For a land that celebrates the unstitched cloth, it is surprising that the Indian subcontinent has produced scant work of any length on anything besides the sari. In a welcome first step, a small but significant course correction has occurred by the publication of the latest Marg issue focusing on The Risha, History in a Narrow Weave . The fact that a narrow length of woven breast cloth shoulders this task is to the credit of the issue’s guest editors, Aratrik Dev Varman, founder of Ahmedabad-based design studio Tilla, and designer Jisha Unnikrishnan.
Aratrik Dev Varman| Photo Credit:Rohan Doshi The risha from Tripura in northeastern India is a salient example of the use of unstitched cloth off the loom and ready to wear. The woven textile joins the illustrious list of other ubiquitous unstitched garments that most Indians are familiar with: the sari, turban length, shoulder cloth, dhoti , etc. What this book succinctly brings to light is the centrality of cloth in the cultural life of a people.
From the colonial horror of the exposed native’s body, to the politics of who can and is allowed to wear what. Stratification also gets inherently built into cloth — cotton for ordinary folk and silk for the palace born. Today, within urbanised environments and amidst political strife, communities have lost many a meaning of motif and pattern and are now left with just a ritual understanding of cloth, while distinct identities by way of traditional textiles have given way to hom.