question_answer

  What was the condition of the weavers in surviving the famines and competition?

Answer:

                  (i) Amongst weavers, some produced coarse cloth while others finer cloth. (ii) The coarse cloth was bought by the poor and its demand fluctuated. (iii) In times of bad harvests and famines, rural poor could not possibly buy the cloth. (iv) But the rich could buy this finer cloth, when the poor starved. So famines did not affect the sale of Banarasi or Baluchari saris. These weavers lived hard lives and worked for long durations. Very often, the entire family, including women and children had to work to survive.