Madanpura’s Lost Loom Legacy Revived: How Mumbai’s Textile Hub Faded Into History
Madanpura’s fading handloom history is being preserved through an archive and documentary project by the Bhendi Bazar Research Academy. Once known for thousands of looms, the central Mumbai neighbourhood saw its textile industry decline due to yarn shortages and rising costs. The initiative aims to document the Julaha community’s contribution to Mumbai’s social history.
A wooden loom (L) & A handloom worker (R) |
Mumbai: “Madanpura's identity has been lost, though the community that built it is still here,” said local resident Mushir Ahmed Ansari, reflecting on the central Mumbai neighbourhood's transformation from a bustling textile hub into a nondescript neighborhood.
On National Handloom Day (August 8), descendants of the locality's textile pioneers shared memories and rare photographs of an era when Madanpura’s lanes echoed with the constant click-clack of thousands of looms.
Research Academy Documents Vanishing Textile Heritage
Zubair Azmi, an advocate and president of the National Weavers Welfare Society, noted that few documents or physical sites survived after severe yarn shortages and rising costs drove the industry out. To safeguard what remains, the Bhendi Bazar Research Academy is creating an archive featuring photographs of traditional charkhas, handloom warping, and historical equipment such as bobbins, spindles, phannis, and loom beams.
The area originally became a refuge for the Julaha Muslim weaving community fleeing Uttar Pradesh towns like Faizabad and Azamgarh after the 1857 Revolt.
Homes Turned Into Workshops As Textile Industry Flourished
“They dispersed to Rangoon, Kolkata, Nagpur, and Malegaon. Some settled in Madanpura and revived weaving—their primary skill. Over decades, others joined them,” said Ansari, whose father, Abdul Jabbar Ansari, migrated from Azamgarh in the 1940s as a worker before eventually founding his own weaving factory.
By the early 20th century, nearly 90% of the area’s residents belonged to the Julaha (Momin or Ansari) community. Homes doubled as workshops, enabling women to participate in the family trade by setting up spindles and managing the warping process. The flourishing handloom ecosystem also attracted allied trades like dyeing (Rangrez) and textile printing (Chhipas), leaving traces still visible in areas like Ghoghari Mohalla and Surti Mohalla today.
Electrification Brought Growth And Workers’ Movements
The electrification of looms in the 1960s boosted production and gave rise to active workers' movements. Renowned Urdu writers and poets from the Progressive Writers’ Movement—including Kaifi Azmi, Ali Sardar Jafri, Sahir Ludhianvi, Majrooh Sultanpuri, Jan Nisar Akhtar, and Ismat Chughtai—frequently engaged with Madanpura's weaving community.
However, acute yarn shortages in the 1970s crippled production, leading to the formation of the National Weavers Welfare Society to ration supplies. By the 1980s, the local industry went into steep decline as manufacturing shifted to Bhiwandi and other regions offering cheaper operational space. Meanwhile, the newer generation in the weavers' families shifted to salaried jobs and other businesses.
To preserve this vanishing history, the Bhendi Bazar Research Academy is documenting the region's cultural legacy and planning a documentary titled Madanpura: Manchester of Bombay.
“This initiative ensures that Madanpura’s handloom legacy, an essential chapter in Mumbai’s social history, is not lost to time,” Azmi said.
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