Kasuti Embroidery

Kasuti-embroidered Dharwar Cotton Saree

Kasuti embroidery is a form of generally-reversible embroidery which is native to the Dharwar region of Karnataka. The embroidery is traditionally executed by counting the threads of the warp and the weft, without the designs being outlined on to the fabric, and is believed to have developed during the time of the Chalukya dynasty between the 6^th and 12^th centuries.

The origins of Kasuti embroidery are far from clear though. Similar embroidery appears to have been executed in Egypt from where it may have spread both to Western Europe and to India in the East. Within India, Kasuti could be considered to be a variant of Kashida embroidery seen in the country's North; it may have come to Karnataka through the Lambini tribe which is believed to have migrated to Karnataka via Gujarat from Rajasthan.

There are four kinds of stitches which are generally used in Kasuti embroidery: (1) Gavanthi or Gaunti which is a running stitch rather like the Elizabethan Holbein stitch, (2) Muragi which is a zigzag stitch, (3) Menthe, which means fenugreek in Kannada, and is for all practical purposes, cross stitch that's used to fill in motifs, and (4) Negi which gives the impression of threads having been woven into the cloth.

The motifs themselves are often temple-based such as those of the tulsi plant and temple doorways, although elephants, palanquins, flowers, peacocks and vines are often embroidered. The most dense embroidery tends to be above the end-piece of the saree (and is called bugadi), from where it may peter out into butis on the main body of the saree.

Ilkal sarees (from Karnataka) worn
by women from Southern Maharashtra.

The sarees themselves are usually Ilkal sarees although Kasuti embroidery may also be executed on Dharwar sarees. Ilkal sarees, produced locally, tend to be have bodies in deep colours with white stripes on the end-piece and borders (of 2.5 to 4 inches) in which red dominates. The stripes of the end-piece may be woven in solid colours (and referred to as tope seragu) or contain wavy designs (in which case, they are referred to as tope teni seragu). Dharwar sarees (notably made in Banahatti in the area), on the other hand, do not generally have such white stripes, although they are also often in deep colours.

The word 'Kasuti' can literally be broken up to mean Kai-Suti or hand-cotton. However, the embroidery is not necessarily in cotton, and may be executed using threads from the saree itself, possibly in silk, ensuring that the colours of the embroidery blend into those of the saree (though not so completely that the embroidery is invisible: both Dharwar and Ilkal sarees may use different colours for the warp and the weft).