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Today is #NationalHandloomDay. Handwoven textiles are the original #MakeInIndia product. The handloom sector employs the second largest no of people in India after agriculture, in weaving as well as in ancillary activities like dyeing, spinning, setting up the loom, starching etc 
Every state in India has its own tradition of hand-woven textiles. The known history of Indian hand-woven textiles goes back to almost 5000 years, and many of the weaves are still continuing to be woven in an unbroken, living tradition. #NationalHandloomDay #HandloomTwitter
People from the Sindhu-Saraswati civilzation has mastered weaving weaving. A madder-dyed scrap of fabric found at Mohenjo-Dado proves that our people knew the art of growing cotton, spinning yarn, weaving cloth as well as dyeing yarn using natural colours. #NationalHandloomDay
Even the famous priest-King statuette found at Mohenjo-Dado shows the figure draped with a shawl embossed with a tre-foil design, proof that not only did our ancestors knew weaving and dyeing, they had also mastered d art of block printing. #NationalHandloomDay #HandloomTwitter
Vedic era texts mention weaving using natural yarns like wool, (otum) cotton (Karpas) n tree bark called Valkalam. Vedic hymns use weaving as a metaphor, ‘night and day interweave like two weavers passing the shuttle’. Weavers were called Vaya and Vayitri. #NationalHandloomDay
Indian textiles were exported to Rome and Greece via port of Lothal and by land. In fact, ancient Romans used the word ‘Corbasina’ for cotton, which is derived from Sanskrit ‘Karpasa’. Herodotus describes Indian handwoven textiles as ‘exceeding in beauty’ #NationalHandloomDay
During 1st cent CE, Indian textiles were coveted in the Roman Empire. They called Indian handwoven textiles ‘Nebula Ventalis’ (clouds woven from air). The Periplus of Erythrean Sea mention Indian textiles. Pliny Jr even expressed concern over the flight of Roman money to India!
Ajanta cave paintings show different weaving, block printing techniques and clothing styles prevalent in India almost 2000 years ago. We can see 4 weaving techniques that are still continuing in India, single Ikat, double Ikat, Jari brocade n jamdani. #NationalHandloomDay
Natural dyes like madder root (Manjishtha), turmeric (Haridra), fermented iron rust (Loha) and natural Indigo (Neela) were known to Indians for thousands of years, even now some parts of India still produce textiles using only natural dyes, like the Kotpad tribal weave of #Odisha
In Kautilya’s Arthashastra there is a mention of Weavers Guilds. Ports like Cambay (Stambhatirtha) and Bharuch in Gujarat and Tamralipti on the Eastern coast of India were used to export woven cloth to both the East and the West. Marco Polo mentions Cambay. #NationalHandloomDay
Today, the Indian handloom sector employs more than 40 lakh people. More than 80% looms are operated in rural areas. India is the second largest exporter of handloom products in the world, with exports valued at US$ 353.9 million in 2017-18. #NationalHandloomDay #HandloomTwitter
Indian Handloom Brand was inaugurated by PM @narendramodi on the event of the First Handloom Day celebrated in India on 7th of August 2015. Handloom Mark was introduced to give the buyer guarantee that the product he/she is buying is hand-woven #NationalHandloomDay
Hand weaving in India is not limited to sarees. Everyday objects like towels, bed-linen, shirts, gamchas, dhoti, kurtas, dupattas, cushion covers, curtains are all hand woven. I request everyone to buy at least one handwoven article to encourage our weavers. #NationalHandloomDay
For genuine hand-woven articles, best places to buy are government weaver co-ops like Co-optex, Boyanika and Tantuja. Delhi has a whole row of all state emporia on Baba Kharak Singh Marg, where you get exquisite hand-woven textiles. #NationalHandloomDay
