Tangaliya is a 700 year old handwoven craft from the Saurashtra region of Surendernagar, Gujarat. It is a distinguished weaving teachnique which follows the traditional methods carried by generations. Origin of Tangaliya can be traced back to 14th century when a man from Bharwad community fell in love with a girl from Vankar caste. Despite the opposition from both sides, they got married. So, the families asked the couple to leave the village. The village elders gave them a wooden stick and decided that they will weave products and sell them to the Bharwad community to earn a living. In the local dialect, dang means wooden and sia means to go and so their children were called Dangasia. The couple settled outside the border of the two villages where their children began the exquisite technique of dana weaving.

The motif vocabulary of Daana weaving mainly constitutes of the elements present in the community’s environment. Some prominent designs are Ramraj, Dhunslu, Lobdi, Gadia, and Charmalia and motifs include peacock (mor), plant (jhaad), Naughara, etc. Earlier coarse sheep wool obtained from Bharwads was used to make a shawl or wraparound skirt (chaniya) for Bharwad women (shepherd community). Due to small looms, the skirt was woven as two pieces and stitched together. Traditionally, white and maroon colored dots were common on wollen shawls of black base. By the early years of 21st century, Tangaliya was on the verge of extinction. But, with the advent of use of materials cotton and silk to create products like sarees, the number of weaver families increased from 10 in 2005 to 100 in 2021. Furthermore, reception of GI tag in 2009 helped this craft to grow further.