Z is for ... Zenith

 

All this month I am writing about our amazing Indian handlooms, a quick but captivating dive into the saree specifically, a garment worn by Indians for five millennia. Come with me into the magnificent, complex and utterly fascinating world of fibre and yarn, of skills and techniques of dyeing and printing and embroidery, traditions unchanged for centuries. Of sumptuous finished fabrics that not only make a fashion statement, but also constitute our cultural heritage and political identity.

Z is for Zari

Zari woven motif.

It is not known when exactly humans discovered gold, but this shining metal has been prized for its decorative properties from prehistorical times. The earliest known use of gold is by the Egyptians in the fourth millennium BCE, where it was used mainly for jewellery and ornamentation.

In India, the Rig Veda (1500 BCE) mentions Hiranya Vastra or cloth of gold, the Ramayana (500 BCE) mentions, among other things – Rama’s gold studded footwear (also a feature of the grave goods of some Egyptian Pharaohs and/or their consorts) and Sita's jewellery and garments. The Manusmriti (200 BCE) depicts Kuvera, the god of wealth, in golden garments and possessing untold amounts of the metal.

The World Gold Council estimates that Indian women hold around 11% of the worldwide gold reserves, mostly in the form of jewellery, about 24,000 MT. That's more gold than the reserves of USA, Germany and Switzerland combined. No Indian wedding is complete without some gift of gold and bridal gold-worked sarees. It’s utterly baffling when you compare the per capita GDP of the countries involved. Just saying.  In short, Indian culture has a very deep history of being disproportionately fascinated with gold. Given this background, it is not at all surprising that gold (and also silver) have found their way into Indian textiles also. 

 

Benarasi Tanchoi weave. 

Zari is basically gold or metallic yarn used for embellishing textiles and Zardosi is gold embroidery. Pure zari is made by wrapping silver on a core silk yarn and gilding with gold. In modern times the silver has been replaced by copper due to cost considerations.  Half fine zari uses a copper wire electroplated with silver then further gilded with gold. Tested zari is made by using a copper-silver alloy core wire which is then gilded with gold. There's imitation zari also, basically coating threads with gold coloured powders. Fast zari is made from copper with minute amounts of silver, no gold involved. Pure zari does not lose its shine. Half fine zari retains its shine longer than tested zari. Imitation and fast zari lose their shine after a few washes only. 

The word  zari and the zardosi technique both came to India from Persia, first in the 2nd millennium BCE along the ancient silk routes. The art of zari flourished and reached its zenith under Mughal rule (1526-1857), especially under Akbar the Great (1542-1605), the third emperor of the dynasty. He brought in expert artisans from Persia and set up workshops around his empire to train local textile weavers. Except for Aurangzeb, all the subsequent rulers were great patrons of arts and culture, so textile weaving generally and zari woven Benarasis particularly reached a pinnacle during the Mughal period. Varanasi or Benaras which was a textile weaving centre for millennia, became famous for its zari worked brocades from the 16th century onwards. Of course these were restricted for the use of the elites only. The original motifs were dropped in favour of more floral and foliate Persian styles - these became an identifying characteristic of these weaves. 

Kadhua weave saree with close space floral/foliate or 'jangla' motif.

We've seen other zari worked traditional sarees : the Paithani yesterday, the Kanchipuram and the Chanderi earlier in this A-Z series. Today we'll take a look at the famous Benarasi weaves. 

Valkalam - a more recent weave of Benarasi. 

Benarasi can be classified into different groups  based on 1) the fabric (pure silk, called Katan in the trade, organza, georgette, etc., blended fabrics are a recent innovation) 2) the weaving style and motifs such as Jangla, Butidar, Tanchoi, Ektara, Valkalam, Kadhua, Phekwa, Meenakari etc. Read more about the history of Benarasi sarees in this article and see how a hand woven Benarasi saree is created in the video below:

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Did you know that while Varanasi (known as Kashi in antiquity) is the centre point of Benarasi weaves, the handloom Benarasi zone includes more than a million people in Jaunpur, Gorakhpur, Chandauli, Bhadohi and Azamgarh districts? 

Thank you for reading. A special vote of thanks to those who've supported this entire series. And many congrats to all A-Zers who've survived the challenge!

A-Z Challenge 2025 

Y is for ... Yonks ... n ... Yelllow

 

All this month I am writing about amazing Indian handlooms, a quick but captivating dive into the saree specifically, a garment worn by Indians for five millennia. Come with me into the magnificent, complex and utterly fascinating world of fibre and yarn, of skills and techniques of dyeing and printing and embroidery, traditions unchanged for centuries. Of sumptuous finished fabrics that not only make a fashion statement, but also constitute our cultural heritage and political identity.

Y is for Yarn

The spinning of yarn began long before recorded history. It is likely that the first yarns were used as humans gave up nomadism in favour of settled life and agriculture around 10,000 years ago. However, there is much uncertainty in the exact years when humans first started wearing clothes, and estimates range from 3 million years ago to 40,000 years ago. Incidentally, the oldest needles found so far have been dated to around 50,000 years ago. Just like the loom weights, the eyed needle is a crucial bit of archeological evidence of stitched stuff (and therefore yarn!) 

A study on human body lice, which are uniquely adapted to their specific environment and therefore cannot exist without the wearing of garments, dates clothing to around 170,000 years ago.  These would probably be animal skins of course, not woven fabric. But however fuzzy the timing may be, what all these findings show without a shred of doubt is that yarn - the product of twisting fibres together, has extremely ancient  roots indeed. Read more here.

The oldest archaeological evidence of weaving actually goes back to the Paleolithic (Stone Age), confirmed through a study done in the 1990s/2000. Clay imprints of woven textiles and the clothing depicted on Venus figurines were analysed and dated. Read more about this fascinating search for these 'soft technologies' employed by Paleolithic humans here  and here. 

The research shows that weaving was already happening some 28-30,000 years ago, and it was sophisticated enough that researchers felt textiles must have been woven for many years prior to get to that stage of advancement.

The actual extant evidence of woven textiles dates to around 5000 BCE - the most ancient ones found are linens from Egypt. Sericulture began in Neolithic China in the 4th millennium BCE. Textile evidence in India, at the Indus Valley Civilisation sites, also goes back to around 6000 years ago. As we've seen before early spindles predated the wheel by quite some time. 

The earliest spindles  were not much more than a piece of notched bone or a stick with a rock. The spinning wheel or 'charkha' was invented in somewhere in India and/or the Middle East between the 6th and 11th century. This then diffused along the ancient trade routes and each region modified the spinning wheel to suit the local fibres. With the Industrial Revolution, the Spinning Jenny was invented and spinning of yarns, which was a cottage scale manual activity all through the centuries, got progressively mechanised and commercialised from the 18th century onwards. 

Till about hundred years ago, all yarns were spun from natural fibres - cotton, silk, flax, jute, hemp and wool of various animals. In the last century or so, synthetic fibres were intoduced first nylon and then polyester which completely altered the textiles industry. Today there are many varieties of yarns produced across the world from natural and manmade fibres and also their blends. However, with greater consciousness about environmental impact of synthetic materials, there has been a growing demand for recyclable and biodegradable yarns. 

India is the second largest global producer of yarns, it produces cotton, cotton blends and manmade yarns in significant quantities. Recently bamboo silk and banana silk yarn have been introduced and are used for producing sarees. Jute sarees are also another new eco-friendly introduction. Read about the top yarn producers here. 

Y is for Yeola

Remember the Paithani? - the signature saree from Maharashtra.  It is one of the oldest recorded sarees - being woven in a town called Paithan dating back to the 400-300 BCE. At the time, the town was called Pratishthana and ruled by a dynasty known as the Satavahana.  Paithan is  one of the earliest silk saree weaving centres in India and sent this opulent real gold woven fabric to the Graeco-Roman world. Paithanis, like most other silk and gold luxury textiles, were reserved for the use of royalty and/or temple offerings only. These silk sarees are woven in the tapestry technique where the motifs seem to float on a dense golden background. 

With time empires rose and fell. Artisans migrated into the region and also left as capitals moved. The original Paithani weavers left Paithan and settled in Yeola sometime in the 17th century. Today the majority of the Paithani sarees are woven in Yeola on jacquard looms, though the original fully hand woven tapestry technique saree has been revived successfully in Paithan also.  Watch this video on the history of the Paithani saree below and read about the different types of Paithani sarees here. 

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Did you know that Indian textile artisans used a range of different materials to dye their yarns yellow? Turmeric, the yellow larkspur and pomegranate rinds are some plant materials which gave yellow dyes. Read more here. 

Thank you for reading. And happy last days of A-Zing to you if you are participating. 

A-Z Challenge 2025 

X is for ...Xrikey!! ... n ...Xood Xrief!! ... n... general Xemesis!!

 

All this month I am writing about Xquisite Indian handlooms, a quick but captivating dive into the saree specifically, a garment worn by Indians for five millennia. Come with me into the magnificent, complex and utterly fascinating world of fibre and yarn, of skills and techniques of dyeing and printing and embroidery, traditions unchanged for centuries. Of sumptuous finished fabrics that not only make a fashion statement, but also constitute our cultural heritage and political identity.

Spot the X

I'm going to Xtricate myself from the ghastly predicament that is X by clutching at whatever straws I can find with a mishmash of factoids and images. So here goes.

First things first - spot the Xs in these textiles hereunder:

Batik on Bishnupur silk saree.

Floral print on Tussar saree.

Warli block print detail on Tussar saree. The Warli 

are an indigenous tribe from Maharashtra, they 

decorate their mud walls with art using these stylised 

geometric motifs representing nature and humans.  

Look at the negative spaces in the aanchal!
Pochampally single ikat cotton saree.

Rudraksha border  on a silk ikat saree from Odisha.

X is for cultural Xchange

Indian textiles have been traded across the world and have influenced the fashions in Europe, Far East and America from ancient times onwards. However, trade is always a two way process. Over many centuries, Indian textiles themselves have also been cross-pollinated by cultural exchanges through trade and travel. Read about the broad influences of the outside world on Indian textiles here and then, consider the following:

• There's some evidence that the IVC had knowledge of wild silks, but that was lost when that Civilisation collapsed around 1500 - 1400 BCE. It is widely believed that sericulture (of mulberry silk) was introduced into India from China sometime in the 2nd/1st millennium BCE. 

• Persian influence on Indian textiles is massive and obvious. From brocade weaving (Benarasi) to textile motifs (buti/buta, shikargah) to actual words used for specific techniques (jamdani, chikankari)  show the myriad ways the Persian Empire impacted Indian textiles.

• Batik has come to India from Indonesia. In Santiniketan, Rabindranath Tagore brought back Batik pieces and had it introduced through the Arts School or Kala Bhavan of the Bishwa Bharati university he established. It combined there with  Bengal's unique aesthetics and motifs to form a genre of sarees/textiles by itself. 

• Indian Parsi (Zoroastrian refugees from Iran who fled to India from Iran in the 8th century) traders brought back exquisite, white-on-white embroidered Chinese fabrics in the 19th century, which the Parsi community ladies wore as sarees. This is how the 'Parsee Gara' embroidered saree has Chinese motifs. Due to the high demand for these sarees, a community of Chinese embroiderers came to settle in Gujarat, plied their trade and hawked their wares door-to-door in the affluent neighbourhoods of Bombay and other major cities in India. Read more about the Parsi Gara here and here.

• Delicate French lace found its way into Indian royal wardrobes in the late 19th/early 20th century as sarees for the royal ladies. By the 1960s/70s (machine-made)  lace sarees were popular enough to be recorded as a trend. Read more about that here. We've already seen how Marie Antoinette's chemise a la reine influenced Bengali ladies fashions. It was adapted to wear with the saree to cover the shoulders and upper body. Along with French lace, French chiffon sarees were also much prized after Indian royal princesses/queens  (remember Indira Devi? of Cooch Behar) and prominent elites wore them. 

• Incidentally, lace making was brought to India by European missionaries and nuns who came in after Vasco da Gama opened up the sea route to India in 1498. They taught lace making in their convents  to the women who lived in the surroundings, along with other European crochet and embroidery styles. These are collectively known as 'convent embroidery.' There is no systematic record of hand made lace or convent embroidery in India. However, lace edgings on Indian garments such as women's kurtas, dupattas and sarees, as well as saree blouses and petticoats are quite popular. The Bengali word for the petticoat is 'shaya,' derived from the Portuguese 'saiote' - another small mark of the European cultural exchange.

• Madras Checks are thought to have been influenced by the Scottish plaids in the 1800s after the British set up a trading post in Madras, though the fabrics themselves can be traced back to at least the 13th century. Read more about the Madras checks here. 

• British influence is of course not restricted to the Madras Checks alone. Victorian sensibilities of the 19th century fundamentally altered the way sarees were worn in India. The blouse and the petticoat were added to Indian women's wardrobes as bare bodied saree draping was not considered decent.

 

So there we have it - China, Indonesia, Persia, Portugal, France and finally Britain. I'm sure this is not Xhaustive though, there would be other cultures who've inspired/influenced the Indian textile industry lurking somewhere in the annals of history. But this is all there is time for today and I think it's more than sufficient to be getting along with. Gosh, am I glad that X situation's behind me now!

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Did you know that Xuan Zang, the Chinese monk, wrote about Indian textiles that he encountered in his extensive travels in this country in the 7th century?  He mentions among others, Mathura as a hub of cotton weaving and records that silk was produced and traded in Kamarupa, that is Assam. He also wrote about the habits and customs of the people of the kingdoms he visited, including their faith and modes of dress. Seriously helpful for the historians. And for the A-Z, phew!

Thank you for reading. And happy A-Zing to you for the end days of the challenge if you are participating. 

A-Z Challenge 2025 

W is for ... Wonderful ... n ... Worm

 

All this month I am writing about wonderful Indian handlooms, a quick but captivating dive into the saree specifically, a garment worn by Indians for five millennia. Come with me into the magnificent, complex and utterly fascinating world of fibre and yarn, of skills and techniques of dyeing and printing and embroidery, traditions unchanged for centuries. Of sumptuous finished fabrics that not only make a fashion statement, but also constitute our cultural heritage and political identity.

W is for Wild

We have already looked at Tussar a few days earlier which is a non-mulberry variety of silk. There are others too - Eri and Muga. Muga is an exclusive GI tagged product of Assam in the North East of India, Eri silk is produced through out the North East in other states also. Here is a silk map that gives the exact picture: 

Image credit

So these three types of silks - Tussar, Muga and Eri got from moth species which are not domesticated, are collectively known as Wild or Vanya silks. We have already talked about Tussar in an earlier post. Here we take a look at Muga, which is the most expensive silk that is produced in India, on account of both its quality, lustre and rarity. Have a look at the Indian sericulture statistics  to appreciate why Muga is as costly as it is. The state of Assam in the North East of India is the only producer of Muga silk in the world, the wild moth from which the silk is obtained is named  Antheraea assamensis - might have a clue to that!

The origins of Muga, as with most textiles, in fact most things in India, is shrouded is myth and magic. Sericulture in Assam is an ancient industry and its exact origins cannot be determined  with any degree of precision. (Note  that  Assam is in the North East of India and not within the core area of the Indus Valley Civilisation. The IVC sites are mainly located in modern day Pakistan and North Western India - Gujarat, Rajasthan and Haryana.) The first civilisations/kingdoms rose in the 1st millennium CE in Assam, but Assam silks may have predated those. 

Because the ancient epic Ramayana (composed ~ 800-400 BCE) refers obliquely to sericulture in Assam thus - it is mentioned in the Kishkindha Kanda that 'travelling east one has to pass through  Magadha (present day Bihar), Anga (Bihar/West Bengal), Pundra (West Bengal and Bangladesh)  and then through the Kosha-karanam-bhumi,' (lit the land of the cocoon rearers). If that is not a reference to sericulture, I don't know what is. 

So lets say by the 1st millennium BCE, sericulture was being practiced in Assam. Further proof comes from the Arthashashtra written in the 3rd century BCE - both the colour of the silk and the superior quality of the fabrics are mentioned as originating from Kamarupa, the ancient name for Assam. There are further references in texts written in the 7th century CE and 11th century and so on, right down to details of the production process and draping of deities. Read more about it here.  

It is thought that sericulture arrived in Assam with Tibeto-Burman migrants from China around 3000-2000 BCE. There are other texts that show that silk arrived in India through Assam. Muga gained prominence during the time of the Ahom dynasty in the 13th century. The Ahoms ruled for six centuries during which Muga was reserved for royalty/aristocracy as the region's most luxurious fabric. Read the story of Muga here. And watch this video to understand the role Muga plays in Indian sericulture and how the wild silk worm that produces it is threatened. 

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Did you know that there are over 500 species of silkworms? Only four among these are of commecial importance though - Bombyx mori (mulberry silk), Antheraea assamensis (muga silk) Antharaea mylitta (tussar silk) and Samia ricini (eri silk). 

Thank you for reading. And happy A-Zing to you for the end days of the challenge if you are participating. 

A-Z Challenge 2025 

V is for ... Vivid ... n ... Various

 

All this month I am writing about vibrant Indian handlooms, a quick but captivating dive into the saree specifically, a garment worn by Indians for five millennia. Come with me into the magnificent, complex and utterly fascinating world of fibre and yarn, of skills and techniques of dyeing and printing and embroidery, traditions unchanged for centuries. Of sumptuous finished fabrics that not only make a fashion statement, but also constitute our cultural heritage and political identity.

V is for Vegetable 

Before we get into the main topic, I'd just like to mention Venkatagiri sarees. These are woven in Andhra Pradesh, with a history going back to the 1700s. Read about these sarees here and/or watch a short video about them below:

There's also the Valkalam saree, but we'll visit that in a later post. It is a saree from the super ancient weaving hub of Benaras or Varanasi, which needs time and a bit of elaboration to do it justice. Can't do that here. 

Incidentally, Vijayanagar was a Hindu Empire that lasted for two centuries (1336-1565) and was an important historical milestone in South India. Though geographically much smaller and of shorter duration than the Mughal Empire in the North, it left a similar cultural legacy in literature, architecture and art of the southern region. It had a roaring trade in textiles, woven in centres like Coimbatore, Mysore and Pulicat.

Image credit

And here is the Mughal Empire as a quick comparison - 

Image credit

Right, that's enough already. Let's get into the main topic for today - vegetable dyes.

Like everything textile-related, the roots of the vibrant colours of Indian textiles, pardon the pun, goes back to the Valley. The Indus Valley. Dye vats and fragments of madder-dyed cotton wrapped around a silver pot have been found in Mohenjo-Daro, it shows an advanced level of knowledge of mordant dyeing and colour fixing. Similarly, the Priest-king we saw at the start of the series wears what is believed widely to be a madder dyed textile robe. Artisans knew the use of madder and indigo to obtain vivid red and blue for textile dyeing four/five thousand years ago. In fact for long centuries Indian red and blue were kind of colour monopolies in the textile trade. Not just that, they had precise knowledge and control of the dyeing process to get a range of shades from 'dawn flushed' as mentioned in a Chinese text in the 7th century, to deep, intense reds and blues. Banabhatta, a poet and writer from Kanyakubja (modern day Kannauj, UP) mentions costly tie and dyed textiles in various designs, also in the 7th century. A French traveller in the 18th century mentions the colour fastness of Indian textiles that lasted the entire life of the garments. In short, there is no dearth of evidence on the knowledge and skillfulness of Indian textile artisans regarding colours/dyes.

The Indus Valley Civilisation vanished by 1500-1400 BCE, there's no tangible archaeological record for a few centuries within India itself. However, the Greek historian and physician Ctesian mentions brightly coloured cotton from India in the 5th century BCE. Ctesian was the court physician in the Persian Empire at the time, known for his texts Persica and Indica - these show that Indian textiles continued to be exported to Persia during the 1st millennium BCE even after the collapse of the IVC and the rise of newer dynasties and empires. This trade in Indian textiles continued and expanded to progressively include Greece, Rome and rest of Europe, as well as the New World, right through to the 18th century, when the Industrial Revolution and discriminatory colonial policies brought Indian trade supremacy to an end. 

Natural dyes can be classified into three broad types - vegetable, animal and mineral - according to their source. Another broad classification can be as per their application techniques - vat dyes, mordant dyes and direct dyes. Vat dyes are those which are insoluble  in water but become soluble when treated with a reducing agent, i.e. they require 'vatting.' Mordant dyes are those that require a binder, usually a metal salt, to adhere to the fabric. Direct dyes, as the name implies, are dyes that can be applied straight to the textiles. The most common mordant used was alum and iron sulphate. Other  mordants were also known but they were extremely toxic and impact both the artisans and the environment and so have been discontinued in modern times. Many dyes and also mordants are malodorous therefore dyeing communities tended to operate in separate enclaves outside the main towns. 

Dyeing can be done on fibre itself before spinning ('dyed in the wool'), after spinning or 'yarn-dyed' and after weaving that is 'piece dyed.' Indian sarees use both the latter processes extensively. For example, Batik and Ajrakh sarees are printed as pieces, while most Kanchipuram and Ikat sarees are woven after dyeing the yarn. 

Some of the more important vegetable dyes that Indian artisans used were  Indigo (blue), Madder (red , burgundy and lilac), Turmeric (yellow), Saffron (orange to yellow) Safflower, Parrot tree flowers and Pomegranate. Read more about Indian dyes used here and here.  

Synthetic dyes were developed in mid-19th century and changed the textile industry - natural dyes were replaced by their synthetic counterparts. These were easier and quicker to produce on a mass scale, and unlike natural dyes, could be used for manmade fibres/fabrics as well. Note that the first man made fibres happened to be created in the 19th century too. 

In recent times, there is a movement towards the use of natural dyes as the negative environmental impact of chemical dyes have become apparent and consumer consciousness about health and sustainable practices has grown. 

Watch this short film on the history of Indian natural dyes below. Vibrant coloured textiles remain a part of life in modern India and continue to play an important role in traditional attires of both men and women. 

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Did you know that lac is a natural dye? - it's obtained from insect resin and used to dye textiles. It yields colours ranging from crimson to burgundy red and deep purple. 

Thank you for reading. And happy A-Zing to you for the end days of the challenge if you are participating. 

A-Z Challenge 2025 

U is for ... Unstitched ... n ...Universal

 

All this month I am writing about unmatched Indian handlooms, a quick but captivating dive into the saree specifically, a garment worn by Indians for five millennia. Come with me into the magnificent, complex and utterly fascinating world of fibre and yarn, of skills and techniques of dyeing and printing and embroidery, traditions unchanged for centuries. Of sumptuous finished fabrics that not only make a fashion statement, but also constitute our cultural heritage and political identity.

U is for Upshot

First off one can talk about the Uppada sarees a part of the traditional weaving style of Andhra Pradesh. Have a peek at some of Andhra sarees in this video.

So. After almost a month of poking around trying to learn about weavers and sarees and yarns and looms, what,  as we near the end, is the upshot? 

That is a little heart breaking for people like me. Don't get me wrong, the saree is doing well - the unstitched six yards, experimental new drapes, accessorising with newer fashion items which the older generations didn't dream of... all that is fine.  So many variations on designs and materials, semi this, half that, names and motifs I'd never heard of before, Ikat seeping into regions where Ikat was never practised, Lambani embroidery being done on plain Bengal weaves. Digital prints replicating the original hand worked Patola, Kani, Batik, Ikat and anything else you care to name,  in breathtaking similarity and detail - there is an explosion of design innovation on the part of the producers and a huge basket of choice for the consumers. 

The saree is doing well, but the handloom saree ? I'm afraid not. 

A few days ago, some random lady from some boutique floated up on my feed, I get a lot of those because well, I'm a little saree obsessed and algos being algos... so this lady was there with a short video. She showed some Gadwals - silk borders and aanchal with beautiful gold woven work and a body of pure cotton is a speciality of Gadwal sarees from Telengana. The cotton body makes the saree great for festive wear in summer, as well as keeps the costs down. I stopped scrolling and watched her, the sarees were enchanting in every way but their price was the same range as my own handloom Gadwal cotton, bought some 30 years ago. I was really puzzled, of course you can't make out the clarity of the motifs in a video or the quality of the weaving or fabric, but how can even the worst quality come at the same price after 30 years, when the cost of everything has gone through the roof? Finally the lady explained - they were machine woven Gadwals. The penny dropped and so did my heart - plummeted in fact, right down to my toes.

 

I'm not one of those who always moan about the 'good ole days' and how 'in my time things were so much better' blah blah blah. To be honest they weren't. In so many ways - weavers were exploited even more, inequalities were greater, sarees with a single whiff of silk were reserved  only for royalty and those with serious moolah, most women didn't have the discretionary income to buy many sarees and let's not even get into the maternal mortality rates and the like. Most weaver-folk that worked those luscious garments never got to wear one in their entire lifetime. 

So nope, not pining for those days. Nostalgia for an imaginary glorious past is not my cup of coffee. Reminisce and recharge on feel-good memories and then get on with the job at hand is the modus operandi out here. The best of times is now or yet to come. 

 

I completely understand that technologies that democratise the luxe sarees so that more women can afford them can't be anything to condemn or to wish away. If a weaver can earn more and uplift his lifestyle and family  by working a power loom, why should he stick to handloom weaving just so some atavistic notion of conservation or tradition is satisfied? (Is he earning more though? That's a separate issue.) 

Kings and queens wore the handmade silks and lace and sequins, celebrities wear the haute couture. The hoi polloi has the choice to wear cheaper mass produced imitations or not have the option at all. Who is to say which is better?

 

And yet. The heart does what it does. It plummets. In some ineffable vague sadness of loss. Handlooms - the weaves, the motifs, the textures and colours even, feel like the last threads that connect me to my lost foremothers, to days of lost innocence. I cannot find those sarees they wore anywhere in the shops, the fish-scale borders, the 'window-louvre' stripes, the barely there 'water' stripes, the typical naksha paaRs, the plain aanchals.  Design and technological sophistication has swept away the old and brought in a tide of new things, some striking, some loud, all different in unpinpointable ways. Handloom skills are eroding, the market is changing - not everything changes for the better always, neither does everyone have the same perspective on tradition, on memory, on the significance of an unstitched piece of cloth.  

 

I understand perfectly that there's a need to make Gadwals  on machines. It's not as if Gadwals are not being made by hand still - they are, for a different class of consumer, at a different price point. I understand that power looms are here to stay. Those looms will price the handlooms out of the market one day. Only a few handloom weavers will remain catering to the elites, as they did centuries ago. The rest of us will wear the machine made stuff which truth be told, you'd never know if you didn't look closely or had an intimate knowledge of textiles. 

 

The genies almost never go back into their bottles. No one can turn the clock back, or for that matter, forward. Things happen on their own timescale. What has to be, will be. I truly believe nostalgia does not make a good compass. I do understand. But I also object. To those threads finally snapping and leaving me vaguely unmoored. 

 

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Did you know that unstitched garments are held to be 'satvik' according to Hindu/Indian philosophy?  Satvik means pure, virtuous,  worthy and is a state more likely to be acceptable/pleasing to the gods. This is the reason why traditionally unstitched garments were worn to the temple and for religious ceremonies.

Btw, this preference for unstitched garments is not confined to India or Hindus alone. Muslim men from all over the world wear unstitched garments for performing the Hajj. In Biblical traditions, Jesus' wore an unstitched seamless robe before his crucifixion, which the soldiers did not cut up but cast lots for and kept whole. Most of our modern day depictions of super-heroes have them wear a cloak or cape of some kind. The appeal of an unstitched piece of clothing is undeniable and universal. 

 

Thank you for reading. And happy A-Zing to you for the rest of the challenge if you are participating. 

A-Z Challenge 2025 

T is for .... Tiny ... n ... Timeless

 

All this month I am writing about outstanding Indian handlooms, a quick but captivating dive into the saree specifically, a garment worn by Indians for five millennia. Come with me into the magnificent, complex and utterly fascinating world of fibre and yarn, of skills and techniques of dyeing and printing and embroidery, traditions unchanged for centuries. Of sumptuous finished fabrics that not only make a fashion statement, but also constitute our cultural heritage and political identity.

T is for Tussar 

Tussar (also known as Kosa silk) is a type of silk obtained from the cocoons of wild moths. Watch this short film on how Tussar is produced in a village in Jharkhand in the east of the country. 

Like the other silks of India, Tussar also has a rich history with its potential origins being in the Indus Valley Civilisation. Tussar is essentially a non-mulberry, non-cultivated silk. The Tussar silkworms grow on a diet of  Arjun and Indian oak in the forest, from where tribal communities have been collecting the cocoons and creating this type of silk for many centuries. These cocoons yield shorter silk filaments and therefore Tussar has a slightly uneven texture and coarser feel. It is breathable making it suitable for the tropical climate of India and it combines well with other yarns such as wool, therefore its export potential is excellent.

The colour of the silk obtained from silkworms of any variety depends on the leaves they feed on and the climatic conditions they are growing in. Since the Tussar silkworms feed on a variety of leaves, the colour of their silk varies from off-white to old gold to honey and shades of beige/brown. The variation as well as the texture are highly prized. In short, Tussar has a unique, rustic feel and is a niche market. 

Plain woven, plain dyed and hand block printed Tussar

sarees from Bihar, Odisha and West Bengal. Except for 

the flat dyed one, the colour of the original fabric is 

visible in all the others. 

Note that not all Tussar is violence-free, some are made from living cocoons. Only Ghicha (pr Ghi-cha as in chair, not -ka as in the film) is made from spent cocoons. However, Ghicha has become more popular in the last few decades as consumers have become more conscious of environmental considerations and sustainable practices. To ensure that the larvae can go on to complete the life cycle and reproduce makes much more sense than killing the wild silkworms. 

Tussar has a share of less than 4% of the production of silks in India, a very tiny quantity indeed. It is produced in Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh and West Bengal. The lion's share of production goes into sarees - for Kantha, Madhubani, Pata Chitra, hand block printed and Batik mainly, though some of the fabric is used for stitched apparel as well.  The market volume may be tiny but Tussar's appeal is quite timeless. Read more about Tussar here and here. 

...also for Textile historian and Tradition

I also wanted to tell you about Rta Kapur Chishti, a well known textile historian who has recorded the regional weaving and wearing of sarees. She has documented over 100 ways to drape saris in a book she coauthored with Martand Singh, another giant textile academic. She also runs a programme called The Saree School, where the techniques to tie a saree and its different drapes are taught. 

Image credit

Btw, in Hindi Taana refers to the warp and Baana to the weft yarn in weaving, both must be perfectly in sync - the tension just right, the alignment perfect, nothing torn, nothing a single millimeter out of place - for the fabric to form, the pattern to shape up. Everyday art. That is centuries old and still going on. And you can just grab it off a shelf and wrap yourself in it in two ticks - six unique yards of tradition. If that is not clean breathtaking, I don't know what is.

~~~

Did you know that the twist of the yarn determines the durability and lustre of silk? Yarns that have been highly twisted are stronger than yarns which are low twist. High twist yarns are used in the warp usually - they are stronger but of lower sheen, while weft yarns can be low twist and more lustrous.

Thank you for reading. And happy A-Zing to you if you are participating in the challenge. 

A-Z Challenge 2025