Karur Weaver Creates 133-Page Thirukkural Book On Cotton Fabric

R. Prabhu, a powerloom weaver from Elavanur in Karur district, has created a 133-page Thirukkural book by printing Tamil couplets on white cotton fabric after four months of work.

A fabric book built page by page

The one-foot-by-one-foot book is unusual because its pages are made of fabric rather than paper.

Mr. Prabhu told The Hindu that the project took him four months to design and complete.

He said he had earlier woven an image of Thiruvalluvar on cotton fabric, which led him to attempt a Thirukkural book in fabric.

Instead of buying fabric from the market, Mr. Prabhu chose to weave the cloth on his own powerloom.

The woven cloth was then cut into pages, and the Tamil couplets were printed on them through manual screen printing.

The completed book was bound with a leather cover.

Pure cotton yarn and manual printing

“I used pure cotton yarn to weave the fabric and cut it into pages,” Mr. Prabhu said.

He said each page carries 10 couplets of each chapter of the Thirukkural.

According to him, three books have been made, while seven more are ready for binding.

Mr. Prabhu said the cost of making one book was close to ₹25,000.

“But this is the first such attempt, and the cost can be reduced for future orders,” he said.

A weaver’s search for new ideas

Mr. Prabhu said weaving has been part of his life since childhood because his grandfather and father were also weavers.

“I want to create new products and try out various ideas,” he said, explaining why he came out with the fabric book.

He now wants to gift a copy to Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay.

He also wants to take orders for using textiles creatively as gifting options.

The report was published on September 29, 2026, at 04:16 pm IST.

Source: The Hindu