Inside the colourful world of Kamalganj’s Monipuri weavers
For almost 400 years, Monipuris in the area have been cultivating cotton, making yarn, and weaving their own clothes. Starting in the 1980s, Radhabati Devi helped popularise Monipuri sarees among the larger population
Standing near her mud hut — its light brown walls and courtyard spotlessly clean — Manthai Devi hung white cotton yarns on a bamboo railing. The yarns, washed with starch, would be weaved into a saree, or an inafi (light dupatta like shawl to cover the upper body that is a part of Monipuri women's ensemble), after drying them well under the sun.
Manthai's wooden handloom was placed inside her hut, on a tiny verandah-like space enclosed by bamboo fences. She happily showed us how she works the handloom, which had colourful threads of a half-done inafi stuck to the wooden shafts.
"Depending on the design, an inafi, or orna as they are also called, takes three to four days to finish. Sarees take more time though; a tero haath (little more than six yards) saree takes a week to finish," she said.
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She buys the yarn (usually imported from India and China) from the market at Tk400 to Tk450 per kilogram. A mahajan (wholesaler) comes and takes the products from her, earning her around Tk2,000 to Tk3,000 per cloth. "The extra income is good for my family."
In Bhanubil Majhergaon village of Kamalganj upazila, Moulvibazar district, there are around 14 Meitei Monipuri villages (there are three sects among Monipuris in Bangladesh: Meitei, Bishnupriya, and Muslim Monipuri; Muslim Monipuri families have Monipuri mothers and Muslim fathers) and eight to 10 Muslim Monipuri villages.
There are around 5,000 handlooms in all of these villages, which means approximately 10,000 weavers (Monipuri saree requires two weavers), as Niranjan Singha Raju, one of the prominent community leaders of Bhanubil Majhergaon, informed us. There are some Bangali Muslim weavers as well. All the weavers are female.
Most of Manthai Devi's neighbours were weavers like her, quietly working away inside their homes. One of them was an elderly woman named Noupi Devi. "I have been weaving for 40 years; I started when I was a young girl. I used to make sarees but not anymore, because I have grown old and my back hurts from all the sitting."
Noupi still manages to make a few inafis every month. Her son works in Sylhet city so she no longer has the pressure of earning more.
Helping weavers and preserving the culture
Niranjan Singha Raju had a jewellery business of his own in Sreemangal. Now, after somewhat retiring, he is fully involved in development for the Monipuri community in Bhanubil Majhergaon. He works on community based ecotourism and preserving Monipuri handloom and craft.
We sat for an interview with him at his house, which also serves as an ecotourism cottage.
"Monipuris have been living here for 350 to 400 years. We were mostly engaged in farming. We used to cultivate cotton, make yarns, and then weave our own clothes. Radhavati Devi helped to popularise Monipuri sarees from the 1980s. Now, I work with weavers in our community so that the original designs do not become distorted and the weavers get a good price," he said.
The Radhavati Devi he spoke about recently turned into a local celebrity after making a full-length saree using banana fibre yarn — for the first time in the country's history. She made the saree, which will be gifted to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, in just eight days. Radhavati was taken to Bandarban from Kamalganj in February this year, where she trained local women on the art of weaving for 15 days. Although Radhavati wanted to return home from Bandarban quickly, she now plans to stay there for another year and continue the work.
But back in Kamalganj, Niranjan still works with local weavers. He helps the weavers get bundles of yarns and market the products. "For making one saree, the lowest cost of a weaver is around Tk1,200 to Tk1,250. Two weavers can finish one saree within a week or so. A saree costing Tk5,000 or Tk6,000 is sold at Tk10,000 to Tk12,000 in Dhaka."
A weaver, however, can earn Tk8,000 to Tk10,000 per month.
He also told us that the number of Meitei Monipuri weavers is decreasing because the education rate in their community is increasing. Many young men in Majhergaon are now working in the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), or in cities like Dhaka and Sylhet.
Young women are especially encouraged to earn higher degrees. Niranjan's own daughter works at icddr,b in Dhaka after completing her studies from Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, and his son is a fashion designer.
"In our community, it doesn't matter if you are rich or poor. If you are educated, you will be highly respected," he said.
In the early days, Monipuri clothes were made with natural dyes. These days, only chemical dyes are used. "So, I am also trying to bring back the use of natural dyes in Monipuri sarees."
Preserving Monipuri designs and at the same time, helping the local weavers is a mammoth task that Niranjan Singha cannot do alone. Other community leaders are also engaged in it. The Monipur State government in India sometimes supports initiatives such as the Manipuri Cultural Complex in Tetaigaon, Kamalganj.
Currently, around 16 Monipuri weavers are trained here. Training period is usually three to four months. In one of the complex rooms, a few women were working on wooden handlooms in pairs. The wooden shafts were passed between two women as they swiftly went on weaving.
We met two of them, Gita Devi and Ajitra Devi, who were working on a particularly colourful saree in combinations of purple and green. Gita said she earns around Tk10,000 every month, which is approximately six sarees. Another weaver, Nandita Singha, is a first year student of social sciences. She said the training has helped her and she enjoys coming to the complex.
Why do natural weavers need training?
Retired Additional Secretary Shashi Kumar Singha, who inaugurated the cultural complex in 2014, said, "We train them for quality control. Without quality control, our weavers' works will not be sustainable," adding, "We train them so they can make exclusive Monipuri products; our cultural complex produces beautiful sarees, you won't find them anywhere else."
These sarees are sold out locally before reaching big cities. Although production is not on a large scale, sometimes the complex gets orders for Monipuri sarees from outside. "For example, Bannya Di [renowned Rabindra Sangeet singer Rezwana Choudhury Bannya] sometimes takes sarees from us for festivals in her school."
The Monipuri saree entrepreneurs
While visiting Sylhet during the holidays, Monipuri sarees piqued Rawsan Ara's interest. At first, she would buy them for herself, but then she began to think of selling them.
She got to know about the weavers in Kamalganj and got in touch with Niranjan Singha. "I met around 15 weavers here and convinced them to work with me. They agreed, given that I paid them the right price. Initially, other than the carrier cost, I would send the entire amount to them."
Working with the weavers has been one of the best experiences in her life, Rawsan said. "The Monipuri community now treats me like a family member. The weavers are incredibly kind and straightforward; they keep their promises."
As her business grew, in 2019, Rawsan left her job at Digicon Technologies and became a full time entrepreneur. The same year, she opened her online business "Kaifiya Taant Ghor".
Many entrepreneurs like Rawsan Ara are now selling Monipuri sarees through online pages. These are popular for being lightweight and having unique motifs.
Although she started with sarees, her products now include Monipuri bags, bedsheets, as well as woollen shawls and scarves. "In 2020, one of the weavers gifted me a Japanese handkerchief. It inspired me to weave 100 handkerchiefs in 11 different designs and six different colours. All of them sold out faster than I expected!"
Rawsan is now working with six weavers and also takes orders for exclusively woven sarees, which can cost up to Tk20,000 to Tk22,000.
"Before I approached the weavers, I saw they only made clothes for themselves. Being a part of my business has now given them a new identity. I'm also happy that I'm able to show others the beauty of Monipuri sarees," she said.
