This is slow textile in the classic sense of “slow” as a response to the quick mass production of goods under globalization.

'The Movement Of Khadi'

India has always been a very textile centric society, right from the Harappan Civilization. One of the most significant revolts during the freedom struggle was the Khadi movement, led by Gandhi. It played a very important role in shaping the socio-economic environment of the country at that time. It came to be an identity for the Indian people during the British rule, and hence turned into an integral part of the movement. The word ‘Khadi’ in itself became a persona. It embodied the sentiments of the people and gave a very strong statement of boycotting the use of any foreign goods. It promoted the ideology of being a self reliant and self employed Indian. Being responsible for producing your garments- right from hand spinning the yarn to converting it into a piece of fabric. I believe that everything has multiple implications, each changing in context to its time and surroundings. During Independence Khadi symbolized the a new Indian society which fought against oppression and strived to be self sufficient. Then came the politicians, who are most commonly distinguished by the garments they wear- made of Khadi. For them it was an extension of their cause and what they stood for. It is what makes them 100% Indian and approachable by the public. Another trend that brought back Khadi during the 80’s was that of the young generation artists. Khadi kurtas and Jholas very the telling signs. This use of Khadi slowly disappearing with the new generation artists and designers of today. Another use of Khadi that bears the tests of time is it being used for the National Flag. This preserves the original message and serves as a reminder till this day.
The use of Khadi has changed over time but it has always voiced a very strong message- that of being self reliant and self sufficient. In our last class we read a text on the Buddhist Economy. At the end of the class we all came to the same conclusion that the ideologies of the Buddhist economists were very similar to the ideologies of the Khadi movement. According to the Buddhists, the function of work was divided into three segments– “ to give man a chance to utilize and develop his faculties, to overcome his ego centeredness and to bring forth goods and services.” The Buddhist economy didn’t aim at the end product, but at the means to reach the end. The means ensured that, one was faithful and truthful about his/her work. ‘Simplicity’ was one of their primary mottos because they believed in a simple way of living and doing work without being worried about the end result. The only difference in the two ideologies was that the Buddhists barred the women from working as they believed women were were meant to take care of the household while the Khadi movement, encouraged women to work and seek employed so that they too could be a major part of the movement.

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.

KHADI - A WAY OF LIFE

We were asked to study the traditional Indian cloth – khadi.

  The following were a few words noted down before we read the article about khadi.

Gandhi   ,  symbol , Spinning wheel   , handloom  , Pure  ,  revolt , Rough , livelihood , Natural , self sufficiency , Comfortable , grey cloth  , Hand spun , unity , Political , Raw , Swadeshi , Course ,Indian ,Off white ,Cotton , light in weight ,identity , native

Weapons are created for survival - the reason for the charkha and its product.

The khadi movement which in many substantive ways was the first social movement in India . Khadi was regarded as an extremely strong medium of communicating several ideas in the country during that time. It thus divided the Indian society into two classes – the believers and the non believers.The khadi movement in India was thus regarded as a development department . Sixty years after it was declared as a political symbol of assertion and economy.

    Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi had inferred that it was not the machines or the technology but the plotting and mind games of the East India Company that had lead to the decline of cloth. He had thus declared the khadi cloth as a “uniform of rebellion” and a “ fabric of independence”

Initially Gandhi’s ideology was perceived as religiously oriented and backward looking. However along with the act of wearing khadi  Gandhi had to subject himself to promoting it by journals and national tours. The main aim and idea behind spinning , weaving and wearing your own cloth was to provide employment in rural India. Thus the whole process of khadi - making resorted to simple technology and easily available raw material.

The following were the key words and points we marked out on reading the article on khadi :

1 – Structure of swaraj

2 – Non violent weapon

3 – Spinning wheel – emblem of human

-          Dignity and equality

-           Peace of mind

4 – Fabric of independence

5 – Uniform of rebellion

6 – Divided the society into two parts – believers and non believers

7 – Contrasting opinions

8 – Local resources and simple technology

9 – Employed the rural

10 – Unhappy congress party

11 – Symbol of salvation

12 – Symbol of social responsibility

13 – Forged hands between the rich and the poor

14 – Subsidiary occupation

15 – To create a roughly stable economy

What is happening to Khadi today?

Today in a completely western dominated style of dressing, wearing khadi has become a way of looking as the odd one out. The revival of khadi as a piece of fabric is booming again and the masses want to indulge in it all over again. The reasons for this varies from person to person. Khadi is flooding the market not only as a garment piece but also as metres and metres of raw cloth for upholstery and other use.

What is the association of khadi with certain groups of people?

The relevance of a cloth is known only after going beyond the borders and reading the cloth in detail. As a fabric definitely, khadi has evolved and has come a long way from its traditional form "Khaddar" to what it is currently, as being very fine and comfortable.. Scientifically, khadi as a cloth is best suited for a predominantly sub-tropical climatic condition, as is prevalent in India. It is better than cotton as it allows better cross of air through it, which helps in cooling down the body after sweating.

Clothes made out of khadi have always been associated with something what is being referred to as Indian. For certain groups of people it is always worn along with the underlying emotions and values. Not everyone must wear khadi to display the "Indian-ness" within but surely it is one of the ways to support the feeling of being Indian.

 Khadi is also worn by a majority of the politicians as  a status symbol and to depict the indian ness.It is so widely used as a garment for the politicians that today their identity is defined by khadi.

Why people wear khadi today?

 Some people today wear Khadi because Khadi is symbolic of Indian self-esteem, self-efficacy and self-reliance. It stands out as a symbol of homogeneity, simplicity, living so as to not to hurt others, uniform clothing and forming an indissoluble bond between the rich and the poor.

   Some people wear khadi because of the physical properties of the fabric and its long term use.

What is the historic relevance of khadi?

Be it Satyagraha or non-cooperation, passive resistance or non-violence, salt or the spinning wheel , they were all ideas, ideas of Gandhiji, ideas with a 'revolutionary' potential, ideas to revolutionize the Indian masses towards a movement, the Indian Independence movement .Khadi was more of a message, against the British that we do not need clothes from the mills of Lancashire or Manchester. For the Mahatma it was a means to attain economic liberation of the masses. Poverty was and still is, perhaps, one of the biggest challenges to attain 'Complete Freedom'  from.

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Identity of a fabric and connecting threads..

Seeing the connection between the readings on Buddhist economics and Gandhi’s Khadi happened quite naturally. I could see how sustenance on what an individual or a community produces themselves (an underlying principle in Buddhist philosophy, and therefore Buddhist economy), relates directly to the movement that Gandhi so fiercely pushed.

One of the most grasping points from the article was

to do with Gandhi’s perspective on why he propagated dressing in Khadi. As most of us perceive it now, the fabric was to be an ‘identity marker’ of sorts – a homogeneous uniform to be adorned by all the Indians. However, we see that the agenda was to create a divide, not homogeneity. The divide between the Indians that had the true goal of Swaraj (or self rule) , and those who enjoyed the indulgences provided by the British empire.

Another point that drew my attention was how the Charkha attained the supreme position of being a symbol of spirituality. To move away from being a means of living or part of the ‘economic’ structure and transform into something that people engage with as a ‘sedative for a troubled mind’ or ‘protection from passion or anger’ are qualities that few objects, or crafts, has acquired.

The teachings of Buddha have great emphasis on sympathy, freedom non-violence and peace – attributes commonly associated with the Khadi movement. Freedom in turns of economic freedom for millions of Indians that were idle for half the year, sympathy and a feeling of fraternity amongst different sects of Indians, non-violence and patience, through the action of spinning, and of course, peace.

We have discussed the changing identity of a fabric throughout this class. It is important to see the difference in what Khadi was – its symbolism and perception against what it is today. When one sees the cloth adorned now, the focus may be on a stereotype (is he/she intellectual? ) , the consumer (is he/she classy or ‘tasteful?) or in the manner it is draped, as opposed to the pure form of the undraped fabric associated with the early days of the freedom struggle. It is both exciting and challenging to understand how the fabric was forced to change with a changing nation, one geared now, foremost, towards capitalization and a growing economy.

Reading cloth - Reading my mom's and my old kimono :)

I tried reading the fabric that is used in my mom's kimono. 

My mom wearing one of her kimono's when she was twenty years old

here are two kimonos

So my mom told me that in her young day's there were no department stores that would be selling kimonos. My mom's family was very traditional about the culture.They used to have this traditional japanese tailor in her hometown in japan ( called kumoto) to come and stitch their kimono's. She said back in those days the kimonos were completely hand made and hand stitched. The tailors would come to her home with the different variety of kimono fabrics. They would order the fabrics all the way from kyoto. At their house the tailor would try placing each fabric on everyone to check which one is suitable and then he would get it personally stitched for my mom her her family members.

She said that the name of the tailoring place as called Izutsuya Kohichi.

They were a family that was making traditional kimonos for generations in my mom's small hometown.

I tried researching on the tailor to see if I could find it but I unfortunately was not able to . 

So I asked my mom what the type of fabric is called and what style. 

She said the fabrics name is Chirimen and the type is Yuzen and Nishijin ori. So I did a bit of research and I was able to find some sort of link with the information.

Firstly : 

Chirimen Fabric  : Chirimen fabric is a thick, heavy silk crepe, a crinkled fabric made by the weft threads being kept tighter than the warp threads during the weaving process. Weft threads are twisted as they are woven, resulting in a uneven texture.

This weaving technique was developed in Japan over 500 years ago. Threads may be dyed before weaving, or the fabric can be dyed using various techniques after weaving.Chirimen fabric drapes beautifully, and it is difficult to crease. Therefore it is very popular for making kimonos.

Yuzen technique :Yuzen dyed fabric is used for kimono and obi sashes. Its motifs feature themes such as seasonal birds, trees, and flowers, using designs similar in style to those in traditional Japanese painting. The beauty of nature is expressed on white fabric. Kyo-Yuzenhas two dyeing styles: Tegaki-Yuzen, hand-painting, and Kata-Yuzen, stencil-dyeing. Hand-painting techniques were originally developed by Yuzensai Miyazaki in Kyoto in the middle of 17th century, therefore, the artform came to be called Yuzen. After that, stencil-dyeing techniques were developed by Jisuke Hirose in Kyoto in 19th century.

Nishijin Ori: Nishijin-ori woven textiles are widely used in the production of kimono and obi sashes. The weaving industry in Kyoto originated between the 5th and 6th centuries. It prospered with government-operated factories following the construction of the Heian Capital in 794. The name Nishijin came from the Nishijindistrict in Kyoto, where many weavers established their workshops after the end of Onin War (1467–1477). The richly decorative brocades were used for clothing for the Imperial Court and Buddhist and Shinto priests. Based on the design sketch, the dyed silk yarn is woven to produce the textiles which have elaborate patterns. Nishijin-ori has a wide variety of styles, such as gold brocade, damask, figured satin, and velvet. Today, it is said that there are no textiles that Nishijin weavers cannot weave.

I found the link between the types of technique and the place. My mom had said that her fabric was ordered from KYOTO and when I looked into the technique, I was able to find out that it originated in Kyoto itself! :) She said these fabrics were not available in her hometown at her point and that now majority of the reasonably priced kimonos and the casual ones are all machine made. It was honestly pretty cool to hear about this, These kimono's were lying at home for a very long time and I never knew about this. Finding out that she got the fabric specially from the traditional and only place that made it was just so cool and amazing to hear!

Even understanding the whole process from the making to even the buying and tailoring part is nothing like our time now. 

Here is one of my kimono's that i had worn till the age of 7.

My mom told me that she got this kimono for me when I was 3 years old for the traditional japanese festival Shi-go-san which means 3,5,7 . She explained to me that when a child is born, It's tradition to buy a kimono that is specific to this festive tradition.When the child turns three they go to the shrine with their child dressed in this kimono and thank god and for his blessing. Where you buy a special kimono made for the length of a three year old girl child and it's made in such a way that the kimono can be lengthened when the girl turns 5 and next again in 7. The kimono's bottom edge is folded and stitched so that it can be unstitched according to the girls height at her age of 5 and 7. It was just a way of marking the milestones of our life.  :) 

Khadi - A way of Life..

"We cannot claim to have understood the meaning of swaraj till khadi becomes as universal as currency."

(Navajivan, 12-3-1922; 23:77)

 Khadi is an Indian fabric. Khadi is also known by another name Khaddar. It is made by spinning the threads on an instrument known as Charkha. During pre-independence era the movement of Khadi manufacturing gained momentum under the guidance of father of nation Mahatma Gandhi. This movement of Khadi manufacturing and wearing started as to discourage the Indians from wearing of foreign clothes. As in all cases, there were believers and non believers. Those that did not believe in wearing or in Khadi were those that were supporting the English rule.

For Indians, Khadi was never just a cloth and will never be. It was a whole movement started by the father of our nation, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. The Khadi movement was not a revolt. It was more of an ideology, and idea that Indians could be self reliant and free from the costly goods that the British were selling to us. The British had a funny way of production. They would extract the raw materials, (in this case, cotton) from India at a really very cheap price and export them to Britain where they were woven to make clothes. These clothes were then brought back to India to be sold at hefty prices. So, the Khadi movement basically aimed at boycotting foreign goods and promoting Indian goods. Gandhi began promoting Indian goods, especially cloth as it is something that gives a person an identity, thereby improving India’s economy, thus making Khadi an integral part and icon of the Swadeshi movement. It symbolized the political ideas and independence itself.

Gandhi saw it as the end of dependency on foreign materials (symbolizing foreign rule) and thus giving a first lesson or real independence. Gandhi also felt that in a county where manual labor was looked down upon, it was an occupation to bring high and low, rich and poor together, to show them the dignity of hand-labor. He asked not only of those in need, but of every person to do spinning at least about one hour per day as sacrifice to his county, as duty towards the poor. He hoped for a certain bond of unity between the classes and masses by bridging the gap with a common occupation, and he saw great social value in hand-spinning. And as discussed in class with Ravindra, hand spinning can also be very meditative. It gives a person time for reflection. As Gandhi mentioned in Gandhi’s Khadi “when your wife gets angry, just spin”.  It was for economic, cultural and social reasons and not merely political that Gandhi established the Khadi Movement. He expanded the idea from helping the poor individual to self-reliance of whole villages...Thus Khadi was not merely a piece of cloth but it became a way of life.

Khadi cloth, relating it to the buddhist economy

We did a reading on buddhist economics last class. This made us really understand more about khadi cloth as we felt like the ideas of Buddhist economics really linked together, The only difference between them is that the Buddhist economy is against women working as they are meant to take care of their children and raise them .
The buddhist economics basically followed almost all the principles and ideas of the buddhist religion alone.
Buddhist economics :
Doing work of labour is about getting a better personality, delivering a finished work .
It is considered to be more humanitarian if you are very committed and loyal to your work.
They believe that if you work hard and do good in your work, it will pay off by giving you a better life in all your  personal needs like nourishing your body. This is very similar to the idea of Buddhism alone where they believe that if you do good, all the good will be returned to you someday.
We also related our reading and did a comparative to modern  economics. for modern economists, work is about how much you gain out of it or earn out of it. Buddhist economy believes in doing well with work or earning but  their main aim is about liberating yourself. They believe in living the simple way of life  without thinking about the benefits of really doing something.
Buddhist economics also takes huge concerns about being cautious about every move they make, even regarding things about the environmental issues. They believe in being very humble.Their aim is to be happy or content by minimum usage of things.
Modern economics encourage consumption, they believe that the more the consumption the better as it would increase the demand for things therefore increasing the production of the goods and earning more of an income.
You can see the impact the ideas of the religion alone has on the bud hist economy.
I feel like the ideas about khadi regarding the movement it created is very similar to that of the ideas in the buddhist economy.
Khadi cloth played a huge role in india during the time before independence and post it.
Khadi helped unite people in india.
Gandhi needed a way to unite a huge nation like india through a medium and khadi was the medium in which everyone could relate to and work with.
People started weaving their own clothes through khadi. Khadi cloth gave the people an identity. Although khadi also helped poeple under poverty and helped them in self sustainability,
More than anything, it was about having a connection with the idea of khadi.

SPEAKING TO PEOPLE ABOUT KHADI :
I tried asking my parents about khadi and what they felt about it but unfortunately they both could not relate to it much.
My mom is originally japanese and she works with japanese people for tourism so she related herself at a foreigners point of view and said that khadi seems to represent india or gives out an image of india. So there are apparently official stores my mom knows of that sell khadi and it fascinates her and people to buy them. So in her point of view khadi is nothing more than a fabric that's very commercial now.

I spoke to my friend Hansa's mom - Anuradha grover.
She loves khadi fabric, She was mainly influenced by khadi because of her father. He felt like he was very attatched to the fabric as it represented india. He felt that it was important to still respect the good changes or impact that this fabric had brought to the country. So he felt that it was important to wear khadi cloth for the kind of identity it has. Wearing khadi made him proud.
whereas, Anuradha aunty felt like khadi was just really comfortable to wear. Khadi started becoming a trend when she was studying in college and they were being sold in different bright and fun colours to adjust to the the taste of youngsters. So khadi was a very popular fabric in everyone's outfit.