Every Karbi garment begins with three women
Karbi weavers tell of Selangdi, who first spun yarn from the cotton flower, and Rimsipi, who learned to weave that yarn into cloth. The third was Dihun. She drew colour from flowers, roots and seeds, dyed the thread, and made the first patterns. Karbi people remember her as Serdihun, “golden Dihun”, and weavers still honour her.
The tools have barely changed. Thread is spun on a takiri, a hand spindle, and much of the cloth is woven on the kachivur-atherang, a backstrap loom of bamboo that the weaver tensions with her own body. Dyes came from shrubs, bark and insect lac, and households grew the sibu plant for colour.
Vozzypolo works with weavers in Karbi Anglong to bring these pieces to people who wear them: to the Karbi Youth Festival in Taralangso, to weddings, and to everyday life far from the hills.
Dress follows age
Traditionally, what a Karbi woman or man wore said something about their stage of life. The rules are looser now, but the names remain.
- Young women
- Pe duphirsopekok woven for young women
- Women in middle age
- Pe seleng and pe jangphongpekok for the middle years
- Elder women
- Pe sarpithe pekok of elders
- Young men
- Choi honthor and chepanthe striped jacket, and the waist strip worn until marriage
- Older men
- Choi ang and choi mirijackets for middle age and later
- Village chiefs
- A long white pohoa head cloth twelve and a half cubits long
The Karbi wardrobe
- PekokShoulder wrap
- The square wrap Karbi women drape across the body and tie above the right shoulder. By tradition the weave follows the wearer: pe duphirso for young women, pe seleng and pe jangphong in middle age, pe sarpi for elders.
- PiniWrap skirt
- Tied at the waist and worn to the knee, the pini is the base of a Karbi woman's dress. Traditional pini are woven in black with bands of colour, in weaves such as pini jangre and pini santok.
- VamkokWaist belt
- The woven belt that holds the pini in place, finished with bright fringes at both ends. Vamkok designs have their own names: amekpi, amekso, abermung, thoithesuri angphar.
- JarongWoven bag
- The Karbi shoulder bag, carried by men and women. Jarong jambili is kept for auspicious occasions; everyday jarong come in every colour a weaver can dye.
- ChoiMen's jacket
- The sleeveless Karbi jacket. Choi honthor, in close stripes, is the style of young men; choi ang and choi miri are worn with age.
- Pe SelengFlower-woven wrap
- A white cloth woven with flower motifs. Seleng designs were only ever woven onto white, and men wear it long, to the knee.
- ChepanBachelor's waist strip
- A long woven strip with fringes, worn around the waist by young men who are not yet married.
- ShawlsPe-um, the warm cloth
- Handwoven Karbi shawls for cool mornings in the hills, in weaves like pe khonjari and pe sarpi arjon.
- PeebaCarrying cloth
- A long, thick cloth Karbi mothers use to carry a child on the back or at the front, often finished with cowries.
Photo credits
Some photographs on this site are shared by their photographers on Wikimedia Commons. Product and weaving photography is our own.
- A view of Baithalangso, Karbi Anglong of Assam by Pallab Kumar Nath, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- A view of landscape in Karbi Anglong by Pranabnlp, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Traditional Karbi Ornaments by Dharamsing Teron, CC BY 3.0, source
- Karbi village by Cintu Thakuria, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Karbi girl while collecting Forest vegetables by Aturbey, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Landscape of Kohora River by Epil Kongari, CC BY-SA 4.0, source