HINGANAGAR, a village in Tangail, specialises in making mats or spreads, locally known as 'shitol patis'. Over 4,000 people from around 800 families in the village have been making a living from this trade for the last 200 years or more.

People in the village weave the famous shitol patis (literally meaning 'a mat cool to touch') using indigenous cane.

The village is in the Atia union under Delduar upazila of Tangail. It is situated at a convenient distance of 10 kilometres from the district headquarters. The mat makers here are from the Hindu community. They have been producing these mats for many generations now.

For the craft's sustenance, 'pati bet', (a cane variety) is cultivated on 600 acres of land in the village and most of the villagers are engaged in production related activities.

People of all ages, including men, women and children, are engaged in the production of the traditional craft. They harvest cane -- the raw material — from the fields, and process it to separate the fibre from the plant. They weave the mats just sitting anywhere — their homesteads, yards as well as village streets.

Weaving the mat sitting in their yard outside their house, a couple, Gopeshwar Chandra De, 85, and Anjoli De, 70, said they have been producing the mat for their whole lives. They pur-

sued their ancestral profession that has been in the village for 200 years.

“Although it is hard to make a living out of making mats these days, we still hang on to the centuries old profession as we do not know any other trade,” Gopeshwar said.

Housewife Sandhya Rani said she has been weaving the mats since her marriage, that is, for the last 50 years. Three of her children are already married and they too are involved in weaving the mats. She supplies her products at a local wholesaler on contract, to maintain her family and repay debts, Sandhya added.

Another housewife, Santana Rani, of the village, said she earns Tk 150 from weaving a mat in two days. Her daughter, Shukla De, who is a class III student at a local primary school, has already learned to weave the mat. “I weave shitol patis during my free time and earn Tk 130 for a single pati. It is of much help to my family,” said Shukla.

Not only Sandhya, Santana and Shukla, all the women in the village are engaged in similar work. Instead of simply sitting idle, they feel it is a great way to earn money for their families.

Mat maker Sadhan De, 75, said a market sits at Kamaynna Para in the village on Tuesdays and Fridays, where the local mat makers sell their products. Local wholesalers as well as traders from other districts, including Dhaka, assemble there to buy mats of their choice in bulk.

Mir Khalid Hossain Chandan, chairman of Atia union, said after all these years, the traditional mat industry and its makers in Hinganagar village are facing some difficulties

of late. They need government support to survive and do better in keeping the time-worn craft alive, he added.