Koraput: Natural way is the best way to go. And this is true of the dyes that colour your clothes as well.

Working on this principle, the mirigan community of Kotpad, situated at a distance of about 70 kilometres from here in the district, prepare dyes from naturally available items and design khadi garments from them.

They do not use any synthetic or artificial dyes. Still they manage to colour their garments in a bright and attractive manner.

They prepare colours by mixing the strangest of things - castor oil, iron dust, ash, cow-dung and the root of a plant called "aal".

"We do not use dyes available in the market to colour our clothes. We make dyes from natural items and these are long-lasting and do not fade even after several washes," said Bidyadhar Mohanta, a weaver of the community, who has been in the profession for the past 25 years.

Mohanta said they mixed cow dung with castor oil to get maroon dye, iron dust is mixed with "harada" (a small round fruit, brownish in colour) and the powder made from the root of "aal" tree to make black colour, and molasses are mixed with iron dust and the plant powder to create coffee dye.

Once the dyes are prepared, white khadi thread is dipped in water in which the colours have been mixed and then dried in the sun. The process of changing the colour of the thread takes at least 15 days. Once the thread has been coloured, it is woven in the handloom to prepare the cloth," said Somrath, another weaver.

They colour saris, women's dresses, towels, curtains and several other items through this process.

"It takes 15 to 20 days to make a garment. Though our products are costly because of the intensive manual labour involved, they have a great demand because the colours are long-lasting and natural," said Somrath.

This year, Gobardhan Panika, 66, of the community received the Padma Shri award for preserving and popularising the age-old art.

However, people of the younger generation in the community are reluctant to adopt the profession as they feel that the government is not doing enough to market their products.

"Earlier, there were more than 100 weavers in the town. But, today they are just 25. Youngsters are reluctant to take up the profession. Instead, they migrate to other areas in search of better livelihood. If the government comes up with proper marketing of our products, it art can provide ample livelihood options to the younger people of our area as well," said Panika.