Munish Sood
MANDI: In a small house in Pangna, a sleepy village of Karsog sub-division of Mandi district of Himachal Pradesh, 67-year-old Laxman works on an old wooden handloom.
For more than 50 years, he has been making shawls, mufflers and coat strips by hand. In an age of machines and mass production, he is one of the very few people still keeping this tradition alive.
“I learnt weaving from my grandfather in Bushahr and my grandmother from Kinnaur,” Laxman says. “I still use the same skills they taught me.”
The handloom has a proud place in India’s history. During the Swadeshi Movement of 1905, the spinning wheel and handloom became symbols of self-reliance and the freedom struggle. When Mahatma Gandhi promoted khadi, people across the country began wearing hand-woven clothes as a sign of national pride.
In those days, Pangna — then the capital of Suket province —was a hub of weaving. Multiple handlooms were set up in the early 1900s and people proudly wore the fabric made here to show their support for the independence movement. But after 1947, industrialisation brought cheaper, machine-made cloth. Slowly, most household looms disappeared. Today, only a handful of artisans like Laxman remain.
A product built to last
Laxman’s hand-woven products have qualities that mass-produced fabric often lacks. The threads are spun tightly by hand, making the cloth stronger and more durable. Wool and cotton are used without heavy chemical processing, keeping them soft and natural. Each piece is checked by hand to ensure there are no defects.
“It may take longer to make, but a handloom shawl can last decades if cared for properly,” Laxman says.
Struggling to survive
The problem is not the quality but the economics. Laxman earns barely ₹300 a day from weaving—far less than what most jobs bring. “It’s not enough to support a family,” he says. “That’s why young people don’t want to learn this work.”
Local cultural experts say the decline of handloom is a cultural loss. Dr. Himendra Bali ‘Him’, President of the Suket Culture, Literature and Welfare Forum, and heritage expert Dr. Jagdish Sharma, believe the tradition should be revived.
“Handloom is part of our history,” says Dr. Bali. “If we promote it again, we can keep our local skills and identity alive.” They suggest government-backed schemes, market support, and new designs to make handloom weaving viable in modern times.
For now, Laxman keeps working, his workshop filled with yarn and the steady click of the loom. Every piece he weaves is part of a history that is disappearing fast.
“I will keep weaving as long as I can,” he says with a quiet smile. “This is what I know best.”
