Kapil Dev Prasad

Kapil Dev Prasad was a handloom weaver from Bihar who kept alive bawan buti, a style of weaving that sets 52 small motifs in coloured thread across the cloth. He was named for the Padma Shri in 2023 in the field of art, from Bihar ^[1].

A family craft

Prasad was born on 5 August 1955 ^[2]. Money was short, and he studied only up to middle school ^[2]. From the age of 15 he worked at the family trade of weaving bawan buti on the handloom ^[2]. He trained thousands of weavers in the craft, and the saris, bedsheets, curtains, shawls and dupattas made by the weavers of Bihar Sharif found buyers in India and abroad ^[2].

Organising the weavers

In 1980 he gathered the weavers of his village, Basawan Bigha, into a primary weavers’ cooperative society, which helped them find work and government support ^[2]. His efforts led the Union textiles ministry to run a block-level handloom cluster in Bihar Sharif that benefits thousands of weaving families ^[2].

He served on the boards of the regional weavers’ cooperative union in Bihar Sharif from 1982 and of the state handloom weavers’ cooperative union ^[2]. In 1990, working with the Bihar State Export Corporation, he sent bawan buti bedsheets, table cloths and curtains to Germany and Australia, and in 1992 he arranged a common work shed for the village weavers ^[2].

He received a national award from the textiles ministry in 1993–94 and the Bihar government’s weaver’s award in 2001–02 ^[2]. Prasad died in a Patna hospital in March 2024 ^[3][4].