Shillong Khasi Cotton Weaving Eri Silk Meghalaya

Shillong in the East Khasi Hills district of Meghalaya is the capital of the Khasi Hills region and the centre of Khasi weaving tradition, producing distinctive jainsem dress cloth, dara basket-weave blankets, and eri silk fabric from the Eri silkworm Samia ricini that feeds on castor plants in household gardens. Khasi weaving is a women-centred tradition embedded in the matrilineal Khasi society structure where property and clan names descend through women. Every Khasi household historically maintained a loom for home weaving of daily dress fabric. The jainsem — the distinctive Khasi women formal dress of two panels draped without stitching — is woven on backstrap looms with cotton stripe patterns specific to different Khasi clan areas. Cooperative weaving societies in Shillong and surrounding villages market Khasi cloth and eri silk to government emporiums and urban buyers. Eri silk is promoted as a peace silk since the moth is not killed in cocoon reeling. Shillong also produces Nongpoh pineapple, lakadong turmeric, and Garo cotton alongside the Khasi Hills textile economy.