Biren Kumar Basak

Biren Kumar Basak is a master weaver from Phulia in Nadia district, and founder of Biren Basak and Company, known for its hand-woven Tangail and Jamdani saris. He was named for the Padma Shri in 2021 in the field of art, from West Bengal ^[1].

From Tangail to Phulia

Basak was born on 16 May 1951 in Tangail, then in East Pakistan ^[2]. In 1961 communal tension drove his family to Phulia, and they arrived with nothing ^[2]. Money ran out fast, and neither he nor his five siblings could stay in school; they took odd jobs in weaving units instead ^[2].

In 1964, at 13, he joined his father, Banko Bihari Basak, at a local sari unit for Rs 2.5 a day ^[2]. Through his teens he sold saris from door to door ^[2].

His own company

In 1987 he set up his company at home with eight workers, training them in the Tangail and Jamdani styles so local weavers could earn better and have the platform he had lacked ^[2]. Over the years he kept refining his own skills and trying harder techniques, aiming to help hand weavers hold their own against power looms ^[2]. His work laid the base for the livelihoods of more than ten thousand weavers in Phulia ^[2].

Jamdani is a demanding technique in which detailed motifs are worked into the weft by hand; a single sari can take up to a year ^[2].

Record-making saris

In 2015 the Limca Book of Records listed him for the first dhakai sari woven with the story of the Ramayana, which took two and a half years to make, with a muslin warp and a tussar silk weft ^[2]. The same year the India Book of Records listed a Jamdani sari in tussar and muga silk showing the moods of Lord Ganesha ^[2]. In 2018 he set a Guinness World Record for the longest sari, at 3,726.43 metres ^[2].

The textiles ministry’s handloom office gave him a certificate of merit in 2009, a National Award in 2012 and the Sant Kabir Award in 2013 ^[2].