Though silk-weaving is rare, the manufacture of cotton cloths is largely carried on. Almost every other village in the plains contains a few weavers, and a fair number of them
possess a large contingent. In Rajahmundry some 400 house-holds are so employed, in Jagannapéta (Nagaram taluk) 300, and in Tuni, Peddápuram, Bandárulanka (Amalápuram), Uppáda and Kottapalli (Pithápuram division) about 200 households. Four other villages each contain 100 weavers; and in about twenty other places the number of the craft is considerable. In the days of the East India Company, the exportation of cloth from the district was very large. Some seven lakhs of rupees were paid annually by the Company for local fabrics, and in some years the figure rose above ten lakhs, and in one year touched fourteen. The abolition of the Company's cloth trade had a most prejudicial effect on the weaving industry, and so on the prosperity of the district as a whole. The value of the piece-goods exported in 1825-26 was over fourteen lakhs; in 1842-43 it was less than two. In the import of cotton fabrics from Europe which followed, Gódávari shared to a much less extent than some other districts. English calicoes and longcloths are not now more popular there than the country fabrics, nor cheaper, and the use of them is very limited.
Most of the locally-woven cloths are white, and a visitor from the south cannot fail to be struck with the rarity of colour in the dress of the women. The men's cloths are often red, but the dye is applied after, and not before, the weaving. Of recent years the manufacture of coloured cotton tartans (lungis) for Muhammadans has been taken up by some of the weavers in a few centres. The white cloths worn by the women sometimes have coloured borders, but these are generally of the simplest kinds. They are very rarely of silk, but not uncommonly of 'lace,' that is, gold or silver thread; and the borders at the ends are sometimes embroidered with simple patterns in lace. This class of work is done at Uppáda, Kottapalli and Múlapéta in Pithápuram, at Totaramudi in Amalápuram and by a few weavers in Tuni and Rajahmundry.
The texture of the local work is often exceedingly fine. In Kottapalli and Múlapéta the weavers use counts as high as 200s, and 100s, 130s and 150s are employed in a good many places. The Kottapalli and Múlapéta fabrics are locally called Uppáda cloths, and under that name are well known as far south as Tanjore, and are said to be sent even to Calcutta and Bombay. Their prices run up to Rs. 10.
