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The famous Dumbara mats were sought by high Sri Lankan society few years back. With the increasing trend for machine made goods the demand for arts and crafts tend to decline.

Today, there is an increasing trend in worldwide for eco friendly goods as result people gradually tend to go back to nature . Such a development will have a future for indigenous crafts such as the weaving of Dumbara mats which is unique to Sri Lanka.

Dumbara mats, also known as kalala are today produced in a solitary village known as Henavala in the Pata Dumbara Division of Kandy District. Village still carry out an age-old weaving process to produce the mats from the fiber of the hana (Crotalaria juncea).

Ananda Coomaraswamy's “ Medieaval Sinhalese Art” published in 1908 indicates that the Dumbara mats were made from the niyanda or bowstring hemp (Sansevieria zeylanica) This is no longer prevalent due to the scarcity of the plant and insufficient fibre for large-scale manufacture.

It appears that the shift from niyanda to hana was beginning to take place At present weavers purchase leaves from growers of some 30-40 miles away.

The leaves are scraped against a log with a sharp implement and this removes the fleshy part of the leaf leaving behind the fiber. The fiber is then dyed with natural dyes obtained from plants such as patangi (Caesalpinia sappan) which yields a red dye, venivel (Coscinium fenestratum) which gives a yellow dye, katarolu (Clitorea terneata) which gives a purplish dye and bulu (Terminalia belerica) which yields a black dye when combined with certain chemical agents known as mordents.

The loom used to weave the final product somewhat resembles the old looms used in cotton weaving, though it is a much more simple contrivance. The weaving itself appears to be a time-consuming process and needs a lot of skill and patience.

The final product fetches a fair price. The Dumbara mats produced here are however strictly speaking not mats in the conventional sense as they are not meant for sit, but rather in the form of wall hangings. These wall hangings come in a variety of colours and designs with motifs of flowers and various fauna and flora. Dumbara weavers also produce colourful women's handbags letter holders of various shapes and sizes.