Balucharis did not even originate in Bishnupur. Its actual place of origin was Baluchar, Murshidabad. The fabrics derive its name from the same. The Baluchari history of Bishnupur is impossible to cover without covering the original ones from Murshidabad in details. The term Bishnupuri (of Bishnupur) Baluchari and Murshidabadi (of Murshidabad) Baluchari is how they are often addressed. The Murshidabadi Balucharis are also known as Baluchar Butidar. In 1704 A.D. when the Nawab of Bengal, Murshid Quli Khan shifted his office from Dacca (present day Dhaka) to Mukhsudabad (present day Murshidabad, named after Murshid Quli himself), the textile sector of the area received glorious patronage as the Nawab was a great connoisseur of the same. Among the wide range of Murshidabad’s beautiful textiles, the most artistic was the Baluchari. It has been eulogized as the “loveliest and most charming of all silks in India”. Apart from Nawabs like Murshid Quli, Aliwardi Khan, Sirajuddulah, Mir Jafar, family of Jagat Seth, this weave - embroidery also initially received the patronage from the British employees of the Cossimbazar Kuthi. It soon flourished all over Murshidabad, Azimganj, Cossimbazar, Mahimpur and Baranagar
Baluchari and its name originates from a peripheral area of the town of Jiaganj in Murshidabad known as Baluchar, 23 kms north of Baharampur on the river Bhagirathi. The term ‘balu’ means sand/soil and ‘char’ means a delta created due to silt deposit from a river. The village of Baluchar was created due to silt deposits from the Bhagirathi. This distinctive art named after the epicentre extended to the neighbouring villages of Amaipara, Ramanapara, Ramdhar, Baligram, Bagdhar, Beliapukur, Amdahar, Ransagar and Bahadurpur and by the end of the 19th century there were practically no weavers in Baluchar proper. These adjacent areas came to be known as the Baluchar circle that pursued this unique art. The main distinction of Baluchari saris lies in its attractive and highly prized aanchal or pallu, or the end piece which bore heavily brocaded human figured motifs of the contemporary era eg. Nawabs, Europeans etc. The most prominent name in Baluchari weaving is that of master weaver Sri Dubraj Das of Bahadurpur. He was a legend in the traditional gharana (mode) of Baluchari art. The two monographs on silk fabrics written in 1892 and 1903 offer some clue to the period when Dubraj dominated the scene.
Dubraj belonged to the Chamar caste (leather workers) and he actually began his life as a leather drum maker. But as we would later see Dubraj was an immensely gifted man and he soon left leather work and joined a group of Kaviyals (impromptu singers). His life took a sudden turn when he chose to apprentice under a weaver-artist of Baluchar. From him, Dubraj acquired the technique of setting looms for turning out exquisite patterns and ultimately, he became the most interesting figure in the sericultural history of the district. His expansive artistic vision enabled him to keep pace with changes in contemporary taste and style. He is said to be the only weaver of his time who “can set the loom to any pattern he sees” and he kept experimenting with new patterns according to demands and trends of the time. Although it is said that he was illiterate, several saris have been found with his signature woven on it along with his location. The aspect of signing his name is probably one of the rare instances of an Indian craftsman branding his product. He has also woven religious texts on fabric in place of ornamentation. In spite of his extraordinary mastery over the craft, Dubraj was poor and he thus did not part with his exclusive knowledge and trade secret to protect his source of livelihood. In fact, during his time, his saris were the best pieces of fabrics, both heavy ornamentals and plain elegants, comparable only to the best products of Kashmir and Varanasi looms, but unlike the others, the Baluchar products could withstand any amounts of washing. Apart from saris he was known for weaving rumals (big handkerchiefs), shawls with ornamental borders and corners, table covers, scarves and sashes, woven to order for the nobility. There were six looms in Bahadurpur and Dubraj owned all of them, thus monopolizing the craft. There were several weavers working on his old designs and assisting him but only he knew how to set the loom. The figured Balucharis which once dominated the Indian textile scene began to see a downward trend towards the last quarter of the 19th century. In 1888, it was recorded that these fabrics “have now very nearly been ousted from the market”. Some of the best pieces of Dubraj were devoid of figures in the aanchal and the craftsmanship was confined to the kalka (paisley) panel, intricate borders and floral ornamentation. Some were devoid of butis.
This marked the beginning of decline of the traditional Baluchar style. The first and foremost reason for this was the change of taste of the patrons due to the contact with Europeans. The modern elites were attracted to European elegance and considered these figured fabrics clumsy. Dubraj attempted to cater to the altered taste buds but there were none to keep the flame alight after his death. Moreover, competition with European mill made products as well as the active hostility of the English towards the Indian textile Industry contributed greatly to this decline. The English wanted raw silk rather than finished goods.
Further gold brocaded Banarasi saris set new trends in taste as they proved to be more attractive and comparatively cheaper. Tales of massive floods at Baluchar forcing weavers to migrate is also often heard. Dubraj Das passed away in 1903 and took with him the knowledge and skill to create these magnificent art pieces. Since he was not from a weaver family, the craft was not carried on by his heirs. His son did attempt to weave a fabric in a loom set and left by him but did not succeed to achieve the fineness of his father’s patterns. Mrityunjay Sarkar, who was the finest plain silk weaver of Murshidabad was asked to set his looms for weaving ornamental fabrics like Dubraj. After much effort and by special arrangement of his loom he accidently succeeded in reproducing the ornamental borders of Dubraj’s patterns on saris, shawls and table covers as he was familiar with the Naksha looms of Baluchar. But the whole process was so complicated that he failed to grasp the technique of readjustment of his loom and to reproduce those patterns. In subsequent times, the name of Hem Bhattachariya was also famous. He was active probably during the end of the 19th or the beginning of the 20th century A.D. With the death of these few people, along with the previously mentioned causes, the craft completely died out. The weaving of a Baluchari fabric was an elaborate and complicated process involving as many as a dozen weavers manipulating the loom. For richer patterns, even fourteen Nakshas were employed at a time and the whole process to complete a sari took as long as six months or more. So once the loom was set, the weaver turned out 5-10 or sometimes even 30 pieces of saris before resetting the loom which demanded high level of technical skills
From its birth, Baluchari was the adornment of the elite class. During the period of Delhi-Bengal political intimacy, it was the product of high demand in the Mughal court and other royal families of the country. In the middle of the 19th century, elite Bengali housewives were known to wear Balucharis. In one of his writings, Abanindranath Tagore (Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore’s brother) mentions that his mother (wife of Maharshi Debendranath Tagore) wore a Baluchari sari on the occasion of ‘Maghotsava’. Post independence, the Government of India’s Design Centre tried to revive the Baluchari weaving art with the help of weavers in Bengal and in South India but did not achieve any success in this initiative. Then around 1956 AD, Sri Akshay Kumar Das, a native of Bishnupur and a designer at Government of India Textile Design Centre, retired from his post and went back to Bishnupur. There he met Sri Hanuman Das Sarda, the chief organizer of Silk Khadi Seva Mandal, who having acquired a piece of a Baluchari sari from Shubho Tagore (nephew of Rabindranath Tagore), was toying with the idea of reviving the craft. Shubho Tagore, himself being a famous artist, felt the need of recultivating this rich tradition as well. He invited Sri Akshay Kumar Das to learn the technique of jacquard weaving. Sri Das then went back to Bishnupur and along with the financial assistance of Hanuman Das Sarda started working on the same. It is said that the organization spent Rs. 5,000/- initially and the cost of initial designing and raw material was provided as a subsidy by the Design Centre of the Government of India. Thus, with hard work and planning, the first piece of Bishnupuri Baluchari was produced in 1957 A.D. after a lapse of several years. It was woven by Gora Chand and Khudu Bala, a weaver couple from Bishnupur following Akshay Kumar’s design.
Since then, Silk Khadi Seva Mandal continued its effort to fully revive the Baluchari art of weaving. (This organization is still functioning in today’s date but has lost its glory). Following suit, another voluntary organization Abhay Ashram started production centres for Balucharis at Bishnupur and Sonamukhi. Since the ancient drawboy (what is commonly referred to as the Dobby loom) jala loom system of weaving was extremely time consuming and labour intensive and automatically hiked the price of the sari, these organizations were finding it rather difficult to market the same. During this time jacquard looms with punched designs were introduced to Bengal, which ensured higher productivity and a lower cost of production. But with this the quality began to deteriorate with the loom’s constraints and fast production. The motifs became far less intricate and more spaced out. The designs were not reversible and the extra wefts form floats at the back. The Silk Khadi Seva Mandal had to pass several ups and downs to sustain the organization. One of them was the dearth of customer base and good marketing. But this problem was overtaken with the assistance of Khadi & Village Industries Commission and publicity by the Ananda Bazar Group of newspapers and periodicals.
Another problem was that the organization did not have their own design centre due to financial constraints which led to a high price being paid for the design development.
The third crisis happened when the weavers working for the organization were lured away by various traders. These traders aimed for faster production and more profits and seldom cared about quality and intricacy of motifs. This led to a rise of a cheaper, substandard quality of Baluchari, which flooded the market.
Someone who has seen both the old and contemporary Balucharis of Bishnupur, it is easy to realize that the intricacy and craftsmanship have truly declined over the ages. People often write off the Bishnupuri Balucharis in comparison to their Murshidabadi ones, but the old Bishnupuri Balucharis were quite as exquisite in their design and craftsmanship as those of Murshidabad. Also, the Silk Khadi Seva Mandal face problems due to fund constraints. The market too is quite seasonal … where fabrics of such high costs are usually bought either during festive seasons or marriage seasons, which causes uneven cash flow.
The motifs seen on the Balucharis were also vastly changed with the Bishnupur variety. Stories of Ramayana and Mahabharata, Shakuntala – King Dushyant, Lord Madan Mohan, kings and courtesans etc. became popular subjects for motifs. Neither the ones from Baluchar nor the early ones from Bishnupur involved any zari/metallic thread (as in the present Swarnacharis and Tamracharis) for weaving motifs. It is a present-day variation created due to user preference. Presently there are several traders involved in Baluchari manufacturing in Bishnupur. Not only are they store owners, they have their own production units as well. Although the current Balucharis are not as densely brocaded and intricate as those from the past, they are still one of the finest and most exquisite textiles being produced in India today. As it is a rare textile art with mythological stories woven all over it, some authors have referred to it as “an epic sonnet”.
