Aak (Calotropis gigantea), a plant found in dry and semi-arid regions, has traditionally been used to make ropes, charpoys, quilts, pillows and agricultural tools.
The Maru Meghwal community and farmers of western Rajasthan have preserved the indigenous craft of extracting and weaving fibre from aak bark for generations.
The traditional process involves drying the branches, removing the bark, soaking it in buttermilk and spinning it into threads of varying thicknesses.
Despite its cultural significance and practical uses, aak cultivation and traditional fibre-weaving skills are increasingly neglected.
Renewed demand for aak-based products could help preserve the craft while creating livelihood opportunities for desert communities.
The puranas say that when halahal emerged during the churning of the ocean and Lord Shiva swallowed it, holding it in his throat in perpetuity, a few drops of the poison fell on the earth. Some poisonous plants originated from these drops, one of them being aak (Calotropis gigantea).
Aak is found in dry, semi-arid, sandy and hot regions across the world, particularly in Africa and Asia. Aak is abundant in Oman, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the UAE. In the Hawaiian Islands, garlands made from aak flowers are quite popular. In India, aak is found in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. In the desert regions, the aak plant is truly life-giving. Besides being used in medicines, it is also used in making charpoys, dari, ropes, quilts, pillows, agricultural equipment and tools. Charpoys, dari and ropes are woven in colourful designs using threads prepared from the bark of aak branches, while pillows and quilts are prepared from the silk extracted from the aak fruit.
The Maru Meghwal community and farmers of western Rajasthan possess the remarkable art of preparing threads from the bark of aak branches, also called ankala, and have kept this skill and art alive for generations. They use local resources judiciously to beautify the desert and meet their needs. But while some farmers and weavers today are strug-gling to save this art, the cultivation of aak is suffering from complete neglect.
Madhu Singh Rathore of Shivkar, a social activist based in Barmer, a district in western Rajasthan, says that while cleaning their agricultural land, farmers cut the branches of aak plants growing in the fields and place them along the edges of the their holdings to create embankments or bunds. When the wood dries and becomes soft due to rain, its bark is removed after the branches turn black. According to Bhuraram, a farmer based in Aati village of Barmer, the bark is soaked in buttermilk, then twisted and beaten before being spun into threads. Using a local tool called dheri, the thread is spun and weaved into varying thicknesses—akodi, beodi and teodi—depending on the requirement. The lifespan of the aak plant is five to seven years. It begins to produce flowers and fruits within one year ...
This article was originally published in the October 1-15, 2026 print edition of Down To Earth