Sungudi Sarees

Sungudi Saree

In the 17^th century, King Thirumalai Nayak of Madurai is believed to have supported the artisans who introduced Sungudi or Chungidi sarees to Madurai and who had apparently migrated from Gujarat and Saurashtra. These sarees begin as unbleached cotton sarees upon which markings are made, possibly square or circular ringed dots, often to form the kind of designs which may be seen in rangoli.

If the markings on the sarees are made with resist, the sarees may then be dyed directly. More commonly, however, once marked, each mark is tied with thread to enable to tied portion of fabric to later resist being dyed.

Sarees can have up to twenty thousand marks or puttas which need to be tied before they are dyed; once dyed, the thread is removed, and the parts of the fabric protected by thread appear as white dots against a dark background. Traditionally, the colours red, green, and orange were primarily used but, with the introduction of chemical dyes, there are no restrictions as such on colour.

The whole of a Sungudi saree is not of the same colour though; borders and end-pieces are typically in a colour which contrasts with the main body of the saree. And the borders often feature a zari pattern with supplementary warp threads. That said, modern sarees may feature a variety of patterns and motifs including those of flowers and peacocks which leave them bearing little resemblance at first glance to the Sungudi sarees of yore.