How A Sikkim Village Is Crafting Handmade Paper The Old Egyptian Way

Next time you are in Sikkim, you must take time out to visit the small handmade paper unit in Borong village. About 17km from Ravangla town, it is housed on the premises of the Wildflower Retreat. Established in 2003, the Borong-Polok Handmade Paper Unit is a successful venture by the Sikkim Development Foundation with equity capital and local household participation.

Handmade paper is a centuries-old tradition in India, dating back to the 3rd century BC when it was an important tool to communicate information. Because of the exceptional benefits of the product, papermaking processes were generally kept secret. Archaeological finds show that handmade paper has been used to write Buddhist literature for over a thousand years. This art has been passed down from generation to generation.

A Handmade Paper Unit In Borong

This village cooperative produces handcrafted paper products. About 17km from Ravangla town in South Sikkim, it is housed on the premises of the Wildflower Retreat. Established in 2003, the Borong-Polok Handmade Paper Unit is a successful venture by the Sikkim Development Foundation with equity capital and local household participation. The paper produced is of different grades and gets exported to places like Singapore, Bangkok, and Thailand.

You can ask for a guided tour of the unit. The women working here use the ancient technique of paper making using the bark of the papyrus tree, which is scaled off, pulped down to make a paste with water, and then put through a sieve. The resulting paper is textured and superfine.

Unlike other handmade paper units that use dung or textile waste, the Borung-Polok unit follows the Himalayan tradition by employing a locally growing plant known as argali or Edgeworthia gardneri. It is a flowering shrub in the Thymelaeaceae family. Many argali plants grow along the path between the Ralong monastery and Borong, where the handmade paper production facility is located. The paper created from the large plant in Sikkim is covered with mucilage or slime from the okra plant and another plant called Chipley. This is unlike the process followed in most other papermaking methods, where each sheet cut from the pulp is layered in between with a muslin fabric to prevent them from clinging to each other. The individual sheets are then pasted on separate trays and dried. The paper has incredible resilience, absorbency, and texture.

They use the papyracea plant's inner bark to make paper. The paper is durable and resistant to insects. Its longevity makes it ideal for preserving important written words, and monasteries in the state still use it for sacred texts. Paper has been made from this tree species for more than 1,000 years.

The beautiful transparent quality of argali paper distinguishes it. Because of its smoothness on both sides and lightweight, paper created in this manner was utilised for manuscripts and official documents. The paper produced is of different grades and is exported to places like Singapore, Bangkok, and Thailand.

The unit has a small showroom in the front where you can pick up the handmade sheets in their natural state, in different colours and patterns. These make for excellent gifts. They also make notebooks out of paper, envelopes, lampshades and paper figures. Waste pulp and paper are made into paper birds, nests, or even abstract art decor items. 

How To Reach Borong Village

Borong village is about 17km by road from Sikkim's popular tourist destination, Ravangla, and about 70km from the state capital, Gangtok. The Borong-Polok Handmade Paper Unit is located within Wildflower Retreat, a mountain resort.