After South India Viscose (SIV Industries) in Sirumugai closed down, a good number of workers relocated to Tirupur and Coimbatore to eke out their living.

Over the years, Sirumugai, about 60 km from Coimbatore, lost its vibrancy.

But, not for long though. Sirumugai rose to prominence recently when a group of handloom weavers, who had not travelled beyond Chennai, got a chance to showcase their award winning entries in Malaysia and Singapore.

They are now yearning to display one of their masterpieces at a museum in London. There are 19 Handloom Weavers’ Societies in and around Sirumugai.

Some of these societies are not doing well, but by and large the mood among the weavers was upbeat, as they showed off the half-a-dozen national awards and dozens of merit certificates that the societies had bagged for their creativity and workmanship in silk weaving.

“You will not be here, if we had not achieved this,” said R. Radhakrishnan, retired Manager of Sirumugaipudur Sri Ramalinga Sowdambiga Weavers’ Cooperative Society.

Members of other societies too had assembled at Sri Ramalinga Sowdambiga Weavers Cooperative Society office, where the entries that did the region proud were displayed as wall hangings.

Each work was a masterpiece in its own way. The spell of magic was visible in their weave. It was not the colour or floral design that attracted the onlooker, but the theme they carried.

Imagine the 1,330 Thirukural couplets in silk weave, with the portrait of Thiruvallur on the pallu! Quite a feat, considering that a single mistake in any couplet would have rendered the entire work useless.

Another wall hanging looked like a barren tree from a distance. But a closer look at the tree revealed the face of 10 national leaders – Mahatma Gandhi, Balagangadara Tilak, Subash Chandra Bose, Jawaharlal Nehru, Bhagat Singh, Lal Bahadur Sastri, Dr Radhakrishnan, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and Khan Abdul Gaffer Khan – woven in golden zari.

Both these were award winning entries.

The Thirukural Saree has also crossed the borders. About two months ago, the weavers were invited to showcase the saree in Malaysia and Singapore. “The people were overawed by the craftsmanship and they took the saree,” said Radhakrishnan.

Showing the scanned image of the Rs 3 lakh cheque that society received from Co-optex for the Kural saree, the former Manager said that Co-optex funded such innovative works on handloom.

“Otherwise we will not be able to work on innovative design. We route our application (for the award) through Co-optex, and they sponsor us,” he said.

The Mayilthogai saree, with over 1,64,492 colours juxtaposed in small checks and the border carrying the seven wonders of the world was another eye-catching piece.

“Though this saree was released by former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, it did not fetch any award. On the other hand, we received orders for 10 such sarees,” he said.

As a Tribute to Mahatma Gandhi, a saree with his portrait woven using ahimsa silk were among the many attractive sarees on display.

Asked if there were takers for such thematic sarees, Radhakrishnan said that the intention was not to have such sarees draped on women, but to exhibit the magic of their weave. “These are designed only for award purpose.”

“Every award has motivated us to do something different and better. We have sent a saree carrying the portrait of Mother Teresa on the pallu as this year’s entry for the award, to commemorate her centenary year,” said Radhakrishnan.

So the sleepy town of Sirumugai seems to have suddenly come to limelight, though Radhakrishnan begged to disagree. “Our journey began several decades ago, but it was in 1991 that we first won an award. Thereafter, we have got many more. Unfortunately, we are mere weavers and the recognition ends there.”

While the weavers were generally happy with the recognition, they conceded that the magic of their weave would probably end with their generation as their wards preferred white-collared jobs.

revathy.lakshminarasimhan@thehindu.co.in

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