Traditional method of making clothes of the Zeliangrong
- Part 2 -

Budha Kamei *

Gaan Ngai Celebrations around Imphal in 2011 :: Pix - Dr. Heera Marangmei

For dyeing black color, the Zeliangrong people use a kind of leaves locally known as Henggcu. These leaves are boiled in a pot and put the cloth to be dyed leaving for about half an hour. It is then, removed and dried it in the sun. The process is repeated if the proper color is not found. In ancient times, the bark of Gaam, a kind of wood was used for black color. They wash the yarns with the liquid made of this bark at least two or three times and make dry.

After drying out, the yarns are dipped into the mud of black clay which readily prepared for the purpose for at least two or three days. For red color, the yarns are washed with by alkaline filtered from the ashes of Keihlaeng, a kind of wood and it is mixed with powder of oil seed. The yarns are washed several time for getting proper color and made it dry in the sun. Then, they also use the powder made from Guiluai, a kind of creeper and Saengluang, another shrub for dyeing red color, which is boiled with the yarns at least half an hour for good result. Before dyeing, the yarns are washed and boiled in alkaline water and the same, after washing and cleaning, dyed into different colors according to the wishes of the weaver.

The Angamis Naga prepares red dye from the local creeper known as Tsenyhii. The root, reddish in nature is washed in water and pounded in the fresh state on a flat stone by a wooden hammer. The pounded mass is boiled in required quantity of water in a big pot. In the boiling state, the cloth or thread is dipped and left boiling for nearly an hour. The cloth is then taken out. The Aos obtained red dye from the root of a creeper locally known as Aozy. The root is dried thoroughly pounded and mixed with dry and pounded leaves of a tree called Tangshi. And then again mixed with the dried and pounded husks of an acid berry of a tree called Tangmo in an approximate ratio of Aozy 2: Tangshi 3: Tangmo: 2.

Among the Meiteis, the important colors like blue, black, reddish black and blue black are prepared indigenously. The Kum (strobilanthes sp., family Flaccidifolius) is the main dyeing plant for all the said colors. For preparing these colors, first the leaves of the plant are cut into pieces and soaked in water in two jars with tight lids and then the same jars are exposed in the sun for about one or two weeks. When the leaves are about to rot, the Kum Sunu is added and the liquid is churned till a thorough mixture is achieved with the help of a multipronged fork functioning as the centrifuge rolled between the palms.

The foam produced on the surface is collected in a small pot with the help of feathers. The next step is to squeeze the coagulated Kum in the ash water of Khusum Pere. The yarn or cloth is thoroughly wetted and dipped in the liquid. It is taken out of the pot and is properly squeezed. This process is repeated till the desired color is obtained. The liquid is either boiled or the material is kept in the pot for a day or two to get grayish blue color.

For obtaining deep black (cool black), the cloth after dyeing in the Kum liquid is dipped in the liquid infusion of Heikru. For deep black (warm), the fabric or yarn is dyed in the red liquid of Ureirom before it is dipped in the Kum infusion. The color dye in Kum is lasting and the sheen increase when the yarn or cloth is washed. The brown black color is produced without Kum. The fabric or yarn is dipped in the infusion of the bark of the Heikru and the Heining trees along with plastic clay containing iron oxide. For maroon red color, the Ureirom infusion is boiled with gentian red.

The cloth or yarn is soaked in the liquid and is then put into the Heibung liquid to increase the sheen of the yarn. It is boiled in the liquid of the Heigri leaves. Pink color is extracted from the petals of the Kusum Lei (Corthamus tinctorius). For pale yellow color, root of turmeric is rinsed clean in water and pounded to pulp, and then put in water. The depth of color dictates the quality of turmeric and the times of dipping. The yarn or fabric is dipped in it at the appropriate time and then dipped in the acidic liquid of Heibung, and is washed in fresh water thoroughly.

In the process of dyeing of coloring the clothes, the Zeliangrong women strictly observe traditional customs and beliefs in order to attain the most lustrous color and particular shades. In olden times, red, yellow and black color clothes were commonly worn. Before harvest, the dyeing of any color was prohibited in the belief that it might affect the crops. Weaving is meant for a woman's job, it was prohibited during the period of menstruation. And she was not allowed to sleep with her sexual partner in the faith that the husband would not success in the hunting because hunting was also a part of their livelihood.

A pregnant woman is taboed to handle the dye lest the foetus be affected by the color. During the process, they must not eat beef, dog's flesh, goat's flesh, dried fish and other food with strong smell. Women skilled in the art of dyeing have always been highly regarded in their respective community. It is also interesting to note that very unlike the Nagas where dyeing is done by all the weavers, the Meitei society confined this monopoly to eight families. This is more like the tradition of the Islanders of Sumba and nearby Savo, Indonesia where dyeing is confined to those of royal or noble birth. Among the Tangkhuls, weaving is confined only to a section of people commonly known to them as Khuiraomi (Khuirao people). They are the people who inhabited the western area of Tangkhul. The main weaving centres are Khampha, Teinem, Phadang, Songran, Tallui, Ngainga etc.

When the dyeing process is completed, a ritual purification is performed in the village. In this ritual, the village priest sanctifies all the weavers with the leaves of a plant locally known as Ramtin, some cotton seeds and a fowl with some sort of religious hymns. After this ritual sanctification, they are permitted to touch the weaving equipments and start the proper weaving process.

Weaving (Phei Dakmei):
Weaving is the final stage in the process of making clothes. Weaving is the textile in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads called the warp and the filling or weft (older woof) are interlaced with each other to form fabric or cloth. The warp threads run lengthways of the piece of cloth, and the weft runs across from side to side. Cloth is woven on a loom, a device for holding the warp threads in place while the filling threads are woven through them. Weft is an old English word meaning "that which is woven".

History of Weaving:
Primitive people had the knowledge of weaving. Though clothing was first made of the skins of animals and of the leaves of trees, it is evident that spinning and weaving were practiced in the Stone Age. Evidences of this have been found in the lake dwelling of Switzerland, where spindle whorls and.

Evidences of this have been found in the lake dwelling of Switzerland, where spindle whorls and fabrics of flax were found among the remains. Later, they began to split bark and tree root fibers into finer fibers that could be woven into cloth like materials. Cloth weaving grew out of basketry, the basic difference being that cloth weaving requires a loom while basket weaving uses stiff fibers. The development of the loom allowed the use of flexible fibers, such as wool, cotton, and linen. Agnes Geijer says that "The earliest illustration of a ground loom appears on the side of flat bowl dated 4000 B.C., found at Badare in Central Egypt. It shows a warp stretched out between two beams which are held in position by four pegs struck in the ground. This same simple ground loom is still used today in several parts of the world."

According to Encyclopedia Americana, "there is evidence of weaving as early as 4400 B.C. A pottery dish found in a pre-historic Egyptian tomb depicts a primitive loom, which has the essential elements of the modern-day loom. Two weaving tools were also found in the tomb a simple comb like beater and heddle rod, indicating that significant advances had already been made in manipulating the shed." In ancient Egypt it was the custom to enshroud the dead in woven linen since linen is remarkably durable. In all cultures, the craft was practiced mainly by women. In ancient Phoenicia and Greece, only women and slaves had the skill in hand weaving. In India, in the early Vedic period weaving was entrusted to women and the word sari probably refers to female.

In Asia, weaving antedates recorded history. The Chinese made cloth of fine silk, and in Arabia and Persia fibers were woven of gold and beautifully dyes threads. Other fibers were so highly valued that they were often used for barter. Though few examples of ancient Greek weaving remain, Greek status indicates a superb knowledge of weaving techniques.

The Native American of North and South, was an expert weaver. Their weaving often has religious symbolism and shows a love of nature. These native people valued their cloth highly, and wasted none of it by cutting.

To be continued..