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The weaving of home made cotton items which was flourishing earlier in the Kandy District , today it is confined to only one solitary village, Talagune in the Udu Dumbara District . About 10 to 12 families resident here for generation have produced eye-cating traditional motives .The items produced include wall hangings,cusion covers bags other utility items.cotton weavers of Talagune is the sole custodians of ancient craft

Little is it known that the weaving of traditional homemade cottons once widely prevalent in the Kandyan vicinity . For generations weavers turned out beautiful cottons adorned with traditional motifs known as Dumbararata captivate the hearts of not only of Sri Lankans but also foreigners. Wall hangings, cushion covers and bags are the items that are made according to age-old methods. Younger generations have acquired this skill and they are moving towards modern and colourful designs which are likely to have demand in the days to come.

The weavers of Talagune trace their origins to Rakshagoda, the very place where the legendary Kuveni who espoused Prince Vijaya lived. According to historical Mahavamsa Kuveni when first seen by one of Vijaya's followers was spinning like a woman hermit and it is only natural to suppose that the art of weaving should somehow be connected to her. A thriving industry is believed to have flourished here before it gradually spread to the other areas in the days of the Sinhala kings.Now the art is only survive in Talagune..

Ananda Coomaraswamy in his monumental work Mediaeval Sinhalese Art (1908) observed nearly a hundred years ago that the weaving of homespun cotton cloth once universal in the Kandyan provinces was only done at Talagune, and perhaps occasionally near Vellassa in Uva and not long ago in Balangoda. The industry still flourishes a little; two families have looms, and a number of the village lasses are skilled in spinning".

. Little has changed since the days of the great scholar and even today one finds that the women here play a very active role in the industry, though the men too are involved in it in a big way by providing to exclusive outlets in Colombo .

Although the villagers today procure their cotton from outside sources, it appears that in the olden days they grew their own cotton trees. 'Kappili Tenne Hena'the village not far from where these families reside clearly proves this. .

Dyeing of the thread too seems to have been done by the villagers using natural dyes obtained from the bark and leaves of trees. best described as a 'Dumbara loom'. The patterns include the designs from fauna & these designs have undergone some modification with time.

The colours are strictly in keeping with tradition and are not very varied, being either red, orange or black and white.

Weavers tend to change into much more modern designs which have already earned them considerable orders.