Karur weaver creates Thirukkural edition on handwoven cotton pages

A powerloom weaver from Karur district in Tamil Nadu has created a 133-page edition of the Thirukkural with its Tamil couplets printed on cotton fabric. R. Prabhu of Elavanur spent four months designing and making the one-foot-by-one-foot book.

He previously wove an image of Thiruvalluvar on cotton and decided to develop a complete fabric version of the classical work. Instead of buying cloth, Prabhu produced the material on his powerloom. He then cut it into pages and used manual screen printing to place the couplets on the fabric.

The finished book has a leather cover. Each page contains 10 couplets from a chapter of the Thirukkural, according to Prabhu. He said three copies had been completed, while seven more were ready to be bound.

The cost of producing one book was close to ₹25,000. Prabhu said the expense could be reduced for future orders, suggesting that the initial copies involved the costs of developing the unusual format. Prabhu said he had been weaving since childhood, following the occupation of his grandfather and father.

He described the book as part of his effort to create new products and explore different uses of textiles. He hopes to present a copy to Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay and is seeking orders for textiles designed as distinctive gifts.

The project combines traditional textile production with a literary work in Tamil. Its pages are not conventional paper: the fabric was woven, cut, printed and bound as a book. The source material does not state whether the edition has been formally exhibited, published commercially or submitted for recognition.

It records Prabhu’s account of the production process, the number of copies made or prepared, and his plans to pursue future orders using creative textile designs.