The traditional dress of Indian Woman is Saree which is very popular throughout the World for its design, variety, textures, and colors.
Santipur & Fulia from Nadia districts of west Bengal, India are the two geographic twins where hand-woven Tant sarees are being made and getting exported to a different part of the world apart from the Indian Market. It is said that this culture of hand-woven sarees are continuing since the 15th Century and still going on, though due to very low wages and high production costs many of the weavers have switched to machine-made Tant, still, almost 5000 + people from these 2 areas are attached with this profession.
During the partition of India & Bangladesh, many of the weavers from the Tangail district of Bangladesh are now settled down in the Fulia district who is the founder of Dhakai Jamdani which is one of the Classic traditional women wear during the British period, but after migration with the latest technology and great skills, the people from Fuila also made their creation which is called Fulia Tangail or Bengali Tant Sarees which resembles their past.
The process of being made for all these sarees are having many steps, like drying the fibers jute in chemicals with the required color for making the shades and making them properly dry under sunlight for a minimum of 2 to 3 days. Once this is being done they send the same to different weavers families who made the assembling of threads into bobbins from these jute fibers.
The quality of the sarees and the price depend on these fine bobbins which are the basic ingredients of the Sarees. Once this is done these bobbins are fixed into hand-made weavers to make the final design, some of them also made designs with ready-made frames for making them more attractive.
Once the weaving is complete it is again getting dried under Sunlight in an open space where weavers are making final polish to make them ready for the market. The prices of these sarees range between 200 - 2000 ( 3 $ - 30 $ ) to the market depending on the quality, textures, and design.
Durga Puja is the best time in West Bengal when markets have a huge demand for these sarees and the average production time for hand-made woven is around 12 to 14 hours means 1 - 2 Saree/day.
The industry is currently suffering for the low price value to the weavers as a result many of the next generation from their families quit this old heritage profession and switched to different trade of Jobs & those who are having financial stability have taken Electric Hand loom machine which produces minimum 5 to 6 saree a day and becomes cost-effective for the weavers. The government has taken many steps to support this Small scale industry but still, it required much more support for the survival of the weavers and the old heritage tradition of West Bengal.
