‘Khadi’ is a word derived from the word Khaddar stands for hand spun cloth.
During India’s freedom struggle Gandhi urged people to boycott foreign goods and spin their own cloth. Through the making of khadi he wanted the people of India to be self-reliant. He also aimed at reviving the cloth making tradition of India which had declined due to the British rule.
To popularise Khadi, Gandhi got a few handlooms installed in the Sabarmati Ashram and got one weaving expert from Palanpur to teach the people how to weave.
Maganlal Gandhi mastered the art and soon one after another several new weavers were trained in the Ashram.
The objective was that they should be able to clothe themselves entirely in cloth manufactured by their own hands and completely discard the use of mill-woven cloth.
The adoption of this practice brought a world of experience. It enabled Gandhi to know, from direct contact, the conditions of life among the weavers, the extent of their production, the handicaps in the way of their obtaining their yarn supply, the way in which they were being made victims of fraud, and, lastly, their ever growing indebtedness.
As the freedom movement progressed the cloth became popular all over India.
