Check out artisanal products at this fundraiser of a women’s vocational centre started by the Maharani of Baroda a century ago. Do your bit for women’s empowerment and pandemic-hit craftspeople
Handicrafts made by the basket weavers of Govindpur in Dhenkanal, Odisha
In 1914, Maharani Chimnabai, the second wife of Sayajirao Gaekwad and the Maharani of Baroda, started the Shree Maharani Chimnabai Stree Udyogalaya (MCSU), one of the earliest women’s vocational centres in the country. She had been travelling the world and had seen how with men fighting at the front during the World War, women were learning new skills to fend for themselves. She realised that a similar format would work for India, where women needed empowerment, and believed that the way forward would be to give them those skills to become self-sufficient. “The Udyogalaya came into being with the vision of imparting vocational training to lower income women,” Radhikaraje Gaekwad, trustee and vice-president of MCSU, tells us. “They were trained in things that didn’t need a lot of formal education—block-printing, bookbinding, file-making, and the making of preserves and papad,” she says, sharing that many women who came from rural areas were housed in a hostel where they learnt these skills. “Over the years, we have incorporated computer classes, beauty parlour and fashion designing courses.”
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Applique patchwork by craftsman Khetaram Choudhary’s Marudara Mahila Vikaas Samiti in Barmer, Rajasthan
Besides conducting ration drives among migrant labourers, senior citizens and members of the transgender community in recent months, the organisation has also initiated projects like Pink Line, aimed at training women to drive, to ensure their own safety as well as those of children and senior citizens, who may rely on their services. The initiative, says Gaekwad, will especially target women who have lost working family members to COVID-19.
Last week, the MCSU launched the first edition of Urja, a fundraiser that brought together an eclectic mix of premium home-grown designers, ethical brands, hand-crafted products by local artisans, and thoughtful merchandise made by women of the MCSU Sanstha, some artists attending the event while others sending in consignments.
Kansa utensils by metalsmiths from Aukhama, Odisha; and the Maheshwari weave from Madhya Pradesh, are among the many products on sale
Among the craftworks featured at Urja were Dokra products made by artisans in Nuagaon and kansa utensils from Aukhama, ikat from Sarakpatna, and baskets, hats and fans woven from dried and dyed bamboo strips by weavers in Govindpur, Dhenkanal, Odisha. Also part of the fundraiser were master weaver Mustakim Kachara’s Kota sarees; weaves from sixth generation Maheshwari weavers Pawar Handlooms; appliqué patchwork by craftsman Khetaram Choudhary’s Marudara Mahila Vikaas Samiti in Barmer, Rajasthan; the nearly 500-year-old art of Soof embroidery by artist Dayaben Dohat from the Tharad region of Gujarat, and Mata Ni Pachedi work by Sanjay Chitara, a ninth-generation practitioner of the art form traditionally practised by the nomadic and marginalised Waghri community, where the fabric depicts the goddess and the legends that surround her.
Radhikaraje Gaekwad
“Urja stemmed from a need to give artisans as well as home-grown designers, who were struggling during the past year, an equal footing. We also decided to use it to raise awareness and funds for causes like Pink Line, our work with the trans community, and also for an upgradation of our courses,” says Gaekwad.
WHAT: Shree Maharani Chimnabai Stree Udyogalaya (MCSU)
WHERE: @chimnabai_udyogalaya, INSTAGRAM
WHEN: Ongoing
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