INTRODUCTION

Ponduru is a small scenic village in the district of Srikakulum located in eastern part of AP. Famous for its handspun and hand woven Khadi fabric. This is 100% handmade fabric is famously as it has a human touch and wonderful aesthetic appeal

Location A village located in the district of Srikakulum in AP and the village lies 25 km East of Srikakulum city.

Social and cultural scenario Families The total population of ponduru village in 2003- 07 was about 25,000. Traditional system of living in joint families. Average number of children in each family is 4. No discrimination between boys and girls .Education is given to both the male and female child. EDUCATION Weavers and spinners are mostly uneducated . Some of them have gained primary education and are doing jobs or other occupations while still continuing with their ancestral work of spinning and weaving. In addition the people worship their work as God. OCCUPATION Main occupation- weaving and spinning Other occupations include Agriculture, Cattle Raising, retailing,and other occupations. LANGUAGE The main language spoken there is Telugu.Some educated people also speak English and Hindi. Caste The people living in Ponduru belong to Hindu, Muslim,Sikh and Christian communities.Many scheduled caste have adopted Christianity.

The prominent communities in Ponduru are Pattusali and Devyanji.CASTE: The people living in Ponduru belongs to Hindu, Muslim, sikh and christian communities. Many of the schedule castes have converted their religion and have adopted christianity. The communities prdominant in Ponderu are Pattusali and Devyangi. Pattusali is the communities that has the maximum number of master weavers and also produces the best quality weave.Apar t from these communities local tribes also reside here. FAIRS n FESTIVALS: The villagers worship village goddess paidi thalli and this festival is celebrated in every fifteen years. In this festival, there is a 'rath yatra' where the goddess is taken aro und the village on chariot and finally taken to the paisi thalli temple located 3 kms away from the village.They worship their godess with haldi, cucumber and neem leaves. Different religions celebrate their own festivals in respective manners. Assartali is another important festival, which is celebrated in the first week of august just before harvesting. During this festival, the married women are called over by their parents. COMMUNICATION n RECREATION: There are about 1000 telephone connections in the village of Ponduru. In addition cellular networks of companies like BSNL and Relience are available from mobile communication. For the purpose of recreation 2 semi permanent cinema halls and 35 cable channels are avialable. HISTORY OF THE CRAFT: The khadi Movement started in 1920 with Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. y It symbolized the political ideas and independence itself, and to this day most politicians in India are seen only in kh d clothing. y The flag of India is only allowed to be made from this mat erial, although in practice many flag manufacturers, especially those outside of India, ignore this rule. y Mahatma Gandhi is also said to have been surprised at the finesse of the Khadi produced here and he always preferred khadi from this village. y Also Smt Indira Gandhi herself has been known for wearing sarees made from Ponduru khadi. ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURES... There are two main socities in the village, which deals with the farmers, spinners and weavers registered under them for the production of hand made and handloom khadi. # Andhra Fine Khadi Karmikabhivrudhi Sangham (AFKK) # Sai Baba Weavers Cooperative Production and Sales Society Ltd. (SBWC) AFKK: It is an institution recognized by the khadi and village industries commission (KVIC). It was e stablished in the year 1949, started by the artisans.

First 10-13 years government funded 50% of the societies working capital. State bank of India is also funding according to the production. KVIC also had funded 50 lakhs for the society. The funds are being paid back regularly to the bank with the help of KVIC at the intrest rate of 8.25% (4.25% by KVIC and 4% by the society). Their are 1200 spinners and 150 weavers registered under them as on date. They produce 3 kinds of khadi fine khadi new model charkha khadi muslin khadi KVIC decides the wages paid per piece depending on the following product range design range yarn count Their capacity is around one crore goods per year out of which 60 -70 lakhs are sent for retailing and almost the same amo unt is sent for wholesale. This society has 14 stores, which it maintain for retailing directly. The society per meter starting price is from Rs. 140 to Rs. 310. Auditors and chartered accountants are sent by KVIC to check on the monetry working of the soc iety. SBWC: It is a state government body under the ministry of handlooms and textiles. It was established in the year 1942. The society has 256 weavers registered under it, out of which only 100 are working as weavers.From past few years SBWC is working only for Andhra Pradesh Co - Operative Organization (APCO). This society works according to the target set by APCO annualy or half-yearly. They get spun yarn from National Handloom Development Corporation (NHDC) vijaywada and hyderabad. They dont work with yarn above 80's count. They market through APCO, private exhibitons and locals. They put up their stalls in exhibitions conducted by the director of handloom every month throughout AP. Their organization is running under loss as APCO doesn't ma ke payments regularly. They have only one direct retail shop at ponduru. In addition they are facing a loss because of poor marketing strtegies.

Ginning- The process is done to remove seeds from the end product that we
get after combing. It is done with the help of an iron rod, which is foot long, and a rosewood plank of 1 foot by foot. With a to and fro motion of the iron rod, the seeds are separated from the cotton placed on the wooden plank. Depending on the quality of the seeds, they are separat ed and stored for cultivating in the next season.

Parelleling and Cleaning- The cotton is hit a broomstick in a particular

manner to soften it. By this process they eliminate all small slubs and waste from the cotton. The cotton after softening is formed in the shape of a bun. Then they removw thw waste material like leaves, slubs, etc using their thumb, and this process is called as Pratti subra Parchuta. The final product after this process is a bun shaped cotton, called as pijja. This is a difficult process, which requires experience and skill.

Carding- In this process the cotton is further softened and cleaned. This is
done with the help of a bow known as yekuvullu, which is made of Iridi wood. At the end of the bow is a nylon thread. Nylon is used because of its thickness and strength, which prevents it from breaking frequently.
silvering (akula cheyyuta) a finer rosewood frame is used to get silver from cotton procurd after carding process. silver formed with the help of wooden rod. rolling done by hands, forming layers,ending in a pipe like structure. then wooden rod removed & silver passed on for the next process.

spinning (wadkuta) silver then placed between the banana bark,allow moisture in cotton. spinning done by charkha ,then silver get converted into yarn. yarn then wounded on iron nail.

hanking (chellapa chututa) hank made of wood and iron fittings. yarn then transferred on to hank from iron nail.

weaving the process of interlacing of warp and weft at right angle. weaving done on pit-looms. looms installed in pit. weavers sits on the ground and weaves. loom made of teak wood,about 13 feet long,6 feet wide and 2 feet deep. community consists of mainly male population. work is done in their houses and special weavs like jamdani etc, done with the help of family members. finished products product range sarees-varry in length from 5-8 meters. and classified into four as follows1.jamdani sarees-

easily identified by motifs woven at regular intervals in such a way that they look same from both sides of the sarees. price range vary from Rs.2000-Rs.3500 depending upon the qualityof the yarn and complexity of motifs. 2.sada vaja sareesextra warp is used for the body. muga silk warp used and is placed at about 3/4" from the selvedge. rest body remains plain the price is about Rs1500 3.kuppadam sareesconsists of plain sarees with colored borders. no zari is used 4.zari sareeshave borders woven with zari made up of pure gold. most expensive sarees due to high cost of zari dhoticomes with standard width of 138cms.vary in length from 3.65 to 4.10 meters 1.plain dhotihas coloured borders running paralles to selvedge 2.kuppadam dhotihave colored borders width of dhoti borders varies from 1/2" to 1". consists of small triangular motifs along with borders called temple borders zari border dhotiwoven with zari made up of pure gold most expensive dhotis shirtingsmainly woven in plain weave length is 10 meters sometimes coloured yarns are used handkerchiefsmade only in plain weave in two sizes-30-30cms and 5-45cms angavastramused by men above the age of 35 is the fabric worn around the neck like stole length-180cms and width-96cms