Sensory Experiences of Khadi & Charkha as a Gendered Phenomenon: Women’s Voices from the Princely States of Rajputana

Abstract

Khadi (coarse hand-woven cloth) and Charkha (spinning wheel) became potent symbols of protest in the princely states of Rajputana challenging the triple layers of colonial, monarchical and feudal authority in the region. Despite the wealth of academic analysis devoted to the semiotics of Khadi and the Charkha, the sensory experiences evoked by these twin phenomena has received comparatively little attention.
This paper seeks to construct a nuanced and gendered history of women’s sensory engagements with Khadi and Charkha in the regressive social ethos and autocratic regimes that shaped the contours of everyday resistance in the region. In the absence of adequate  archival material on sensory experiences, the paper draws on the oral testimonies and narratives of the women activists. In this context, the study also examines how women’s aural, visual and tactile encounter with Khadi and Charkha were shaped by gender and region-specific value system as well as  the frames of cultural reference. 
Also, the study would unravel how sensory dimensions of the twin symbolism was far more complex, layered and loaded with serious ramifications when seen in the context of women’s subjective experience, societal/public reaction to their sartorial choices as well as the political reverberations. These testimonies  underscore, as compared to men, women’ s profound emotional connect with Khadi and Charkha fostering a heightened expressiveness about their sensate ethos.