Heidelberg, Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg Cort, Louise Allison: Textiles: [handgeschriebene Feldtagebücher] (2) ([Puri], 1980)

Weaving A Spell

Of History

Hundred Sans

out on a daily or

ov-irt

charged for these

nearly 1,400 stalls

or Sari Hat enclo-

At present.

according to

Platforms

still consists of little

more

platforms fitted with shelves

often serve as walls as well.

Bengal towns, from the

north-

eastern states, and from U.P., M.P.,
Bihar and Orissa. They find the
station conveniently close for catch-
ing return trains. And if the haw-

kers cannot supply what

these

buyers want, there are better qua-
lity clothes at the other Howrah

markets which have come up in

recent years.

Early in the 1900s a score or so

of small business men

gathered
near the river every Tuesday with
the garments they made (or en-
gaged tailors to make) from scraps,
rejects and cloth by the yard. They
were asked to move and make way
for the new Howrah Bridge when
the foundations

were laid.

The

Purana Hat had extended many

invitations to this group, so they
rented a piece of land from Moti

Lal Seal’s family and
Mimani Hat.

built the

eular designs or weaves. Nowadays
less expensive silks and prints on
mill-woven cottons and synthetics

also form part of the merchandise

that is offered. But the exclusive-

of handlooms is still

less

very

much in demand, and many wea-
ver-merchants zealously guard their

reputations for the finest cottons

with the most intricate borders.

The seasonal rush comes during

April and for two months before

the pujas. To clear their stocks
before the New Year, stall-holders

sell their left-overs even to retail-

ers at very low rates. In
days the heads of Hindu ioint fami-

f ormer

lies used to come and buy a full

year’s supply of saris and dhotis

for their households before these

two major festivals.
Id lungis and gamchhas were taken
by Muslim families. Today’s faml-

Before each

lies are smaller. They do not and

cannot indulge in such bulk buy-

ing, but on almost every Tuesday
there is a sprinkling of housewives
bent on bargaining for and buying
at least a couple of saris of their

choice. Even when bought in only

ones or twos, the rates compare

favourably with those in the shops,

and for women, a shopping expe-
dition to Howrah Hat has a quality

of adventure and surprise that can

never be found in anv retail mar-

ket.
Mosquito curtains are
feature of this market. They are

another

laid out in piles of blue, green,
peach and white. The nylon net
is bought in Burra Bazar and stit-
ched either at Chitnur or at How-

rah, the two trsditional

centres

for making, them. The curtains of
old-fashioned handloom cotton come

mostly from Midnapur.

Mr

Shankar L'utta who is in charge
business is

Purana. Hat.

of the

slack. Even so, the sale of each
shop in this market

averages a

At least.

hundred saris a week.

Stall-holders at the Howrah Hat

face fierce competition from the

pavement hawkers who now swarm
in the area. Very few of them deal
in saris. Most of them sell ready-

made garments, especially baby
dresses, hosiery, choli blouses and

petticoats.

The majority of these hawkers
tailog the garments themselves on
the other six days of the week
and

at their homes' in Howrah

Hooghly districts, Matiabruz. Maida
and the 24-Parganas. Their buyers
come from the district and north

By a Correspondent

'T'WO policemen lean over Buck-
*- land Bridge to watch a pass-
ing train. Pedestrians amble along
the footpath, crossing from the
sunny to the shady side of
thoroughfare. It could happen on
any early morning before the office
rush, except on Tuesdays. On Tues-
days the Mangala Hat spreads its

the

wares and bustle over the entire

area from Buckland Bridge to the
Grand Trunk Road.

Close on a hundred and fifty

years ago Moti Lal Seal bought a
plot of land in Howrah. He plan-
ned to construct a bazar but. since

weavers from the surrounding and
farther districts were already used
to the idea of gathering there- it
became a weekly market to suit
their convenience. A roof -

was

constructed to ward off the sun

and the rain. Stalls were portion-
ed off. There was no call for the

elaborate, and the place continues
to flourish with hardly any struc-

tural alterations

ft

than

that

The unpaved labyrinthian passages
are narrow and either exposed to
the elements and natural light or
claustrophobic and dark where the

roof covers an entire block and
the electricity fails. Nevertheless,
the stalls are in great demand. Now
that platform space is at a premi-
um, cots are placed in the broader

lanes. And counting them as well,
since rent is '

too. there are

in the Purana

sure.

They are let
yearly basis, and many of the occu-
piers are permanent lessees, having
been in possession from generation
to generation. Some of them are
Some middlemen.

weavers.

They bring saris and dhotis of the
Shantipur, Dhonekali. Tangail, Raj-
balhat, Nabadwip. Chandernagore

the

On

and Begumpur weaves.
shelves, vivid colours mingle with
the off white that prevails in Ben-

gal. Changes are rung in counts,
weaves, border designs, and all
that is currently in fashion.

Bulk buyers arrive from evei'y
part of India, for this is the most
convenient place for buying Ben-
gal’s handlooms at wholesale rates.
Calcutta shopkeepers, who do not
have regular suppliers in the vil-
lages, also come to buy what they
think will sell, and to order parti-

Agelessness

It looks no more modern than

the Purana Hat and it flourishes

with debonair agelessness. It still
deals mainly in hosiery and ready
made clothes, and has expanded to
500 stalls. According to Mr S. K.
Sheik A'ffia, whose father and

whose

grandfather once occupied

the

premises he now holds

During
are trouble-

the rams the leaks

some. In summer people do not
want to enter. Even animals would

die. We somehow survive.” Survive

and thrive. This market offers one

important facility. There is a go-
down where merchandise that has

not been sold on any one Tues-

day can be left in charge of the
porters till the following week.

Other market

enclosures have

also come up in more recent times

Modern

—Barun Company Hat.
Mangala Hat, Hospital Hat, Nabin

Mangala Hat, Ganesh Mangala or
Samavayika Hat—and readymade

garments have outstripped the sari

trade.

Owners

of Burra

Bazar

shops, where much of the materia)
Is bought, are setting up offices

at Howrah. They are entering the
wholesale trade in a big way, giv-

ing advances to the weavers and

tailors and demanding regular sup-
plies. Weekly markets are held at
other centres in Calcutta too. The

Chetla Hat meets every Saturday.

Sunday’s Harisal Hat is gaining re-

cognition. But they lack the ro-
mance, the reputation, the concen-
tration and the choice ,of qualities
that have made the Mangala Hats
of Howrah one of the most im-

portant wholesale centres of India.