Kotpad Handloom fabrics

Kotpad Handloom is a vegetable-dyed fabric woven by the tribal weavers of the Mirgan community of Kotpad village in Koraput district, Odisha, India. Cotton sarees with solid border and Pata Anchal, duppatta with typical Buties / motifs, Scolrfs on cotton, silk, handloom stoles, and dress materials are all dyed with organic dyes. The natural dye is manufactured from the aul tree grown in this area.^[1] The Kotpad tussar silk saree with tribal art and Kotpad handloom fabrics with natural color is its specialty.

Kotpad handloom fabric is the first item from Odisha that received the Geographical Indication of India tag,^[2] in 2005.^[3] The Mirgan community of Kotpad is famous for their exquisite organic dyed textile. They usually weave this textile for "Bhotada", "Dharua" and other motifs of their neighboring tribal communities.

Recently, Biswanath Rath, an Indian Writer-Director, has made an English Documentary titled 'Kotpad Weaving : The Story of a Race Against Time' about Kotpad Handloom, dyeing and weaving which has been produced by PSBT in association with Doordarshan.^[4] This documentary was telecasted on DD National on 24 March 2018. The film explores the uniqueness of Kotpad Handloom, the issues and possible solutions for revival of Kotpad Weaving and Dyeing.^[5]

In 2018, Gobardhan Panika, one of the master weavers of the craft, was honored by the Government of India with the fourth highest civilian honor of the Padma Shri.^[6]