Saree Search

  Banned a few decades ago, Dhebaria Rabari embroidery has seen a resurgence in recent years. Styles are simpler, the essence remains.  The ban had been imposed because the embroidery, part of a woman's trousseau, had become so intricate that weddings were often delayed. Apparently, women also sometimes used the embroidery to delay early marriage; a form of resistance implemented by taking years to complete their embroidery. The community, traditionally nomadic, has lived in the deserts of Western India for centuries. The Kairi, a raw mango, the central motif here, stands alone signifying auspiciousness and fertility. The tip may invoke a bud through Persian influences symbolizing endurance, bending but not breaking, in the desert’s harshness. The Kairi is placed in an explosive layout from which rays emanate, placing the woman who wears the garment, a saree in this case, in the role of one who brings abundance and sustains the family. Although they are reminiscent of the sun,...

  Madhubani art, traditionally painted by women in the Mithila region primarily in Bihar on the walls of their homes, is characterised by horror vacui; every square inch of the ‘canvas’ is filled. Large motifs are surrounded by smaller ones, each one of them meaningful.  Contemporary Madhubani art has moved from being restricted to domestic murals to becoming corporate art and, often enough, saree embellishment whether printed or painted. The women at the borders of this image on a Tussar saree represent the vitality of the community, and the preservation of cultural heritage. A peacock, possibly the vehicle of Saraswati, the Goddess of Learning, is its heart; although Her vehicle is usually a swan or goose, in some Eastern traditions, it may be a peacock. However, the art isn't limited to just one peacock; the central motif is hemmed in by other peacocks towards the bottom of the piece representing the dance of life.  Goddess Saraswati is, in Devi Bhagavata Purana and Va...

Traditionally, these artistic sarees weren't sold, they were often women's dreams and diaries, although the art form can be bought easily nowadays. The birds represented freedom, parrots were associated with (secret) love, roosters (and hens) with domestic abundance, and peacocks with royalty. White was purity, terracotta strength, and green, nature; the tree of life. The flowering vines, the interconnectedness of life, the fence a border (protection or prison, depending on one's perspective), and running stitch, the constant reliable flow of a river's waters. The bird's eyes were often sewed on last, bringing the birds to life, just as idols are often animated.  Read a Nakshi Kantha correctly, and you'll probably learn more about the embroiderer than you would through hours of conversation with her.  And these diaries, they're safe — they're devoid of meaning to most. Reading specifically into this kantha motif of paired birds drawn from a verse in the ...

  Gara sarees are Parsi sarees; they're often referred to as embroidered paintings. For the most part, they feature traditional motifs embroidered using silk thread usually on georgette or crepe silk. A single saree can take months to make although the making of Gara sarees is very much a living tradition. There have been experiments with weaving Gara-inspired designs into Banarasi sarees, for example.  The saree photographed here is a new-fangled Parsi gara combining Persian, Indian, and Chinese influences, as such sarees always do. It was acquired not at a dedicated saree shop but at a tiny all-things-Parsi place which I visited along with a lady who made life seem so much better just by her having been part of it. She'd come down to Pune, where I was at the time, just for a day and I've kept the saree because the memory of that evening is one I treasure.  The shop was overseen by a gentleman who (not too surprisingly) spoke about the materials used and the man-hours th...

Cotton Chettinad Saree Chettinad is an area in Tamil Nadu comprising about 70 villages which the Nattukottai Chettiars (also known as the Nagarathar community) call their home. They are a business community believed to have shifted to the Kaveripoompattinam port area (from Kanchipuram) during the reign of the Cholas (which belief is supported by the Tamil epic Silappathikaram ), and tales of their maritime trade go as far back as the 8th century although it isn't at all clear whether the tales are true. What is well established is that by the 17th century, the Nattukottai Chettiars were trading in salt and, by the 18th century, many of them had immigrated to Burma and Ceylon where they acted as moneylenders. It is with the Nagarathar community that Chettinad or Chettinadu sarees, also known as kandaangi , earlier often in silk, are associated. They are primarily woven in Karaikudi in cotton using pit looms. The colours tend to be bold and earthy with green, mustard, and r...

End-piece of a cotton Telia Rumal saree The Telia Rumal is the precursor of Pochampally Ikat which is woven in what was earlier Andhra Pradesh (although, after the state was split, the main weaving centres have found themselves in the newly-created state of Telangana). Sized between 55 and 75 square cm, the Rumals or Chowkas featuring diamonds within squares were initially woven in 19th century Chirala (still in Andhra Pradesh) and used by fishermen and cowherds in their attire. By the 1930s, they were exported to the Middle East, Burma, and East Africa where they were used as headgear, and, soon after in the 1950s, their patterns were adopted in sarees at the suggestion of Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay who was the chairperson of the All India Handicrafts Board at the time. A quarter of a century later, in the 1970s, a weaver named Gajam Govardhana from Puttapaka, Nalgonda, visited Chirala and learnt how to make the Telia Rumal. It was through him that the technique of weaving the...