Kalmeshwar: A Vidarbha Weaving Town’s Past and Present

thenewsdirt
Nov 11
5 min read

Kalmeshwar, a modest town in Maharashtra’s Vidarbha region, was once known for the rhythmic clatter of handlooms that formed the lifeblood of its economy. Historically, this town thrived as a weaving centre where generations of artisan families produced distinctive cotton textiles and sarees.

Over time, Kalmeshwar’s fortunes have mirrored the larger shifts in India’s textile landscape, spanning the glory days of local handloom markets and later facing the challenges posed by industrial mills and changing consumer preferences. Today, while the town is emerging as an industrial hub in its own right, efforts are also underway to revive and preserve the traditional weaving craft that defined its identity.

This article explores Kalmeshwar’s journey from its woven heritage to its contemporary reality, shedding light on the people, products, and prospects that continue to intertwine in this unique Vidarbha town.

Kalmeshwar’s Weaving Heritage

For centuries, weaving was a cornerstone of life in and around Kalmeshwar. Nagpur city and its surrounding villages, including places like Dhapewada, Bela, and Kalmeshwar itself, were historically renowned for handloom cotton sarees and dhotis.

In Kalmeshwar, the craft flourished especially during the 19th century, with numerous families operating looms from their homes.

Weavers from the Koshti caste (including the Halba Koshti sub-group) specialised in producing traditional women’s garments such as the lugra, a local saree characterised by a silk-bordered edge. These textiles were lightweight and breathable, well-suited to Vidarbha’s scorching summers. A typical saree woven here stretched about six yards and often featured a plain or saw-tooth patterned border with small woven motifs for ornamentation.

The quality and appeal of Kalmeshwar’s cloth extended its reach beyond local markets. Historical records note that cotton sarees from this town were being sent to distant cities like Bombay and Pune in the late 1800s.

At that time, a skilled weaver’s household could earn roughly ₹15 per month from the loom, a modest income that nonetheless sustained many families.

The town’s population reflected this vibrant cottage industry. In 1901, out of about 5,300 residents, a significant share were Koshtis (weavers) alongside Mali cultivators.

Even the pastoral Dhangar community contributed to the textile economy by weaving coarse woollen blankets in Kalmeshwar’s vicinity, supplying durable blankets worth around ₹2 each for everyday use.

Challenges in the Industrial Era

As the 20th century dawned, Kalmeshwar’s textile trade encountered formidable challenges. The rise of mechanised spinning and weaving in nearby Nagpur introduced stiff competition.

Nagpur had emerged as a major textile centre after industrialists like J.N. Tata established modern mills such as the Empress Mills in 1877.

These factories could mass-produce yarn and cloth at scales and prices that handloom weavers simply could not match.

By the early 1900s, observers noted that Kalmeshwar’s cloth production was struggling to compete with Nagpur’s mills. Ironically, the expansion of cotton farming in Vidarbha, which might have been a boon for local artisans, bypassed towns like Kalmeshwar. Raw cotton from the surrounding fertile plains was shipped directly to city markets and large ginning factories, rather than being woven on local looms.

With cheaper mill-made textiles flooding the market, demand for the handwoven lugras and sarees dwindled. The town gradually slipped into the role of an agricultural market outpost, known more for its weekly farm-produce bazaar than for any industrial activity.

The decline of handloom weaving in Kalmeshwar mirrored a broader regional trend. Throughout Vidarbha, the number of traditional weavers plummeted in the face of powerlooms and factory cloth. Many artisan families gave up the loom as younger generations found the earnings from weaving unsustainable. “I know weaving, so I continue. But my family doesn’t see a future in it,” said Baba Hedau, an 84-year-old weaver from nearby Dhapewada, poignantly describing the generational shift away from the craft. His village, which once had over 40 households engaged in handloom work, now counts only about six active weavers as youth pursue other livelihoods.

Such stories have become common across the region. Surveys indicate an 80–90% drop in Vidarbha’s handloom workforce over the past few decades. By the late 20th century, Kalmeshwar’s identity as a “weaving town” had faded, overshadowed by the lure of city jobs and the establishment of new industries on its outskirts.

Weaving in Modern Kalmeshwar

In recent years, Kalmeshwar has been redefining itself economically. The town lies just 25 km from Nagpur and has been drawn into the metropolis’s expansion as an industrial satellite.

A dedicated industrial estate (MIDC) in Kalmeshwar now hosts a variety of factories, from steel and pharmaceuticals to textiles.

Notably, a couple of textile manufacturing units have set up operations here, signalling that the textile sector still finds value in the location, albeit in a modernised form. However, traditional handloom weaving has virtually vanished within Kalmeshwar; the click-clack of wooden looms is no longer a common sound in its neighbourhoods.

Despite this decline, there is a growing effort to revive the region’s rich weaving heritage. Local artisans and authorities are increasingly recognising that Kalmeshwar’s story is intertwined with the story of Vidarbha’s textiles.

The Maharashtra state government’s new Textile Policy in 2023 explicitly put a spotlight on traditional Vidarbha weaves, offering financial incentives for producing classic sarees like the Patti Kinar (a simple cotton sari with a signature border) and the Karvat Kati (a tussar silk sari with a saw-tooth border).

These measures aim to encourage remaining weavers to continue, and even attract younger talent back to the loom with better income support and marketing assistance. Educational institutions have also pitched in. Design experts from the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) have begun working with weaver clusters in Nagpur district to modernise designs and connect artisans to contemporary markets.

In Dhapewada, only a short drive from Kalmeshwar, NIFT teams have provided input on new colour patterns and product ideas to make the traditional Patti Kinar saris more appealing to urban consumers.

On a grassroots level, cooperative efforts are being rejuvenated. A recent pilot project in a nearby village, Pachgaon, showed how traditional skills can be repurposed for new products: over 1,300 rural women were trained to weave carpets from textile scrap, earning a steady monthly income in the process. Inspired by that success, similar initiatives are being planned for Dhapewada and surrounding areas to engage thousands of local women, many from the weaver community, in gainful weaving work.

There is even talk among policymakers of positioning Kalmeshwar as a future handloom hub, learning from the Dhapewada model, where a cluster of women weavers has found nationwide demand for their sarees. While these plans are still in early stages, they reflect a renewed respect for the traditional textile knowledge embedded in this town.

Kalmeshwar today stands at a crossroads of tradition and modernity. The shuttle of its past has slowed, but it has not stopped. Older weavers who continue their craft provide a living link to an era when this town’s identity was woven on every loom.

Now, with institutional support and local entrepreneurship, there is cautious optimism that the art of handloom can be reintegrated into Kalmeshwar’s future.

Globalised markets and technology offer stiff competition, yet the very attempt to revive the looms is rekindling pride in a cultural heritage.

In a town that once drew its essence from the texture of handspun cotton and silk, the coming years will show whether those historic threads can be knit into a new narrative of economic and cultural vitality. What remains certain is that the story of Kalmeshwar cannot be told without its weaving legacy. If that legacy is nurtured, it promises to add a rich new chapter to the unfolding tale of Vidarbha’s textile heritage.