Honorary doctorate to Indian weaver for depicting Ramayana on sari

Krishnagar: Little did Biren Kumar Basak of Nadia district imagine that his intricate artwork depicting seven episodes of Ramayana on a six-yard sari could get him an honorary doctorate from a UK-based university after two long decades. Basak, a handloom weaver from Fulia in Nadia, was felicitated with Degree of Doctorate in Record Breaking (Honouris Causa) by UK s World Records University, an autonomous institute formed by the conglomeration of record books around the world. He received the honour last week at a function in New Delhi. The masterpiece, in Basak's word, took one year of planning and two years of weaving. It was completed in 1996. "This was the first sari with a storyline and was taken to London along with other saris for exhibition when the CM was touring England last year," Basak said. His six-yard wonder had earned him a National Award, National Merit Certificate Award, Sant Kabir Award and also found a mention in Limca Book of Records, Indian Book of Records and World Unique Records. Image: birenkumarbasak.com After getting to know about the sari featured in the Limca Book of Records in 2015, the World Records University had asked for a thesis on his work. "Ananda Modak, a teacher at a Fulia school, helped father translate his research work into English," Abhinaba, Basak s Son, said. Basak now plans to manufacture another masterpiece with snippets from Rabindranath Thakur s early life on it. "I have been collecting documents and information for a while, but photographs of Tagore's early life are rare to come by," he said. The Fulia-based weaver has also designed a sari on the state s government s Kanyashree scheme for rural girls and intends to gift it to chief minister Mamata Banerjee. Image: birenkumarbasak.com "I manufacture Dhakai Jamdani (sari variety) that range between Rs 10,000 and Rs 10 lakh. I plan to set up a museum to exhibit exceptional Jamdani saris," Basak added.