RISHAS: REVIVED AND REPURPOSED

Brinda Gill follows designer Aratrik Dev Varman’s work with risha and understands how traditional clothing can often be repurposed to keep the craft alive and appeal to a wider audience.

- Brinda Gill

“Risha is long and narrow like a scroll in its proportions. It is a record of motifs that holds meaning and contributes to the identity of the woman who weaves and wears it,” says Aratrik Dev Varman, designer and founder of Tilla, a design studio in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.

Risha, an upper body garment akin to a breast cloth, is a traditional piece of clothing worn by women of the nineteen ethnic groups and several sub-groups in Tripura, the designer’s home state. Rishas are hand woven by women on backstrap looms set in their homes. Traditionally, each group’s identity would be manifest in the motifs/ patterns of their weaves.

THEN AND NOW

Processing cotton, spinning yarns and weaving has been a household activity for the ethnic groups. The tasks would be undertaken by girls and women of the family and the knowledge and skills of weaving would be passed down generations. Traditionally, the yarns would be dyed with natural dyes.

In recent decades, there have been changes in the process of weaving. Weavers now weave with acrylic yarns that are readily available and easy to weave with yarns are dyed with chemical colours rather than natural dyes that require time, effort and resources, and weavers use frame loom that allow broader cloth to be woven. Changes in fashion and the easy availability of readymade garments have reduced the demand for traditional attire. Additionally, the opportunity of pursuing other vocations/ occupations has led to a decline in the number of weavers practising the art. In this context, the state government has started promoting the risha as the state’s signature identity and it is being branded under the India Handloom Brand.

THE RISHA