This is truly an amazing wheel, not only for the way it looks, its compact size and the fact it is from India, but because it has a history that helped force political change in India.

Indians were working hard to produce cotton, only to see it shipped off to England to be spun and then made into cloth. The British sent the cloth back to India to be sold at a price most Indians could not afford. In their drive for independence, Mahatma Ghandi was looking for a way to impress on the British that exploitation through cotton would not go unchallenged. So he suggested a competition for the Indian people - develop a spinning wheel that every Indian could afford, a wheel that would be compact enough to fit in every home and also portable so it could be taken everywhere a person might travel. Ghandi encouraged everyone to sit down and spin when they had a free moment and he would do so himself as often as he could. This spinning would be done in public and hopefully in the presence of the British.

The Charkha (charkha means wheel) shown above won this competition and helped in the fight for independence. It is still used in India today.

The Indian Charkha is made of teak, finished and ready to use. It includes 3 spindles, a rudimentary skein winder and instructions. It is designed for spinning fine fibers such as cotton, silk, angora, cashmere, etc. into fine yarns. Ratio approximately 100:1