Odisha weaver preserves 45-year craft, trains over 200 people

Prafulla Kumar Sahoo is a 59-year-old handloom weaver from Dodunda Singipur village in Odisha’s Jagatsinghpur district. He has practised weaving for nearly 45 years. His work matters because it keeps the region’s distinctive single-count Patta design alive while creating livelihood opportunities.

Sahoo weaves 80s single-count cotton sarees and Lio silk shirting. He makes motifs by hand, using extra weft threads and thin wooden sticks to lift selected warp threads. He has also developed a colour-dobby border with a traditional fish motif. His specially designed sarees can take about 30 days to complete.

Preservation is central to his work. Sahoo has trained more than 200 unemployed women and young people in basic weaving and jalla dobby techniques. Some trainees earn Rs 10,000 to Rs 12,000 monthly. His contribution received the National Handloom Award 2025, presented by President Droupadi Murmu in August 2026.

A Patta saree is a specially designed handwoven saree made from fine cotton yarn. In Jagatsinghpur, Sahoo’s work preserves a traditional single-count Patta design known locally as Chiadifoda. The design matters because it connects the saree to the area’s distinctive weaving heritage.

Chiadifoda requires unusual precision. Artisans insert extra weft threads one at a time by hand to create motifs. They use thin wooden sticks to lift selected warp threads, allowing the added threads to enter at exact points. The sarees may include traditional motifs, geometric designs and temple borders.

The 80s single-count cotton yarn gives the fabric a lightweight, smooth and breathable finish. Before weaving, the yarn is strengthened with rice starch, wound and warped. One specially made colour-dobby border Patta saree measures 6.20 metres, including the blouse piece, and takes about 30 days.

Sahoo has trained more than 200 unemployed women and young people. His programmes teach basic weaving and jalla dobby techniques, helping participants learn to make sarees and shirting in different designs. This matters because training passes on skills that could otherwise be lost.

The six-month programmes have reached Boudh, Nabarangpur, Koraput, Gunupur, Athagarh, Dhenkanal and Kendrapara, as well as communities in and around Jagatsinghpur. Trainees receive practical instruction rather than only learning about the craft in theory. Rupashree Behera joined with little practical knowledge despite belonging to a weaving family.

After training, Behera learned to weave sarees and shirting in different designs. She now earns between Rs 10,000 and Rs 12,000 a month. Sahoo also earns around Rs 20,000 by training rural women and young people. The programmes therefore support both cultural continuity and household incomes.

Making a specially designed Patta saree takes about 30 days because the process combines careful preparation with slow, precise handweaving. The work begins before the loom is used. Fine cotton yarn must be strengthened, arranged and prepared correctly so the final pattern can be formed.

The yarn is treated with rice starch, then wound and warped. During weaving, the artisan uses thin wooden sticks to lift selected warp threads. Extra weft threads are inserted individually at specific points to create Chiadifoda motifs, geometric designs and temple borders. The colour-dobby border adds another technical demand.

This process cannot be rushed without risking the design and finish. An 80s single-count colour-dobby border Patta saree measures 6.20 metres, including its blouse piece, and is 1.22 metres wide. It takes about 30 days, including preparation, and is priced at Rs 12,599.

The Netaji Weavers Cooperative Society Ltd supports artisans by managing the costly materials and sales steps around weaving. It supplies raw materials to weavers, including the yarn needed for sarees and shirting. This removes a major barrier for artisans who may not have money to begin each order.

After weavers complete their products, the cooperative purchases the finished sarees and shirting and pays labour charges. It then supplies the products to organisations and buyers such as the State Agency for Development of Handloom Clusters, Boyanika and Sambalpuri Bastralaya. The cooperative therefore links production with buyers.

This arrangement allows artisans to work without investing their own money in yarn and other raw materials. Sahoo earns around Rs 20,000 to Rs 25,000 a month through weaving. The wider tradition includes nearly 300 associated weavers in several villages and nearby areas, giving the cooperative role broader importance.

If younger people do not learn the craft, Jagatsinghpur’s distinctive single-count Patta tradition could struggle to survive competition from machine-made textiles. The risk is not only cultural. The detailed skills behind Chiadifoda and other designs would have fewer practitioners, weakening the region’s handloom identity.

The craft depends on patient workers who can starch, wind and warp fine yarn, operate the loom and insert extra weft threads by hand. Sahoo’s training shows how skills can become livelihoods. More than 200 unemployed women and young people have learned basic weaving and jalla dobby techniques, and some earn Rs 10,000 to Rs 12,000 monthly.

A decline in skilled workers could affect the nearly 300 weavers associated with the tradition in villages and nearby areas. Sahoo has called for more training, exhibitions, public awareness and stronger market connections. These steps could help younger people see weaving as viable work.

Handloom weaving is the making of fabric on a loom through an artisan’s direct control of threads and patterns. In Sahoo’s work, the weaver prepares the yarn, operates the loom and builds motifs by hand. This matters because the product carries both technical skill and a regional design tradition.

The contrast with machine-made textiles is clear in the article’s process. Sahoo strengthens fine cotton yarn with rice starch, winds and warps it, then uses wooden sticks to lift selected warp threads. Extra weft threads are inserted at exact points. One specially designed saree takes about 30 days, including preparation.

That time and labour support the saree’s value and the weaver’s livelihood. The 6.20-metre colour-dobby border Patta saree is priced at Rs 12,599. Yet handloom faces competition from machines. Training, cooperatives and stronger markets are important for keeping skilled work viable.