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Narayanpet Saree Now in Telangana, Narayanpet is a town which, till quite recently, lay in Andhra Pradesh near the Karnataka border. It is believed that its tradition of weaving arose sometime in the 17th century: Maharashtra's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj is reputed to have brought some Maharashtrian weavers to Narayanpet, who brought with them a tradition of weaving Narayanpeth sarees. Today, Narayanpeth sarees from Maharashtra are all but indistinguishable from the Narayanpet sarees of Andhra Pradesh. Contemporary Narayanpet sarees may be woven in silk, cotton, or silk-cotton. They have borders of between 3 and 5.5 inches which run along both sides of each saree, and endpieces which are about 60 cm long and tend to feature simple striped designs. The borders, which usually have zari 'ribbons' woven into them, are of equal breadth on both sides, feature a small temple design (especially when the sarees are woven in silk), and contrast with the colour of the (often c...

End-piece of a Paithani Saree Paithani sarees are originally from Paithan near Aurangabad in Maharashtra although they are now also woven in Yeola, Maharashtra. In addition to this, Paithani-type sarees are often made in Gadwal, Andhra Pradesh. The city of Paithan itself is ancient; once called Prathisthan, it was one of the cities from which the Satavahana dynasty ruled some two thousand years ago. The other cities in which this dynasty was based were Dharanikota and Amaravati in Andhra Pradesh as well as Junnar near Pune in Maharashtra. There are tales that King Shalivahana (c. 78–102 CE) of the Satavahana dynasty patronised the Paithani saree which could potentially explain how similar sarees are made in both Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh although there doesn’t appear to be any concrete evidence to support this theory. What is reasonably clear is that the sarees have been woven for centuries; that they were the attire of royalty is supported by documentation particularly of ...

Narayanpeth sarees are primarily made in Yeola (which is in Maharashtra’s in Nasik district) of thin silk material. The borders are woven in colours which contrast with the main body of the saree, and they typically have sawtooth designs referred to as 'karvatikath'; 'karvat' means ‘saw’ in Marathi. There are no limitations as such when it comes to colour, and no colour seems to dominate either. The body is traditionally plain although contemporary sarees may have some designs. The endpiece of Narayanpeth sarees isn’t heavy either in terms of design or zari, and often has stripes. Tassels may be used on the endpiece but aren't characteristic of the sarees. Typical Narayanpeth Saree design by Vijaya Dandekar This kind of design can be in other sarees too but the design matched with the other characteristics is a sign that a saree is a Narayanpeth saree. (The information in this post is from Vijaya Dandekar who's also sketched the designs used. A...

Poona sarees are usually fine cotton or silk sarees in a solid colour with a contrasting border. The sarees may or may not have zari and, if they're cotton, they can cost anything from 200 INR to about 4500 INR (as of 2015). The more expensive sarees are often white or off-white with a zari-filled border. The colours used include green, pink, mauve, beige, orange, blue, grey and black although the combinations of colours are not entirely random. Blue and black, for example, a combination often seen in sarees from East India, is apparently never used in Poona sarees – I’m basing this on being told by several shops which sell Poona sarees in its old city that this particular combination is not used. (I’m enamoured of the combination myself, and specifically went looking for a black Pune saree with a copper sulphate border on my last saree trawling trip to the old city.) Apart from a solid body, the sarees may also have checks in the main body, often of the ‘baby checks’ kind wit...