National Handloom Day: Lambani tribal women weave dreams of better future

Lambani art, for the unversed, is a form of textile embellishment practised by the Lambani or the Banjara community, a nomadic group inhabiting several states of India, including Rajasthan, Gujarat and Karnataka.

Adorned in ivory bangles up to her arms and clothes with sparkling bits of mirror work, 30-year-old Sunanda Jadhav of the nomadic Lambani community in Karnataka’s Vijayapura carries off her traditional attire with grace and embroiders exquisite designs on fabric effortlessly.

Jhadav, a single mother to four young children, is among 60 odd women working with Banjara Kasuti — an all-woman NGO working to revive the age-old textile art.

Their lives and livelihood, up till a few years ago, were hanging by a thread.