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...