Gujarat's Patola handloom was recently thrown into the spotlight when Prime Minister Narendra Modi presented an Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni with a Patola saree made by the Salve family during the G20 meeting in Bali, Indonesia.
The Salve family has been carrying on the legacy of the ancient craft of Patola sarees which dates back to the 11th century. King Kumarpal of the Solanki dynasty had some 700 families of Patola weavers who migrated from Jalna (Maharashtra) to settle in Patan in North Gujarat, and the Salves are among them.
The 68-year-old Bharat Salve, spoke to ANI. Being one of the eldest members of the family, he narrated the history of Patola silk.
Salve said, “This Patola loom came here in the 11th century when the king wanted to use Patola each day for his poojas. He was a Jain. We still continue to use traditional natural dyes.”
When asked what makes Patola stand out from other silks, Salve said, “It is not a saree that carries a printed design. Instead, it is so intricately tied and dyed that creates a design.”
The 70-yer old Rohit Salve said, “It takes about six months and around 18-19 processes to prepare the saree. We buy the raw silk from Bengaluru and then multiple processes are followed including bleaching and softening of the silk strands.
Explaining further, he said on average 4-5 colors are used on the saree and the time to prepare a saree depends upon the number of colors and the intricacy of the designs.
He added, “We need 4-5 workers to prepare a saree and it is all about teamwork. We work on the designing and the tying and dying process. Weavers are centuries old and there has been no machine that can replace this man-made labour.”
Rahul Salve, the 44-year-old weaver, gave up the lucrative career opportunity of an architect to take his family tradition forward. He is the 28th generation that is into Patola saree weaving.
Rahul told ANI, “We have been in this profession for the last 900 years and I am the 28th generation. Though an architect by profession, I took up the family tradition and have mastered it over the last 22 years.”
It has become more challenging for the craft which is both rare and expensive as a cheaper version is now available along with a lot of mixed thread work.
Rahul Salve said, “We have seen that a lot of cheaper versions of the single and double Ikat are available in the market and are being sold under the GI tag. We have not fallen for this and we are not worried but the only thing is we have to explain to people that genuine Patola sarees cannot be made cheap.”
The Salves said, “When the Prime Minister takes rural Gujarat at global stage and gifts our craft to the foreign head of governments naturally becomes a very proud moment for us.”
From 70-year-old Rohit Salve to 37-year-old Savan Salve, nine members of the Salve family including four women, continue their stride to preserve this rare craft.
