Habashpuri

The painstaking efforts and creativity of Chicheguda weavers make every Habashpuri or Habaspuri sari produced here a special piece. Mostly done in cotton, traditional designs of Kandha tribes like kumbha (temple), fish, turtles and flowers are woven into the saris. Home to 30 weaver families, Chicheguda village has been instrumental in reviving the Habashpuri handloom which was originally woven in Habashpur village of Kalahandi district during the 19th century. With the decline of dynastic rule, the pattern of weave too passed into oblivion. However, it was revived by master weaver Ugrasen Meher in Chicheguda. Subsequently, the government formed the Chicheguda Handloom Cooperative Society to look into training of weavers and marketing of the final products. However, weavers of the village said even as steps have been taken to revive the Habashpuri weave, a lot more needs to be done for skill upgradation at regular intervals and providing marketing opportunities to them. They also demanded speeding up of the process for geographical indication (GI), copyrights and design patent of the Habashpuri design. Authorities have confirmed that all formalities have been completed to grant the Geographical Index registration to the Chicheguda Handloom Cooperative Society. The department is contemplating to provide crash courses to weavers in producing products in Habashpuri design like bed spreads, table mats apart from saris. There are also plans to improve weaving methods.