Baluchari Sarees

This Saree from Bengal is usually five yards in length and 42" wide in flame red, purple and occasionally in deep blue. The field of the saree is covered with small butis and a beautiful floral design runs across the edges. The anchal has the main decoration depicting narrative motifs. Taingals and kanthas are other speciality items from Bengal.

Madisar Saree

The Madisar is the style in which the sari is worn by the Brahmin community in Tamil Nadu, India. In ancient days, this was the mandatory style in which the sari was supposed to be worn by a woman after her marriage, but today, to suit modern trends, yet accommodate traditions, the Madisaar is worn by women on selected festive occasions and while witnessing ceremonies. Normally saris are six yards in length, but since the madisar is worn in a different style, one requires a nine-yard sari to wear it. It is a very important part of the Iyer and Iyengar culture. Both Iyer and Iyengar Brahmin wear madisars for all important occasions in their lives, starting with marriage, followed by Seemandham (form of a baby shower), all important poojas, and death ceremonies. Iyers and Iyengars wear Madisars differently. Iyers wear the Pallu (the layer of the saree which comes over one's shoulder)over the right shoulder, but Iyengars wear it over the left shoulder.


Madisars are available in a variety of materials such as silk, cotton, cotton-silk blends, polyester-cotton blends, etc.

Konrad Saree

The Konrad or the Temple Saree is also a speciality item from Tamil Nadu. These sarees were original woven for temple deities. - They are wide bordered sarees and are characterised by wedding related motifs such as elephants and peacocks, symbolising water, fertility and fecundity.


Traditional colours for these sarees are earth shades of browns, greys and off-whites. However, brighter shades have been introduced for the North Indian buyer.

Kanjeevaram Saree

No Indian bridal trousseau is complete without the ‘Kanjeewaram' Saree, characterised by gold-dipped silver thread that is woven onto brilliant silk. Kanchipuram is a town in Tamil Nadu with more than 150 years of weaving tradition - completely untouched by fashion fads.


Kanjeewarams are favoured for their durability. Kanjee silk is thicker than almost all other silks, and is therefore more expensive. The heavier the silk, the better the quality. Peacock and parrot are the most common motifs. Though lightweight kanjee sarees are popular as they are easy to wear and cost very little, the traditional weavers do not like to compromise. While Korean and Chinese silk is suitable for light-weight sarees (machine woven), only mulberry silk produced in Karnataka and few parts of Tamil Nadu, is right for the classic Kanjeewaram.

Kota Doria Saree

Kota in Rajasthan, India is the home of the famous Kota Doria saris made in small villages around the Kota city. "Kota Doria" is a super transparent yet stable cotton or cotton/silk weave consisting of varied guages of yarn, creating an almost graph like pattern called khats (squares formed between the different thicknesses of fibers). The intermittent heavier guage yarns give the fabric enough weight and lateral stability to fall very gracefully, yet it is incredibly airy and transparent. Generally, these pieces are worn in the heat of summer.


The chequered weave of a Kota sari is a prized possession of many women. The gossamer-fine fabric Kota dorias are the finest weaves in India - so fine that they are almost weightless. The spinning, dyeing and weaving are done by skilled artisans and it takes many men hours to do so. The Kota region's craft is exquisite in its perfection. The Kota Doria weave is very special; the warp and the weft use a combination of threads creating a fine chequered pattern where the cotton provides firmness while the silk lends the gossamer finish to the fabric.


Besides the chequered pattern, there are other weaves in complicated designs in a combination of silk and cotton. The standard Kota doria yardage, in sari width, is always woven in white and later dyed in different colours. Some of the weaves also have a narrow border edged with Zari. In the case of saris with designs, the threads are dyed prior to weaving. Ideal for hot summer, this is a muslin fabric woven with alternating threads of silk and cotton in both warp and weft in an open weave.

Banaras Brocade Saree

This Saree from Banaras is virtually mandatory in the bride's trousseau. These sarees vary tremendously as weavers create different products to suit different regional markets and changing fashions.


Most brocades usually have strong Moghul influences in the design, such as intricate intertwining floral and foliate motifs, kalga and bel. A characteristic found along the inner, and sometimes outer, edge of borders is a narrow fringe like pattern that often looks like a string of upright leaves called jhallr. This is almost a signature of Benarasi brocade.

Bandhej Sarees

Art of tie and dye is popularly known as Bandhej in the Gujarat region. Jamnagar, Anjar, and Bhuj are the main centres where artists work traditionally on First step towards the procedure is the dipping of cloth into a colour after which the cloth is folded to a quarter of its size. The designs are created with the combination of small dots and circles. The borders are broad and are worked both in matching and contrasting colours.


The tying of the border and the release of the colour is called sevo bandhavo. The colouring method involves the lightest shade being worked in first order , after which this is tied and a darker colour is introduced. An unlimited number of colour schemes are used. The quality of the bandhej can be judged by the size of the dots: the smaller and closer to the size of a pinhead the dots are, the finer is the quality of the bandhej. Red, , maroon , yellow, and golden, black are the common shades.

Tie & Die / Lehriya Sarees

Tie and die is a multi colored craft of Rajasthan. A large number of colours are used because once the base colour is tied in, a lot of colours can be applied on to the fabric at different stages and then tied and detached gradually. The motifs that are used are birds, leaves, animals, creepers, and human figures in dance poses.


Designs are known by their names such as mountain design, dol design and kite design. Dots are used to make up the designs. A different colour on either side is also practiced by the craftsmen. Lehariya has long lines in a variety of colours found all over the body of the sari or dress material. Turbans are also a good outcome. The lehariya cloths have their own names depending on the designs. Bandhanis are related to festivals, seasons and rituals for which there are particular patterns and colours.

Jamavar Saree

A Jamavar is a special type of shawl made in Kashmir. Historically it was made by hand and some shawls took a couple of decades to complete. Original Jamavar shawls sell for high prices.


The jamavar design is a special floral pattern which resembles the mango fruit. Kanika Jamavar is a high end variety of Jamavar shawl. It is made with weaving sticks and the patterns are so finely done that front and back of the shawl are indistinguishable. Pashmina wool is used to make these shawls. Less then a dozen Kani Jamavar shawls are manufactured every year. The primary manufacturing centre for these shawls is Kashmir while some low end, machine made shawls also coming from Naziwabad, U.P.

Kantha Saree

Kantha is a type of sari popular in West Bengal, India. Worn by Bengali Kayastha women, it is known for its delicate embroidery.

Kantha is really the name for the embroidery itself, rather than the sari per se. Any garment or cloth with kantha embroidery (which forms or outlines decorative motifs with running stitch) is a kantha garment.


Kantha stitching is also used to make simple quilts. Women in Bengal typically use old saris and cloth and layer them with kantha stitch to make a light blanket or throw or bedspread, especially for children. Kantha is currently very popular with tourists visiting Bengal, and is a specialty of Bolpur/Shantiniketan. Another form of running stitch decorative stitching is the Japanese sashiko quilting.

Gadwal Saree

Gadwal Saree is made in cotton in a style influenced by the Banarasi weaves. While the ground of the saree is cotton, there is a loosely attached silk border.

Copper or gold-dipped zari is generally used in these sarees. The motifs of the murrugan (peacock) and the rudraksh are popular.

Traditional colours for these sarees are earth shades of browns, greys and off-whites. However, brighter shades have been introduced for the North Indian buyer.

Chanderi and Maheshwari Saree

The Chanderi saree from Madhya Pradesh is light and meant for Indian summers. It is made in silk or fine cotton with patterns taken from the Chanderi temples.

The Maheshwari sarees are also both in cotton and silk, usually green or purple with a zari border. The traditional block-printed tussar can also be found in contemporary designs nowadays. - Balla tinsel and khari work are the cheaper variations available in metallic embroidery, which have also become quite popular.

Paithani Saree

This saree is named after a village near Aurangabad in Maharashtra. Now also woven in the town of Yeola, these sarees use an enormous amount of labour, skill and sheer expanse of material in their creation.

Distinctive motifs such as parrots, trees and plants are woven into the saree. The shades vary from vivid magenta, peacock greens and purples. In the pallav, the base is in gold and the pattern is done in silk, giving the whole saree an embossed look.

Embroidered Tinsel Sarees

The western region also has a rich embroidered tradition, made famous by ethnic groups such as rabaris and sodha Rajputs.

The saree with zardozi, the gold gilt thread embroidery technique, at one time patronised by the Moghul emperors and the aristocracy, is today an inextricable part of a bridal trousseau.

Balla tinsel and khari work are the cheaper variations available in metallic embroidery, which have also become quite popular.

Gujarati Brocade Saree

These are extremely expensive and virtually extinct. The main distinguishing characteristics of the Gujarati Brocade Saree:

Butis (circular designs) woven into the field in the warp direction instead of the weft, resulting in their lying horizontally instead of vertically on the saree when draped.


Floral designs woven in coloured silk, against a golden (woven zari) ground fabric. Although such ‘inlay' work is a common feature in many western Deccan silks, the Gujarati work usually has leaves, flowers and stems outlined by a fine dark line.

Patola Saree

The most time consuming and elaborate saree created by the western region is the potole (plural patola) which has intricate five colour designs resist-dyed into both warp and weft threads before weaving.


Double ikat patola saree is a rare and expensive investment. A cheaper alternative to double ikat patola is the silk ikat saree developed in Rajkot (Gujarat), that creates patola and other geometric designs in the weft threads only.

Bandhani Saree

These are Sarees created by dyeing the cloth in such a manner that many small resist-dyed ‘spots' produce elaborate patterns over the fabric.

The traditional Bandhani market has shrunk however, because of the rise of low-cost silk-screened imitations and most modern Bandhani Sarees are made with larger designs and fewer ties than in the past. There are varieties available in two contrasting colours, with borders, end-pieces and one or more large central medallion called a pomcha or padma (lotus flower). Red and black is the most common colour combination but other pairs of colours are also found. For instance, the panetar saree is a Gujarati-Hindu saree of satin weave and Gajji silk with red borders, central medallions and a white body, which may contain regularly spaced red tie-dyed spots.


Single colour sarees and odhnis with white spots are also common. The most famous of this type is the Gujarati saree called Garchola It is usually red, but occasionally green, and is divided into a network of squares created by rows of white tie-dyed spots or woven bands of zari. The Garchola is a traditional Hindu and Jain wedding saree, which used to be made of cotton, but is now usually in silk. The number of squares in the saree is ritually significant multiples of 9, 12 or 52.

History of Saree

The word 'sari' evolved from the Prakrit 'sattika' as mentioned in earliest Buddhist Jain literature.

Ancient Tamil poetry, such as the Silappadhikaram and the Kadambari by Banabhatta, describes women in exquisite drapery or saree. In ancient Indian tradition and the Natya Shastra (an ancient Indian treatise describing ancient dance and costumes), the navel of the Supreme Being is considered to be the source of life and creativity, hence the midriff is to be left bare by the saree.


Some costume historians believe that the men's dhoti, which is the oldest Indian draped garment, is the forerunner of the sari. They say that until the 14th century, the dhoti was worn by both men and women.

Sculptures from the Gandhara, Mathura and Gupta schools (1st-6th century CE) show goddesses and dancers wearing what appears to be a dhoti wrap, in the "fishtail" version which covers the legs loosely and then flows into a long, decorative drape in front of the legs. No bodices are shown.


Other sources say that everyday costume consisted of a dhoti or lungi (sarong), combined with a breast band and a veil or wrap that could be used to cover the upper body or head. The two-piece Kerala mundum neryathum (mundu, a dhoti or sarong, neryath, a shawl, in Malayalam) is a survival of ancient Indian clothing styles, the one-piece sari is a modern innovation, created by combining the two pieces of the mundum neryathum.

Know about Saree

The saree is a traditional garment for women. It comprises a long single piece of fabric, approximately 5.5 metres in length and 1 metre in width, expertly wound around a woman's body, with the loose end thrown over the shoulder. Worn with a choli, or short, fitting blouse, the fabric itself can be very detailed. Look closely and you might just see real gold or silver threads

sarees of different designs and materials are available in a variety of colours. It is made out of cotton, silk and other synthetic materials. The cost of the sarees varies according to the quality. The outer end of the saree or Pallu is most attractive especially on silk sarees.


Women of Tamil Nadu wear silk sarees on special occasions. The Brahmin community wear the saree in a slightly different way without wearing the long skirt. The length of the saree which they wear is longer (nine yards) than the usual one. It is wound separately on both legs in a proper way without restricting the person's free movement.

Kanchipuram in Tamil Nadu and Mysore in Karnataka are famous for their unique silk and cotton sarees.

Andhra Pradesh is famous for its cotton sarees which is designed with jerry and thread. The sarees woven at Venkatagiri and Pochhampalli in Andhra are famous. Cotton sarees of Bengal is ideal as a summer wear.


In Kerala, women wear their traditional two piece cloth called mundu and neriyathu. The 'mundu' (one piece) is draped on the lower part of the body. The second piece; 'neriyathu' is worn on top, over a blouse in the same way as the sarees. This mundu also called 'Settu Mundu' is the traditional attire. The mundu was worn in a different way by the women of the royal families.

sarees are worn in different ways in many places, especially in Gujarat, Manipur, Maharashtra and Coorg (Karnataka).