Garo traditional dress ‘Dakmanda’ dissipating in Tangail

In the Garo language, the word ‘Dak’ means body and ‘Manda’ means cloth or sari. ‘ Dakmanda’ was originated from the combination of these two words.

This is not just an ordinary dress made of yarn and color; it is the identity of Garo women who grew up in the lap of the Shalbans of Madhupur, Ghatail and Sakhipur in Tangail – a living canvas of thousands of years of culture and ethnic heritage.

Once upon a time, women used to appear in the joy and excitement of Garo social festivals, weddings or Wangala wearing Dakmandas of the same color.

As the atmosphere of the festival was enhanced by the same color, it also proudly announced the presence of their own culture.

However, due to the evolution of time, the intense influence of modernity and the lack of proper preservation, this traditional Garo dress and mother tongue is suffering from an extreme existential crisis today. It has been found that making a Dakmanda is not an easy task at all.

It requires perfect weaving, extreme patience and a long time to make it. Garo women weave this dress at home with the help of their own technical knowledge, using an original wooden loom (konk).

Its main feature is the diverse designs of its border and the work of various colored yarn.

The weaving of various flowers, vines, leaves and geometric designs brings out the natural form of the mountains.

It takes a craftsman one to two weeks to make a Dakmanda with an attractive and heavy design, and even up to a month if the design is complex.

Compared to the amount of physical labor that is required to make this completely hand-woven dress, the cost behind it is also much higher.

Currently, the prices of yarn, colors and materials for making looms have increased several times in the market.

As a result, the production cost of making a good quality Dakmanda has increased, and its retail market price has also gone beyond the reach of the common man.

Currently, a normal quality Dakmanda is sold for 500 to 4 thousand taka in the market, while expensive Dakmandas with attractive designs are sold for 10 to 15 thousand taka or more.

However, since a large part of the Garo population in the remote areas of Madhupur, Ghatail and Sakhipur in Tangail are low-income, it is not possible for them to buy this high-priced garment regularly.

Just as the craftsmen of this garment are facing losses due to middlemen, this traditional garment is also being beaten by the ease of availability and low prices of modern fabrics.

A visit to the traditional Gaira area of Madhupur upazila of Tangail shows that despite the various pressures of modern civilization, some people are still clinging to their old culture.

Even while working in the fields in the scorching sun, many Garo women wear this Dakmanda of their own culture with great ease.

That’s where we spoke to Bappi Bedulkar, a Garo teenager from the Gaira area. Bappi’s eyes were filled with immense love for her community.

For her, this Dakmanda is not just a covering to cover her body but also an absolute symbol of her community’s identity, her own culture and tradition.

Bappi and her peers lamented that this traditional dress and their mother tongue are slowly disappearing from society due to the invasion of modernity.

They said, ‘Dakmanda is our traditional dress. It has to be worn in a single layer. We have learned to wear it by watching our mothers and grandmothers (grandmothers) since childhood.

We love wearing it.’ Describing the usefulness of this dress in work, they further said, ‘The dress blends and adapts to the body in such a way that there is no difficulty in doing difficult work in the field or daily household chores.

There is never any discomfort when a bride is wearing any dress.

However, the path to the survival of this glorious tradition is no longer smooth. The reluctance of a section of the youth of the present era and the neglectful attitude of the outside society are cornering it.