BHOPAL: Kapdaganda, a hand-woven shawl of Dongria Kondh tribe of Odisha, is the third Exhibit of the Week of this month that has been displayed on the social media pages of Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya (IGRMS), Bhopal.
The exhibition began on Monday. The length and width of the exhibit are 162 cm and 80 cm respectively.
Museum director Praveen Kumar Mishra said Kapdaganda is a prestigious hand-woven shawl of Dongria Kondh tribe, which symbolises their rich heritage, culture, and ethnic identity. It is mostly woven by spinsters, which tells about their skilled needlework.
They embroider the shawl to gift their beloved ones as a token of love. It is also presented by them to their brother or father as a symbol of affection. The off-white coarse fabric used as raw material is procured from Dom community by bartering harvested crops. The designs are embroidered on cloth with the help of a needle by using colourful threads.
Earlier, they used to prepare colours from turmeric, bean leaves, wild seeds to colour yellow, green, and red respectively. To prevent colour from fading, they used to boil the banana flowers in water and dip the coloured threads in it. They used red, green, yellow to depict the linkage with environment, their occupation, age old human sacrifices and cultural values of their community.
The hand-woven motifs in the shawl are of different types of lines and triangular shapes that reflect importance of mountains in their community. Kapdaganda is used by Dongria Kondh to wear as a stoll during weddings and festive occasions.
