“Chadariya, jhini re jhini, ke Ram naam ras bhini. Astah kamal ka, charkha banayapanch tattva ki puni Nao/das maas bunan ko lage, murkh maili kinhi. jab mori chaadar, ban ghaar ayie, rang-rej ko dinhi. Aisa rang, ranga rang re le, lal-o-lal kar dinhi.”

Translated in English: The body is woven fine and imbued in essence Ram (divine’s name) The body itself is given a metaphor of fabric. A lotus flower with eight petals made the spinning wheel loaded with five elements (to make the thread). It takes 9 months to make (the covering), (but) the foolish soiled it straight away. When my covering was made, and came home, it was given to a master-painter. He painted the colours such that, (he) made it completely red.¹⁾

These verses are from Sant Kabir, a 13th century Indian mystic poet and saint who hundreds of years ago questioned organised forms of religions, their internal injustices of caste, hierarchies, fundamentalism, absolutism. He was a weaver by practice. In this verse above, Kabir gives the human body a metaphor of fabric that has been woven fine and imbued in divine’s name. Again, the movement of Warp and Weft in weaving is used as a metaphor for the process of growing in the womb for 9 months. And then, when the fabric is woven, is a form of a human body it is imbued in the colour red which is a colour of divinity.

Among the Dimasa community in Assam, North-east India, weaving among women is an essential expression of their way of life. Several of the motifs are inspired by nature. Picture Credits: Shrishtee Bajpai

Sant Kabir used weaving, his occupation along with thousands others in his community and elsewhere, as a metaphor. It was used very often to speak of spiritual, political, and social issues. The working class in India, including weavers, craftsmen, cobblers, ironsmiths (often from marginalised and oppressed castes) related to this democratisation of knowledge.²⁾ Local communities who didn’t have access to elite knowledge spaces articulated their worldviews through their everyday occupations. Their expression of meaning of life was not based on any abstractism; rather, it was woven in everyday practice and learning. Several of these communities have led counter spiritual, political and social movements in India over the ages.³⁾

For Mahatma Gandhi, the Charkha (spinning wheel) was a symbol of resistance against imperial forces, assertion of self-determination, freedom, dignity of labour, and self-reliance and extractive industrialization. Spinning a process of producing thread from raw fibers for Gandhi was a form of meditation on oneness of life and interdependence of human and nature. Spinning on the Charkha was not just a political movement but a movement of spiritual & philosophical churning within communities too. This formed the basis of the Sarvodaya movement that Gandhi initiated during the struggle for independence. Sarvodaya means ‘upliftment of all’, and through it Gandhi articulated his vision for a Sarvodaya society, where every member would be free from any greed of limitless acquisition of material wealth and would lead simpler lives of sufficiency, dignity, rootedness and honest work.⁴⁾ Poet Raviram in his bhajan (devotional song) ‘Charkho’ (spinning wheel) speaks about how the cycle of inhalation and exhalation is similar to a charkha in the human body. It is this charkha which lights the temple named the human body.⁵⁾ Thus, weaving, the process of transforming threads into a tapestry, is about creating patterns of possibilities.

Picture Credits: Shrishtee Bajpai

The art of weaving has more ancient roots in India with fossils of woven cloth being found in the excavations of Mohenjo Daro that date back to beyond 3000 BC. Weaving has always been a means of expression and reconstruction among communities. It is integrated in devotional songs, resistance songs, everyday philosophy and meaning making. However, in modern India, weaving is commercialised and handloom weavers are relegated to margins. The market economy based on extraction, profit at all cost, cheap labour, scalability beyond sustainable limits has deeply impacted the weaving communities. This of course develops at the larger backdrop of hegemonic systems of political, social and economic relations that are driven by historical and present patterns of capitalist, colonialist, modern, patriarchal, racist, statist, and anthropocentric forces. The dominant regime is the one that has managed to create a hegemonic narrative of stages of progress that all humans must (forcefully, violently) go through to become civilised and so-called ‘developed’ beings. It is a narrative that has universalised human beings and their experiences by creating homogenised atomised humans rather than ones who are born out of relations and practices such as weaving. Weaving doesn’t necessarily fit into that framework of progress. In fact industrial modernity destroys existing natural and cultural weaves, between nature and humans, amongst humans …

But even in this dominant narrative, alternatives are seeded. Weaving still continues to be an important practice of transformation, self-reliance among several communities in India. “We weave dreams on our looms,” say Chizami village women weavers in Nagaland, North-East India. Around 600 women weavers through reviving their traditional craft are asserting their indigenous Naga identity, and challenging patriarchy by becoming economically self-reliant.⁶⁾ A study led by colleagues along with vankar (weaver) community of Kachchh (Gujarat, India) to understand multiple dimensions of transformation taking place in the livelihoods of Vankar community linked to an overall revival of the handloom weaving (vanaat) craft found, an overall increase in well-being (especially economic) and a continued sense of identity and belongingness in relation to the craft. The revival of crafts and linked transformations has led to reducing gender, caste, and generational inequalities; and a flowering of innovation and creativity, especially with the youth, using hybrid knowledge, learning, and technological systems, while retaining the essence of Kachchh’s vanaat⁷⁾. In south India, Timbuktu collective, set up a livelihood initiative for women in distress, Bhavani (a source of creative energy), breaking barriers of caste, gender, religion in weaving in India. The collective uses only nature based products and works with women who are widowed, school dropouts, victims of sexual abuse. These women are weaving magic in their lives and that of others.⁸⁾

Among the vankars in Kachchh, weaving is a spiritual, economic and cultural expression of life. picture credits: Ashish Kothari

Weaving has been a strong expression of humans' relationship with the rest of nature. Among the Dimasas of Assam,⁹⁾ there are several recorded motifs. About 159 designs/ rikhus have their distinctive names in the Dimasa textiles symbolising layers of soil, small water carrying jar, small oyster, small brinjal flower, tortoise, small crab and so on.¹⁰⁾ Such examples are countless across India as well as the world and so what can we learn from them?

Weaving as an assertion of autonomy

For the Vikalp Sangam (VSVikalp Sangam (India)) process, inspired by several communities across India, weaving is a process of expression of life itself. It is about breaking the dependencies on the market, capital and the State, through the construction of autonomy and joyous creativity. It is like being in a state of movement grounding ourselves with the rhythms and movement of the natural world. Weaving is crafting possibilities in horizontal, autonomous, communitarian, and plural ways that challenge the dominance of extractive economies, social and political systems. When VS identifies itself as a weaver within the Global TapestryThe weaving of networks of Alternatives of AlternativesAre activities and initiatives, concepts, worldviews, or action proposals by collectives, groups, organizations, communities, or social movements challenging and replacing the dominant system that perpetuates inequality, exploitation, and unsustainabiity. In the GTA we focus primarily on what we call "radical or transformative alternatives", which we define as initiatives that are attempting to break with the dominant system and take paths towards direct and radical forms of political and economic democracy, localised self-reliance, social justice and equity, cultural and knowledge diversity, and ecological resilience. Their locus is neither the State nor the capitalist economy. They are advancing in the process of dismantling most forms of hierarchies, assuming the principles of sufficiency, autonomy, non-violence, justice and equality, solidarity, and the caring of life and the Earth. They do this in an integral way, not limited to a single aspect of life. Although such initiatives may have some kind of link with capitalist markets and the State, they prioritize their autonomy to avoid significant dependency on them and tend to reduce, as much as possible, any relationship with them. (GTAGlobal Tapestry of Alternatives), it recognises being a local, regional, or national network or organization that connects or consists of multiple alternatives on different themes/spheres, in an inter-sectorial way. But apart from this, it is also to symbolise grounded practices of communities, peoples, and networks who are resisting the oppressive systems by creating different ways of knowing, being and doing things. In the framework note “In Search of Alternatives: Key Aspects and Principles”- an ever-evolving note (now in its 7th version).¹¹⁾ that has synthesis of the understanding of the key trends, principles, and strategies emerging in myriad grassroots initiatives in the various sectors, VS highlights the wisdom and concepts expressed by ‘ordinary people’ in communities and movements.

Weaving as an act of radical inclusivity

Within the VS process, bringing together movements, communities, organisations who are resisting and creating alternatives is an act of weaving. Resistance, civil disobedience, and non-cooperation (both collective and individual) towards the forces of unsustainability, inequality, and injustice is at the heart of it. The more we come together and share with each other by removing the hierarchies and dichotomies, e.g. between science and other forms of knowledge, modern and traditional, intellectual and physical labour, the better we weave. By centering weaving, VS attempts to facilitate the voices of the disempowered/disprivileged (dalits,¹²⁾ adivasis,¹³⁾ women, landless, disabled, minorities, nomads, ‘denotified’ tribes, workers, etc) in forums of decision-making. Through this also intentionally integrating art into everyday lives, fostering the creative in every individual and collective, bringing work and leisure together.

Weaving as an act of subversive politics

Weaving is an important metaphor for envisioning better futures as well. Capitalist modernity has told us that there is no other way to exist, but thousands of counter-examples of community initiatives across India¹⁴⁾ and world¹⁵⁾ show us that it is possible to live beyond extractive systems. In the VS process, dreaming and envisioning is like imagining a tapestry of diverse and plural threads that are tied and woven together in a horizontal way co-creating a beautiful landscape of possibilities. Act of weaving collective visions can also be an act of subversive politics,¹⁶⁾

Weaving as an act of feminising transformations

Picture Credits: Shrishtee Bajpai

“It is only when change occurs in all spheres; economic, social, cultural and everyone gets their due share… whether it is Man or Woman, girl or boy or other castes. If everyone gets equal treatment & equal opportunities, only then can we say that we have achieved wellbeing” says Kumari bai Jamkata, an indigenous woman from central India fighting mining companies, organising women in the region to fight internal injustices as well. Several feminist struggles, transformations, are about weaving many struggles of injustices and finding common grounds of coming together to look for holistic transformations. Justice is a broader horizon where communities and people who are often in margins are all being part of it. As Maria Miles eloquently puts it- ‘women cannot expect liberation to come from continued exploitation of nature and other colonised peoples’.

Weaving as an act of relational politics

In their latest book, “Relationality: An Emergent Politics of Life Beyond the Human”, authors talk about relational ways of organising and building solidarity spaces. They speak to the idea of relational politics based on local, emergent, collective, pluriversal ways and where heart and spirit is at the centre.¹⁷⁾ Weaving is relational politics. It is like an act of living that affirms power with rather than power over. For the GTA, weaving is an act of resistance and transformation. It is the act of building bridges as we walk them. It is like looking at the world through the lens of self-organisation where each of the movements/communities/peoples know the unique gift that they are bringing to this world. It is about building strategies of coalitions, dialogues, formations, among people that reaffirm our struggles to life. Through this the power is resting most in people and bioregions that they come from but also asserting the importance of solidarity threads and mutuality among global/local communities.

Weaving as an act of personal transformation and sacred awakening

Weaving is opening possibilities of personal transformation as well. While we weave with others we arrive at our own interdependence. How our work both internal & external is always connected with our fellow beings (human and more-than human). Our everyday lives have to be transformed in such a way that through our practices of living, being, connecting and networking we are aware of this interdependence. We need to design our lives, organisations, our networks, governance spaces with deep awareness of this existing relationality which is also related to our own internal emancipation. And who better can summarise it than my favourite poet Kabir in another beautiful verse using the metaphor of weaving:

Lord, I weave the cloth of Thy Name. 
 	The fruitless toil 
        Of weaving for the world 
        Has come to an end;
        I have attained
        The dazzling state of bliss—
        Free from fear, free from pain,
I am the weaver, O Lord, of Thy Name; 
        I weave and reap the profit 
        Of inner rapport with Thee.
I am the weaver of the Lord’s Name

                     —KABIR

Shrishtee Bajpai is a researcher-activist from India. Her current research focuses on radical alternatives, Indigenous worldviews, traditional/customary governance systems, bioregionalism and rights of nature. She is a member of Kalpavriksh, Vikalp Sangam (Alternatives Confluence) in India, Global Tapestry of Alternatives and Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature.