Charaka – Women’s industrial co-operative

About Charaka

On the way to Jog falls, my better half was reading up on this village called Charaka which is a womens’ multipurpose industrial co-operative society situated at Bhimanakone Village.  They produce naturally dyed cotton handloom garments in a composite handloom unit in Bhimanakone. Readymade garments produced here are sold in cities like Bangalore, Mysore, Dharwad and Shimoga at retail outlets under the brand name DESI. (taken from website http://www.charaka.in/)

The staff there was extremely courteous and showed us not only around the looms but also the storage and quality control area. They were very strict and didn’t allow us to buy from the factory without a quality check. They very firmly and politely directed us to their retail outlet which was some distance away where I picked up this really nice and comfy half jacket.    We also went to their dyeing and printing unit which was another great example of an efficiently run system. They were extremely polite even with the kid running around rampant. He did enjoy himself thoroughly though. This unit is just next to a meditation ashram so the peace and quiet was quite quite addictive.  The dye is made using natural materials.

The Beginning

In the year 1994, a trust named “Kavi-Kavya” (Poet-Poetry) was formed. It was a literary and cultural organisation active in the village. A group of educated people ran it and it was they who started Charaka.

Kavi-Kavya organised a training programme for the workers of Anganawadis (Government Childcare Centres) in the villages of Shimoga District, in the use of locally available cultural resources. The programme went on for a whole year and during that time, Kavi-Kavya activists traveled extensively through the rural areas of the district. They took pains to understand village life – lifestyle, languages, folklore, theatre tradition, agricultural practices, the skills/ art of artisans and so on.

Enjoy the snaps.