Bamboo in Orissa: Trade and Livelihood Perspective - Vasundhara

All rights reserved by VASUNDHARA(www.vasundharaorissa.org). For any clarification, contact author at sunlit1968@yahoo.co.in
Gender- and caste-based biases:
There are several artisan villages/hamlets(like the harijan sahi of Gania near Dasapalla)
where women have absolutely no role in bamboo-ware production whereas in some other
villages(like Sahada near Kujang) their role and expertise in this profession is equally
important. On the other hand, in Saharpada, making bamboo brooms is essentially a
women's job while making mati-jhudi is a men's job. In Sariapada(Dhenkanal district),
both men and women work on bamboo products; but bringing bamboo from forests is
considered as a men's job while selling the products is a women's job(Source: Sachitra
Vijaya).
On enquiry it was found that the factor, which controlled the role of women in bamboo
work, is not related to any socio-religious taboo. Rather, the extent to which muscle power
is required in the work seems to be the most important reason behind. For instance, in
winnow making, the weaving part is done by women; but the thick(about 1") halfrectangular
'arm'(baha) which is used to impart strength and support to the whole structure,
is tied by the males since this requires more muscle power than concentration and care.
Usually weaving of coarse class requires maximum muscle power as the strips are thicker
and often heavier. Hence, women are not supposed to work in this case. On the other hand,
they are comfortable with the other two classes.
However, in some artisan villages like Kundhei (Puri district) women express confidence
that they could do all the jobs that is supposed to be done by men only. For some women
like widows this is a compulsion when there are no able male members in the family to
assist.
Interestingly enough, artisan villages/hamlets do not usually work on all the three classes.
If a village works on the coarse type of weaving, then the other two types are usually found
absent there. Similarly, those resorting to the 'medium' and/or 'fine' type of weaving avoid
the coarse one. It is for this reason that most of the artisan villages are either absolutely free
from any involvement of the women in this work, or are full of women workers.
Usually most of the bamboo-artisan communities belong to the schedule caste (viz., pana
or buna-pana, hadi, dama, kandra, etc.). In Khunta(Mayurbhanj) they are represented by
the mahali people and in Ganjam district, by the mediris. Often the type of weaving differs
according to the caste. For instance, the production of kula and baunshia is usually found
to be confined to the dama and hadi communities (caste) whereas that of doli, taati and
rodara is confined to buna-pana (literally meaning, the weaver pana which distinguishes
the group among the pana caste depending on bamboo-weaving) community. Items
produced by all or most of the communities are rare and gandua is an example of that.
65