BANANA FIBER

Hampi with its conductive climate and black soil is the ideal location for banana plantation. The banana fiber craft is thus, the obvious choice for the people to utilize their natural skill in a unique and remunerative way. The banana fiber craft, established in the year 1977, was initiated by an organization. The kishkinda trust, situated in Anegundi, Kopal and Hampi.
Natural fibre cottage industry, set up in 1999 has been using the locally available banana fibre acquired from the banana trunk, shorba, river grass and other locally available fibres.
Mats, bags, decorative fringes, toys, quilts are manufactured in this unit.
A federation “Bhoomi society for working women” was formed in 2002 with 205 members. This industry is obtaining orders from all the major cities of India and their products are highly appreciated.
Banana plantation is done in the month of September as the hot and humid climate is ideal for its growth. Its yields fruits in June.

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LAMBANI

The women are Lambanis or Banjaras, said to have descended from wandering tribal gypsies. They have had their origins in North Western India i.e. Rajasthan and Gujarat. Before the advent of trains, the Lambanis traveled with their own oxen and cattle form village to village carrying salt and selling their traditional sewing and embroidery.
The lambani are known for their brightly coloured dress, heavily decorated and trimmed with embroidery, mirrors and shells.
Hampi cluster products draw their inspiration from Lambani embroidery stitches however designs inspiration is mix of modern graphics, flowers with elements of traditional lambani motifs, it is a combination of computer embroidery and lambani embroidery. Employed only lambani women as embroiderers. Some of this fine needlework on cushions can take one women up to two weeks (90 hours) to complete. In the case of throws and bedcovers, two women working on the one item will take a minimum of three weeks or more. These articles are all handmade with the exception of the outler case (two sides sewn together) done by treadle sewing machine and computer embroidery on the textile fabrics which Hampi cluster wants to promote giving buyer the maximum benefit of product development.

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KINHAL WOOD CARVING:

Kinhal, in Karnataka, is one of the traditional centers engaged in manufacture of hand painted wooden articles.
Historically the art at Kinhal forms an integral part of the Vijayanagar painting and sculpture style. The craftsman of Kinhal have always drawn inspiration from the murals of the Lepakshi temple in Andra Pradesh and more so from the Virupaksha temple at Hampi in Karnataka. Both these temples were executed during the reign of Krishnadevaraya of Vijayanagra kingdom
The craft flourished under the royal patronage of the Vijayanagar Empire.Infact, it is claimed, that the village of Kinhal was awarded an “Inam” to the artisan community by the kings of Vijayanagar Empire in appreciation of the work rendered by the artisans for the palaces, temples, chariots, etc

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STONE CARVING:

The craft of stone carving dates back to the Vijayanagara empire in Hampi. Hampi is a village in northern Karnataka, India. Hampi marks the location of the ruins of Vijayanagara, the former capital of the Vijayanagara empire. The ruins in the form of temples, courts, palaces sculpted intricately, spread over an area of more than 26 sq.km protected by the tempestuous river Tungabhadra in the north and by rocky granite on the other three sides.
As Sangamas established their kingdom in 13th century AD they have decided to use granite stone thou it was not suitable for the delicate filigree work as compared to Schist. But, what the artists had to sacrifice on the delicacy was compensated by the massiveness of sculptures. The crude hard granite boulders were transformed by sculptors into images of awesome beauty and charm symbolizing the vibrant and mighty power of the vijayanagara rulers.
The descendants of the sculptors of those times still carry the tradition and practice it as a profession thou catering to the demands of the changed scenario in the 21st century. They mainly sculpt idols of gods and of mythological importance in granite and black stone to cater to the needs of the temples through out the country. And there are also few small time sculptors who work on making small idols and articles of commercial importance to earn their own bread.
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