TAANG: Braided camel belt
The Meghwal community at Kuran used to braid camel belts, taang, for the Maldharis living in Pachchham and Banni. The Maldharis love their camels and take great pleasure in adorning them. Most often the Maldharis would spin the rope in their free time, while grazing cattl and take this material to the artisan to make them a camel belt. Often the Maldharis themselves create the braided taang.
These four-inch-wide belts were six to seven feet in length and were created using the ply-split braiding technique, with goat hair in natural shades of white and black. The hair would be sorted for colour and then hand spun. Spinning for braiding is most important as unlike weaving where some variation in yarn works well, the yarn for taang needs to be highly twisted and very even. Four ply yarn of black and four ply of white are twisted together to make a tight rope, which is used for braiding.
The most interesting feature of the densely braided taang is that the pattern created in white on one surface is in black on the reverse. Two-layered interlacing is created with the two coloured cords, where each cord alternately splits and is split. It works like a double cloth, as while braiding, the flat wooden needle is inserted in the rope to lift only the white thread to create the patterns. Complex motifs can be created using this technique which is very time consuming, requiring skill and immense patience. Depending on the intricacy of the pattern, a taang can take a few weeks to braid.
There are now only a few artisans, like Tejsinh Danabhai, who continue this tradition. The belts he creates are too expensive for the Maldharis to buy today. This craft survives as an art form, supported by museums and tourists visiting their homes.
