art of travel

Banni, Asia’s largest Grassland – the Cradle of Beautiful Textile and Craft Tradition

From the Travel Diary of Kuntil Baruwa, Explorer, Destination Knowledge Centre

Banni is Asia’s largest Tropical Grassland. It covers an area of 2500 square kilometers (some say more, some much less) and is located on the rim of the marshy salt flats of the Great Rann of Kutch in Gujarat. 30 years ago, it is said, the grass here used to grow so tall that you wouldn’t spot a herd of buffaloes walking around. This is a difficult image to conjure for anyone encountering Banni for the first time. Some may even ask why it is even called a grassland for it is unlikely that there will be much grass in sight during season time (Oct to March). But wait till monsoon. As far as you can see, it’s just water and grass. “Indeed difficult to imagine on a particularly hot sweltering day in April when I encountered burning winds and intermittent dust storms that left a fine layer of mud, sand, and salt on my skin and in my teeth,” says Kuntil Baruwa from our Destination Knowledge Centre.

Their Stories

Very interestingly the locals call these dust storms “Laat” (meaning long tresses in the local Kutchi language). They say that these dust storms happen when Mother Nature tosses her head gently sending her beautiful tresses bouncing all over Banni. The intriguing field of narrative psychology is telling us only now that if we interpret the events of our life to mean that we are lucky or wise, it will be easy to look optimistically at the future. But for the people of Banni, it has been a way of life for centuries. They figured out long ago that the stories they tell about themselves and what they encounter in this harsh terrain are the key to their well-being.

Their Inspirations

For a city dweller, the thorny Babool (Acacia Nilotica/Gum Arabic) Tree – which makes for a good hedge for agricultural fields to keep out grazing animals and was once found all over Banni – is not worth a second look. But the women of Banni took this rather ugly-looking and uninteresting tree as an inspiration for the most common motif of their embroidery called TAK BAVARIYO – it is a circle that is framed on both sides by an hourglass symbol. The circle is known as TAK which has a MIRROR piece- called ABLA in the local parlance – and the hourglass symbol resembles the branches of the thorny Babool tree – called BAVARIYO, again in the local language.

In Banni the leaves of the Babool tree are used to treat infertility in women, flowers for hepatitis and jaundice, and bark for mouth blister and heat stroke. It is fascinating how despite not knowing how to read or write, women from across all communities in Banni have effortlessly translated their culture and visual stimuli into a glorious needlework tradition.

A Unique Socio-Cultural-Economic Web

And now Imagine this. Imagine, for more than 500 years or so, not one but 22 different communities of pastoralists with their cattle, buffaloes, sheep, and goats – each with their distinct identity – living in complete harmony with their surroundings. Imagine these hardy people as the reason and the inspiration behind some of the most beautiful textile and craft traditions. The complex, yet beautiful geometric designs of Ajrakh, for example, were originally meant for the turbans, stoles, and lungis (a garment worn around the waist) of the cattle and buffalo herders of the Maldharis, Rabaris, and Ahir communities of Banni. What the Ajrakh artisans – the Khatris, who came to Kutch some 400 years ago or so from Sindh (now in Pakistan) – got in return then was milk, butter, ghee (clarified butter), curd, and other milk products. Likewise, the Rabaris and the Ahirs went to the weavers of the Maheshwari community with goat and sheep wool to get their shawls weaved. In return the Maheshwari weavers were given land on lease to grow cotton and also milk products. And should the Maheshwari weavers want something printed on their hand-woven shawls, they will send it to the Khatris in exchange for goods. There are many such examples of this fascinating, unique, socio-cultural-economic web that once existed where bonds were forged between various communities for generations.

But what is the upside to the 2001 Earthquake in Gujarat?

It was probably one of India’s worst natural disasters. It caused countless deaths mainly in the Kutch region of Gujarat and incredible human suffering. So what could be the upside to this tragedy? “When my Guide posed this question about what I thought could possibly be the positive side to the Earthquake I was a bit annoyed. But got curious when he continued to share how his own house was completely demolished, how his family escaped by the skin of their teeth, and that he lost his best friend,” says Kuntil Baruwa from our Destination Knowledge Centre. So what could be the upside to this tragedy that left 22,000 people dead, destroyed close to 400,000 houses, and rendered more than 600,000 people homeless? All the textile and craft tradition that our guests now experience in Banni is a result of the huge surge of collective energy post the 2001 earthquake. The calamity forced the communities to reflect urgently on their situation and they realised that it is their craft – local and unique – that can help tide over their seemingly hopeless situation. It also brought aid and the attention of the world to Kutch, raising funds as well as awareness for the local art and craft.

And indeed…

Had the 2001 earthquake not happened, the weaving tradition of Kharad – a unique and rare style of rug weaving- that uses the hair of sheep, camel, and goat would have stayed in Kuran – a nondescript remote village in the India-Pakistan border. When the earthquake devastated his home, Kharad weaver Tejsi Bhai migrated from Kuran leaving everything behind, including age-old trade relations. He brought with him the only thing he knew – Kharad weaving- which ran in his family for 8 generations – done on a loom made of tree branches.

Write to your relationship manager for our 6 nights/7 days Textile and Craft Itinerary of Banni, Gujarat