No wonder many textile traditions, like Tangaliya weaving, Khadi , single Ikat have flourished in this region.

Tangaliya, 700 years old hand weaving technique, is native to Gujarat. Traditionally it is woven by Dangasia community of Surendranagar district. Vastadi is a village in the Surendranagar district where the Dangasia community is still weaving Tangaliya. Wool, cotton or silk forms the raw material for the weaving of base fabric. A special technique called dana-work is done using cotton -bers. Geometric motifs are woven into the fabric while it is still on the loom. Folklore There is an interesting story behind Tangaliya art. According to folklore one Bharwad (shepherd) boy fell in love with daughter of weaver and married her. This displeased his family and he was thrown out along with his wife. So he settled down with his in-law's family and continued to herd sheep. Slowly he learned art of weaving from them. He used sheep wool for his weaving and started weaving shwals. Thus the art of Tangaliya weaving was developed. Today it is woven using varieties of yarns like cotton,merino wool and eri silk. Product line has also developed keeping in mind modern requirements.Interesting sidelight to this story is that, today this art is not taught to daughters of the family, as daughters can pass on this knowledge to other families when they get married and create competition for existing craftsmen!! Idea of protectionism exists since ages it seems! Process Yarn is ready for weaving. Warp is ready. Tangaliya weaving is very labour intensive process. It is special technique of weaving where dana-work (bead of yarn) is done using cotton yarn. Bead is formed by tying yarn on 2,3, or 4 warps depending upon design. This also brings out design on both sides of fabric. Attaching a dana(yarn bead) Disadvantage Unfortunately today this beautiful art has no takers. Government has give "GI"(Geographical Indication) tag to this crafts which means quality assurance and also defines facts of its origin. But no follow up measures are taken by government for marketing of this product. Weavers lament their woes. Many of weavers do weaving only part time as they do not get sufficient work. More and

more of them are now leaving their traditional craft. They prefer to work as farm labourers rather than do weaving as it provides them with continuous work. Is this end of road for this hand weaving craft too? It seems it will soon die and future generation will not enjoy beauty of this wonderful craft.
fibre are converted into yarn, then fabrics, which undergo finishing processes such as bleaching to become textiles.

Tangaliya is a dying arts. The production processes are timecostly and raw materials are difficult to purchase at a reasonable price. Besides, marketing is a problem. To sell their products, most of the artisans have to look for retailers and wholesalers by themselves. By improving access to aordable credit and developing contemporary designs,