Maheshwari Sarees

Maheshwari Sarees
Photo by D Chandresh [CC BY-SA 3.0]

Although the city of Maheshwar in Madhya Pradesh is much older, Maheshwari sarees do not go further back than 1765 when Ahilya Bai Holkar made it her capital, and reportedly brought over weavers from Hyderabad, Gujarat and Rajasthan whom she proceeded to patronise.

Although the earlier Maheshwari sarees are believed to have been made of silk, weavers in Maheshwar began making almost diaphanous sarees of silk, silk-cotton and cotton using designs from the fort at Maheshwar as inspiration. These designs continue to be the mainstay of Maheshwari sarees today; the sarees are marked by usually geometrical borders which are reversible and which tend to be about 2 inches wide.

Golden, silver and copper zari is often used on the borders of these sarees (although golden zari predominates), and the end-pieces of the sarees are separately woven. The designs along the borders of the sarees are woven using supplementary warp threads, and contemporary Maheshwati sarees often feature either butis or prints. The prints are often Bagh or Dabu prints which, at first glance, give the appearance of block prints.