Weaving through Time: A History of Karbi Textile Traditions in Assam

Abstract

Karbi textiles play an important role within the socio-economic and cultural heritage of the Karbi people of Assam. Studies on Karbi textiles have focused primarily on the design and style of traditional attire, production of plant-based colors, and handloom techniques. Little work has been done to explore the historical dynamics behind the emergence of Karbi textile traditions. This paper aims to write a history of Karbi textiles using oral traditions, colonial records, government documents, ethnographic accounts, and community initiatives. The findings indicate that weaving had traditionally been an important element of the local domestic economy involving agricultural cultivation of cotton fibers, manual fiber processing, hand-spinning, use of natural plant dyes for dyeing purposes, and weaving techniques. Women have played pivotal roles in weaving as both productive laborers and bearers of traditional weaving practices and techniques. Various forces of colonial integration, market expansion, Christian missionaries, and commodified industrial products have generated changes in this overall production process. Yet, those changes did not arise solely out of subsistence-based production processes or the disappearance of indigenous forms of weaving. Instead, selective adoption occurred whereby elements like industrially produced yarns, artificial dyes, and new fashion trends were assimilated into existing indigenous practices, while handloom weaving continued as an economically and socially relevant practice.