MY WORK

Magan Sangrahalaya Samiti

Genesis

Gandhiji settled in Maganwadi, Wardha, after his departure from Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad. He named this Ashram after Maganlal Gandhi, his close associate and a rural scientist who had been his right hand in all the earlier three Ashrams but who suddenly died while working, at his behest, in Bihar in 1928. Dedicated to the cause of village industries Gandhiji founded the All India Village Industries Association (AIVIA) by a resolution of the All India Congress Committee on 26th October 1934. Towering national personalities like Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore, renowned humanist and international scientists like Shri.C.V.Raman and Prof. Jagadish Chandra Bose, Shri P.C.Ray and prominent industrialist Shri G.D.Birla were part of the advisory board of AIVIA. Gandhiji himself as the chairman, with Kumarappaji as the secretary of AIVIA, undertook the foremost all India movement of revival and expansion of various rural industries, Khadi and artisans based crafts. AIVIA evolved, developed, and disseminated rural industries as well as trained several organizations and artisans. Laying Foundation for Entrepreneurship Development On 30th December 1938 Gandhiji innograted Magan Sangrahalaya – The very first museum of Rural Industries and Khadi. He wanted it to be a dynamic window on evolving techniques in rural industrialization and a centre of education for the common person to impart information on new modes of production which could help the poor of the land. Dr. Devendra Kumar, a young Oil technologist, joined AIVIA from 1949 to 1952 as a scientist and undertook the onus of providing momentum to the noble cause of helping those below the poverty line by empowering them with the tool of science and technology. In 1978, Devendra Bhai (which was his popular name) made Magan Sanghralaya his base and took up the mission to create a new awareness pertaining to Gandhian values among the scientists, technologists, economists, sociologists and experts in various disciplines all over the country. Here he set up the Center of Science for villages. His entire life was nothing but a relentless pursuit to provide a human face to technology with the dream that no one slept hungry and every citizen of India became self sufficient and lead a life of dignity and honor. The main objective of Magan Sangrahalaya Samiti (MSS) is to bring to the fore indigenous skills of the village artisans, stemming from the accumulated traditional knowledge, and facilitate its interaction with the recent knowledge of science and technology. To innovate technologies that could be converted into sustainable business opportunities at the grassroots level. The other objectives are research, development and dissemination of Khadi and village industries, agriculture, dairy etc. alongwith the display and demonstrate of their production processes.

www.gandhifootprints.org

Principles of natural dyes

1. Most natural dyes need both a plants extract and mineral mordant’ to make a permanent colour

2. The stronger the dye extract the more plant used the deeper the colour.

3. Mordants are always used in the same proportions. One can use less for a pale colour, but never use more, as too much of it can harm the fibre.

4. Time, temperature and concentration are the variables involved in any chemical reaction. Higher temperature means less time needed for dyeing, as does higher concentration of dye stuff.

5. Fibre should be pre prepared for the dye both. Pre wash fabric or garments to reduce sizing.

6. No rush. Preparing the dye can take long time.

7. Use big pots and plenty of room for the material to move freely, otherwise the colour will dye very unevenly.

ME AND COLOUR

These days our lives can be described as an endless indulgence in consumerism. And in this blind quest we are going further and further away from our natural moorings. Everyday from the time we get up to the time we go to sleep it is a sequence of continuous the of all kinds of man made commodities Earlier this consumerism was restricted to the urban population.

Today it has became universal. Unabashed consumerism seems to be the creed of all, some have started questioning this. May be this questioning will bring same sanity.

This n0te of caution is applicable to everything. Take colour for example. Colour is what describes the very foundation of all that we see and view. Without colour we will loose the most joyful dimension of everything. - Rivers streams, mountain, forest, etc, Further, this foundation has permitted into all that we create, particularly, into that with which we drape and cover ourselves, our clothes. A beautifully dyed cloth is not only and utility item; it is an individual’s statement, an acts of creativity and effort to emulate nature.

It is in this creative process of trying to capture some of the spirit of nature that we can either emulates or be in harmony with nature or became a self-centered dandy. In other words the over quest for colour, either we can search for sustainability, the essential ethos of mother nature, or became consumerists interested only in a colourful piece of cloth. My aspiration has been to learn and practice the ways of Mother Nature – the natural process. Way back when human beings started living in groups and tribes and focus was on food, clothing and residence, everything came from nature. Nature was the model nature was the source. Wants, needs and expectations remained restricted. Interestingly in activities such as coloring of fabric, wood and other commodities it was found that the basic ingredients were easily available and normally not used as food items. But today there is a change in our desire to emulate nature. We have started ignoring fundamentals such as colouring of fabric, wood and other commodities it was found that the basic ingredients were easily available and normally not used as food items. But today there is a change in our desire to emulate nature. We have started ignoring fundamentals such as environmental sustainability etc. we have started experimenting and propagating practice, which are destructive. We have to stop this.

One thing is clear. In society if a method or thinking succeeds, more and more people tend to accept this. The use of natural dyes and natural fabric is making a slow comeback. If we can show the utility and sustainability of using natural ingredients to make dyes, this will certainly blind ever-increasing adherents. However the state will have to help. It will have to encourage a shift towards natural dyes and discourage the use of chemicals. We have to try and retain the true import of colour. A gift of Mother Nature.

Why natural dyes?

Why natural dyes?

1.Totally eco-friendly

2.Helps to maintain body temperature

3.Cool to the eyes & good for the skin

4.Aromatic in character

5.Healthy substitute to harmful chemical dyes

6.Effluent safe for irrigation & organic

manure production

7.Maintains the strength & quality of fibre

8.Provides work to tribal & rural people

9.Does not destroy the forest & plant world

10.Safe for infants & children

Natural Dyes Unit at Magan Sanghralaya

Magan sanghralaya is the only museum founded by Mahatma Gandhi in 1938 dedicated to the artisans and rural industries.

It is here Dr. Devendra Kumar started the moment of production and sale of Khadi with out dependance on Govt. rebate. His mission to manufacture organic Khadi with out chemical colours was fulfilled by Mukesh Lutade. .Trainined at Gandhi Gram Trust, Tamil Nadu he started the Natura Dyes unit in 2003 in Magan Sanghralaya.

This pamphlet reflects the unique work done by the unit in developing new techniques of natural dyeing, bleaching, and printing. Till now the unit was confined to in-house dyeing of Khadi fabric. Now the Natural Dyes unit is well equipped to take your orders for dyeing and printing on commercial scale, at rates that will suit you. You are welcome to try the tranquil world of natural colors and hues.

Advantages of Natural Dyes

1) High diversity of rich and complex natural dye colours 2) Different colours go well together and rarely clash 3) Beauty of the results when using natural dyes 4) Excitement of unexpected results 5) Satisfaction of growing your own dye plants 6) Self-sufficiency if growing your own plants for plant dyes 7) Not dependent on nonrenewable materials 8) Allow for endless experimentation 9) Allow the replication of ancient techniques 10) Mature with age when exposed to sunlight and normal use, developing a patina as the colours mellow. 11) Aromatic smell when simmering the plant 12) Renewable Hence never Run Out. 13) Easily accessible across India in the dense forest. 14) Tress like Ø Magnifera Indica Ø Butea Monosperma Ø Antigonam Leptopus (pakdu) Ø Terminalia Bellerica Ø Semicarpus Anacardium (Bilva) Are perennial and available easily near by the villages in all the sessions. 15) Some synthetic dyes are carcinogenic so it is best to leave dying to professionals who can do it safely. The little packets of colored dyes you can buy are quite safe provided they are used as directed 16) Natural dyes produce an extraordinary diversity of rich and complex colours that complement each other. 17) Natural dyes from plants may also have dozens of compounds and their proportions vary with soil type and the weather. If you look at a yarn dyed with madder under the microscope, you will see a subtle variation of colour. A yarn dyed with the synthetic equivalent of madder (alizarin and purpurin) does not have this wealth of colour variation and looks much more uniform. 18) That natural dyes are vastly superior to synthetic dyes. They age well and develop a patina and an abrash as the older textiles are exposed to sunlight and normal use. The patina is a mellowing of the colours into an eye-pleasing sheen and the abrash is the slightly uneven hues that emerge as different dye lots, even of the same colour, fade at different rates as they age. 19) All of these factors combine in making natural dyes the ideal choice for use as organic fabric dyes. 20) ‘No synthetic dye has the lustre, that under-glow of rich colour, that delicious aromatic smell, that soft light and shadow that gives so much pleasure to the eye. 21) These colours are alive.

The Khadi (a hand-woven and hand-spun cotton cloth) sector is supported by the Government by providing rebate on the sale of Khadi. Magan Sangrahalaya took up the production and sale of Khadi as a mission to support the dying weavers and spinners and sell the eco-friendly cloth to the people without taking any Government subsidy.

Presently, this self-reliant Khadi unit of MSS is providing employment to 150 artisans including sliver plant workers, spinners, weavers, tailors, dyers and sales persons. With the collective effort of MSS team and artisans, the institute annually sells 50 Lakh Rupees worth of Khadi.

To increase the productivity and earnings of thick-yarn weavers using traditional Charkha, MSS developed a Four-spindle Magana Charkha, an improvised spinning wheel. The critical intervention here is the replacement of the costly multi-national ‘Toparm’ by an indigenous ‘Toparm’, which can be easily fabricated and

repaired in any village workshop. With this appropriate device, the spinner can earn and produce four times more than before.

MSS is manufacturing ‘Organic Khadi’, utilizing the organic cotton from organic farmers of CAPART-sponsored Watershed Project villages. Using the high-tech, decentralized, sliver plant developed by Dastakar, Andhra Pradesh, MSS is producing the best quality eco-friendly organic sliver. At the same time, it is also recycling the organic cotton seeds back to the farmer since the process keeps the seeds intact.