Saree Search

Patan Patola Saree at INA Metro Station, Delhi Gujarat's Patola sarees are known to be coveted: they are Ikat sarees woven in silk. The effort required to weave one of these sarees is apparently so much that weaving them in cotton (which doesn't last as long as silk) simply doesn't make sense. There are currently two kinds of Patola sarees available: the Patan Patola which is an expensive double Ikat weave, and the Rajkot Patola which is a comparatively accessible single Ikat weave. Patola sarees are reversible, and Patan Patola sarees are assumed to last for about three centuries. They are woven in the town of Patan which is believed to have been established around 745 AD by Vanraj Chavda. The sarees, however, began to be woven much later: it is said that Patola attire was originally woven in Jalna, Maharashtra, and imported from there. However, around 1175 AD, King Kumarpal from Gujarat (who wanted a new, unworn Patolu to wear each day for his daily worship) defeat...

Bandhani tie-and-dye saree (Photo: Mandayamr ) The earliest visual evidence of Bandhani or tie-and-dye patterning in India comes from paintings in the Ajanta caves which date to the 6th and 7th centuries while the earliest textual reference seems to be in Bana’s Harshacharita detailing the life of the 7th century King Harsh. Today, Bandhani is predominantly associated with Gujarat and Rajasthan, although it is also seen in South Indian Sungudi sarees. Fabric is dyed after ‘knots’ have been tied on it in often circular patterns typically associated with Bandhani possibly with the help of fingernails, beads, or grains – the use of nails is far more common in Rajasthan than in Gujarat. The motifs are usually tied onto the cloth using a simple cotton thread with one thread being used for a number of ‘knots’ (each of which is basically a bit of fabric pinched and tied so that when the cloth is later dyed, the parts of the fabric ‘protected’ by the tied thread remain undyed, reveali...