Unravelling Zari hub of Bengal The story of an enormous cottage industry of Bengal

Team Chronicle

West Bengal is known for its master craftsmen and weavers of beautiful handloom sarees. But not many people are aware of a thriving industry in neighbouring Howrah, only a few kilometers away, where thousands of craftsmen are engaged in embroidering beautiful sarees. The magic created by silk threads and needles along with sequins, zardosi and zari work are well-appreciated in other states of India- though closer home few seem to beaware of the booming industry. Although this work is primarily considered to be embroidery on sarees, in common parlance it is known as zari work. We had visited Ujursaha, one of the many villages in Howrah where locals are engaged in this traditional industry of embroidering on sarees. Majority of the workers are Muslims though it has spread among other communities as well. It is said the original embroiders had come with the Mughals to make fine embroidery on silks. They are actually ostagors, capable of fine intricate embroidery instead of being mere tailors.This industry sustains a large number of craftsmen and their families though not many are aware that the state known for instant cotton sarees, kantha and batik work or even baluchari is also home to hand embroidered sarees which are more popular outside the state.

We chose Jujursaha for the survey since it is roughly 20 kms away from Vidyasagar Setu and about 6 kms from the highway. It is a quintessential Bengali village and one can hardly discern from its exterior that it is home to such expert craftsmen or karigars whose expertise lies in creating beautiful hand embroidered sarees that are a huge hit in neighbouring Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Nepal. Although usually meant for wearing occasionally in small towns and villages of these states, they are often used as regular wear. The fabric used is primarily made in Gujarat and Delhi but the embroidery work is exclusively done in the villages of Howrah including Deulpur, Ranihati, Dhaunghat, Andul, Pachla, Jujursaha and many more. Amtala and neighbouring villages in South 24 Parganas are also a scattered hub of embroiders. The embroidery work is mainly concentrated in these areas because of the presence of skilled craftsmen required for hand embroidery, that too at a very low cost.

Fabric and design
Hand embroidery is done on georgette and chiffon, crepe fabrics or sarees. Sometimes chinon is used as well but its demand is more popular in Rajasthan. The fabrics are supplied to the karigars by traders or suppliers who hire karigars on contractual basis. They usually have a number of karigars working for them depending upon the job at hand. Since this industry is extremely localised, contacts and bonds are made through personal visits which allows both karigars and suppliers time to get acquainted with each other in terms of work, negotiations and exchange business ideas.

The market demand is tilted towards rich and intricate embellishments with a lot of emphasis on ‘heavy’works (referring to the intricacies of the actual embroidery) inspired from Bollywood and regional movies and they keep on changing. Designs in these markets have a shelf life of 6-12 months before a newer trend sweeps in. The suppliers seldom have designers working for them and it is the karigars who come up with new and up-to-date designs that meet the market demands. Abhinav Bibhuti, a supplier who sources raw materials from Surat and has been in the business for about a year said,“Trends in this industry change rapidly. The karigars are expert at coming up with designs that suit the taste of the clients. In every wedding season or festive season there’s a new trend in design that evolves mainly from the Bollywood movies and we suppliers have to move swiftly to catch in on the trend.”

Business Flow
The suppliers provide sarees or fabric to the karigars and also collect the finished product on completion of the embroidery work. These embellished sarees are much fancied by retail buyers and hence get sold in the market at a highly inflated rate. In other words, though the karigars skills are highly appreciated, they are completely dependent on the suppliers for their livelihood.

After a design has been mutually decided upon by the supplier and karigar, wages are negotiated which can be anywhere between INR 250 to INR 7000 or even higher at some instances including the prices of all the raw materials required for the embroidery work.

The karigars source the decorative materials and thread required for the embroidery like zardozi, kardana, chid, resin, chokdi, velvet, kosov, etc. from the Burrabazar area. These are sewed on the material with considerable patience and skill due to the intricacies involved. Karigars are the master craftsmen who usually have 3-4 craftsmen or families working under them. On an average, it roughly takes around 10-15 days to complete a set of 50 sarees of the same design.

Once the suppliers get the deliveries of the finished products, they then sell the fabrics or sarees to the wholesalers who in turn sell to the retailers. In order to meet the sky-high demands of sarees during the festive and wedding seasons, the traders usually build up huge stocks for themselves. While selling to the wholesalers, the suppliers keep a profit margin between 10%-30% depending on the skills and experience of the supplier in negotiations. There exists stiff competition between all levels of traders and keeping a very high profit margin is not always possible, particularly for the new entrants. Once the wholesalers receive the sarees, they sell it to the retailers keeping a profit margin of around 10%-20%. It is the retailers who get the lion share of the profit at the end of the day. Since there are no fixed prices for these sarees, the retailers usually earn a profit margin of around 40%-60% which at times can be 100% or more if a particular design manages to garner sufficient craze among the buyers.

During our visit to Anitya Kumar Hazra’s shop in Jujursaha, run by Anitya and his brother Anupal who are reputed karigars of the area, we were shown a Gazi Saree with hand embroidered Radha Krishna as motif, said to be in high demand in Jamnagar area in Gujarat. They charged INR 10,000 for the embroidery of the saree and according to them the saree could well be sold for around INR 40,000 by the retailer due to its time consuming and aesthetic design.

A Cottage Industry
Travelling on the roads of Jujursaha in Howrah, we found that almost every other house is engaged in the embroidery work. Most of the shops also deal either in clothes or in materials required for stitching.

Anupal Hazra took us to his workshop, around a kilometre away from his shop where we interacted with a few of the craftsmen. The Hazras have secured an order from Gujarat for sarees and when we visited their workshop, the craftsmen were busy working on designs similar to the Radha Krishna-embroidered saree that we were shown earlier. It was difficult to gauge the intricacy of the work they were doing at the first glance but the more we saw, the more captivated we became with their skilled hands. The saree was fixed to a wooden frame and three men with impeccable accuracy were sewing with golden coloured threads on the finely stencilled design of the saree.

We enquired further upon the technique they follow and found it to be interesting, “First we draw the design on a stencil sheet and puncture fine holes throughout the design on tracing paper. We place that sheet on a saree and sprinkle powder over it so that the design gets outlined on the saree. Then we gently pour little kerosene on the borders of the design which ensures the powder sticks to form the outline,” said Anupal Hazra who has been in the embroidery business with his brother for more than 20 years. The craftsmen working under them have been doing so for more than past 10 years. According to them a novice needs at least 6 months to learn the craft and another 6 months to hone it to perfection.

Majority of the households in the villages of Howrah are involved in the embroidery work. From the workshop Anupal took us to the home of one of his craftsman where housewives Rupali Hazra and Mousumi Hazra were doing embroidery work in between completing household chores. A large number of women in the village are similarly involved in the craft. They take orders and work on them from the consigns of home during their free time. The income is of great help to sustain their families they said. During the interaction, they revealed that nearly 30,000 people work as craftsmen in the village of Jujursaha itself which left us bewildered, considering the scale of operations. Going by the numbers, this is an industry where lakhs of people are involved in Howrah.

Man versus Machine
The sword that is hanging over this cottage industry is that of machine made embroidery which is fasterand cheaper. Hand embroidery is a skill and the karigars of Howrah are proud of it. However, the entry of machines in the industry has caused uncertainty about their future. Hand embroidery is not really a well paying job and the karigars make meagre money out of it – just sufficient for sustenance. This has now made the younger generation apprehensive about joining the trade. Machines on the other hand are taking away jobs from the karigars by doing the threadwork at lesser time and at a lower price. The demand for the machine embroidered fabric is increasing since they are cheaper than the intricate hand-made variants with the decorative materials.

“The younger generation is not joining the embroidery business as there’s not much money in it. Though prices of all materials have gone upover the years, our remuneration has remained static. Factories with huge embroidery machines have come up in all villages of Howrah. The designs are fed in computers which transfer it on the fabric at a high speed. Here the workers are paid a fixed salary to run the machine for 8 hours. The government isn’t doing much for this industry either and it seems to be fading out,” lamented Sk Mohammed, a karigar.

Moving Ahead
It is a vast, widespread operation and quite close to Kolkata and yet it is baffling that people are unaware of it. For the sake of the karigars and one of Bengal’s premier cottage industries, the government has to come forward and help them. An organised market ike the one in Surat, built for the craftsmen to showcase and sell their creations to the people, is indeed the need of the day.

In order to save this industry, steps should be immediately taken to ensure the karigars’ survival. The younger generation has to be taught to hone the skills taught by their predecessors and also to make improvements in marketing their products. Social media andmarketing agencies need to come forward in the aid of these skilled people. In absence of external support and a structured business model, this highly skilful industry would be a thing of the past, replaced by machines.

Sadly, the lustre of the zari do not get reflected in the eyes of the karigars. Though their delicately embroidered sarees are fit to drape queens and brides and are showcased in the best of boutique shops yet the karigars suffer because their profits are eaten away by the middlemen and threatened by machines, the future of this massive industry looks bleak unless authorities step in.