Handmade in India

Subclusters of Meghalaya
East Khasi Hills district:
Shillong,Cherrapunji,Mawsynram
Jaintia Hills district:
Jowai
West Garo Hills district:
Rongram,Tura
Crafts of Meghalaya
Bamboo rain shields
Bamboo carrying
baskets
Garo bamboo house
RESOURCES
Craft Raw Materials Sources
Bamboo
rain shield
Bamboo
carrying
basket
Garo
bamboo
house
Shken reed
bamboo, shlew,
Palm leaf
Bamboo
Bamboo,Timber
Cherrapunji,
Khasi Hills
Khasi Hills
Garo Hills
1. Khasi artisan spinning eri silk in
Mawlong,Ri-bhoi district.Khasi woman
carries with her a spindle used for spinning
and betelnuts where ever she goes.Handspinning
is integral to her life.
2. Eri silk weavers in Mawlong.The rearing of
silk worms,hand-spinnig and weaving is
done by Khasi women in their homes.
3. A khasi artisan demonstrating how the
mould is made from a rain shield.Bamboo
rain shields are essential for agricultural
communities living in wet regions.
4. A khasi craftsperson drying silk yarn dyed
black with nuli plants and suhtung
paste,Mawlong village,Ri-bhoi district.
5. A Garo house built entirely from bamboo
and timber,on a hill slope.
MEGHALAYA IS ADMINISTRATED by three autonomous
district councils of Khasi Hills,Jaintia Hills,and Garo
Hills,the districts bearing the names of its respective
settlers.Khasis,the first settlers are believed to have come
from northern Myanmar,the Garos from Tibet,and Jaintia
from Tibet and China.Garo Hills are separated from the
Khasi Hills and Jaintia Hills in the south of the river
Brahmaputra,and have large untouched forest cover,heavy
rainfall and undulating hills.The Garos are self
sufficient;forests provided timber and bamboo for houses,
cotton is grown for weaving cloth;and a variety of products
are fashioned from bamboo.Bamboo basketry products are
sold at the weekly markets of Khasi and Jaintia Hills where
people congregate to buy and sell their agricultural
produce,poultry and pigs,bamboo baskets,mats ,rain
shields,rice beer,and bamboo shoots.Basketry is an important
craft of the khasi hills.In Mawlong,Ri-bhoi district,women
rear eri silkworms,spin and dye with natural dyes and
weave,while the men collect bamboo and store them for use
during monsoon.The crafts of the region are directly
influenced by the natural habitat and the people respond to
the seasonal changes by creating a variation in their
products,like the women weave bamboo rain shields and
baskets that are essential to daily life all through the long and
heavy monsoons.The social instittution of dormitories for
young men and boys is found in the Garo villages,where they
are housed separately from their parents,receiving training in
agriculture,festivals,sports and culture.
ACCESS
Shillong can be reached by road and through a helicopter
service from Guwahati in the plains of Assam,which has the
nearest railhead and airport.It is connected by road with
Cherrapunji and interior villages in Khasi Hills district.The
nearest airport to Tura,headquarters of West Garo Hills is in
Guwahati and the nearest railhead is at Guwahati in Assam.