ELEGANCE OF TAMIL NADU!

Hey!
This post is about the sarees of  the southern most state of the Indian peninsula,which is Tamil Nadu.Tamil Nadu with Chennai as it's capital is the eleventh largest state in India.It is the home for classical arts,classical music,dance,natural resources,classical literature,hill stations, beaches, Hindu temples of Dravidian architecture and of course authentic South Indian food and sarees. Sarees have a special place in Tamil Nadu state and hold the essential part in  the State's heritage.

The varieties of sarees of Tamil Nadu are:

KANJEEVARAM SAREES

Kanchipuram which is also known as Kanchi is a city in Tamil Nadu. This city has a fabulous weaving past of over 150 years.Kanjeevaram sarees(kanchi pattu) are quite famous across the world.These sarees are characterized by gold dipped silver thread that is woven on premium quality of silk.They are known for their authenticity and durability.The thick silk base makes it the most expensive silk saree in India.The Peacock and Parrot motifs are the most commonly found motifs in Kanjeevaram sarees.

KANCHI PATTU WITH PEACOCK MOTIF

COIMBATORE SAREES

Coimbatore is the second largest city located in the North West region of Tamil Nadu.It is known as "Manchester of South India". Soft cotton handloom sarees are the speciality of Coimbatore.It produces a  very fine cotton cloth in an amazing range of traditional styles.

KONRAD SAREES

Konrad sarees which are also known as temple ,mubbhagam sarees are regarded as the most intricately designed hand woven sarees of this region.These sarees were originally woven for the deities in the Temple.The body of these sarees consists of checks or striped patterns whereas the end piece of the saree has wide zari stripes or intricate gold thread embroidery work.Motifs like elephants,peacocks symbolizing water,fertility and fecundity are found.

CHETTINAD SAREES

Chettinad is located in Sivaganga district of Southern Tamil Nadu.These sarees  have bold colours and patterns of checks and stripes in contrasting hues.They are slightly heavier and that is one of the reasons they are not so much in demand these days.

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MADURAI SAREES

Madurai is one of the most ancient cities of Tamil Nadu known for it's beautiful temples and textile industry that produce some of the prettiest fabrics in India.Both silk and cotton are used in it's making but most traditionally  and commonly found fabric in Madurai is cotton.As these are absorbent,breezy and light-weight ,they are considered to be perfect for the South Indian humid climate.Traditionally, these  cotton sarees would come with silk borders but now other fabrics with silken appearance such as polyster are also used. The two main types of Madurai cotton sarees are:

• Chungidi Sarees and
• Sungidi Sarees

Besides these thin and light cotton sarees one can also find gorgeous Madurai silk sarees.It is woven in the same manner as that of the cotton sarees with same designs which include printed floral patterns,large shimmering borders,geometric rangoli patterns etc.

                      MADURAI SILK

MADURAI COTTON 

 RASIPURAM SILK SAREE

Rasipuram village which is located in Namakkal district of Tamil Nadu is very well known for handloom silk products.These are also known for the durability of the colours.The count is carefully monitored and each and every thread is hand woven.The process of manufacture of these sarees includes dyeing,weaving and designing.These follow interlocked -weft technique.

 

Apart from these,  Selam,Kumbhkonam,Thanjavuru,Arani 

pattu,Kadangairiseelai,Chinnakapattu are also well known varieties of sarees of Tamil Nadu.

SAREES OF UTTAR PRADESH

Uttar Pradesh is a state located in the Northern part of India. Generally,there are  two varieties of sarees in UP.One is pertaining to it's capital LUCKNOW i.e LUCKNOWI SAREES and the other one is undoubtedly pertaining to 'THE HOLY CITY OF INDIA' i.e BANARASI SAREES.

                                            BANARASI SAREES

Banaras or kashi now known as VARANASI   is an  Indian  city   located on the banks of river Ganga in UP.It is one among the seven sacred cities in Hinduism and Jainism and is known for the development of Buddhism.Varanasi is known as the favourite city of the Hindu Deity Lord Shiva and so it was known as 'KASHI' or 'SHIV KI NAGARI'.  The city has been a cultural centre of North India for several years and has a history that is older than most of the major world religions.It is the spiritual capital of India and is known as 'THE CITY OF LEARNING'.

VARANASI

GANGA AARTI


Apart from it's cultural heritage, Banaras is very well known all over the World for it's sarees which are intricately woven.It is considered to be a Royal drape that compliments the wardrobe of every Indian woman!During the Mughal Era,these sarees gained their recognition .Even the Motifs underwent a change, resulting from the combination of persian and indian patterns(motif is a repeated design in a particular pattern).

A normal Banarasi saree involves 5600 threads with a width of 45 inches.It takes about 15 days or maximum 6 monthsfor a Banarasi saree to get completed.The silk for  these sarees comes from South India,mostly from Bangalore.The process of weaving of a Banarasi saree involves 3 people.One is the weaver the other is the person who revolves the ring to create bundles and the third one is the motif artist.The weaver creates the basic texture on the powerloom or the handloom.The designing work starts later.Motif artist creates colourful sketches on paper .After final selection ,punch cards are created .For a single design it takes several prof-iterated cards which are knitted together with different coloured threads.Majority of these beautiful sarees come from the cottage industry of Varanasi,where saree weaving is a family tradition and most of the family members are experts in designing intricate motifs onto the Banarasi saree.The training begins when one is  10 years old.The basic varieties of Banarasi
sarees are-1.Brocade 2.Banarasi silk Jamdani 3.Pure silk (Katan) 4.Organza saree with zari and silk(Kora) 5.Jangla  6.Georgette 7.Tissue  8.Cut work  9.Butidar and  10.Jam war Tanchoi .Let us look into these in detail.

BROCADE

BANARASI BROCADE


Brocade refers to those textiles where in patterns are created in weaving by transfixing or thrusting the pattern-thread between the warp .In regular weaving the weft thread passes over and under the warp thread regularly, but here brocade designs in gold,silver silk or cotton are transfixed by using special threads.

BANARASI SILK JAMDANI

JAMDANI SILK

The silk Jamdani, is a technical variety of brocade or the'figured muslin'.Here the  silk fabric is brocaded with cotton and rarely with zari threads.Some of the traditional motifs of jamdani include Chameli,Panna hazar,Genda buti,Pan Buti,Tircha(diagonally stripped) etc.The most attractive design feature of Jamdani saree is KONIA  or a corner-motif having a floral mango buta.

KATAN

KATAN SILK

Katan is a plain fabric with woven pure silk threads which are twisted and woven into pure silk saree which are produced using a powerloom and rapid looms.

KORA

KORA SILK

Brocades are the most beautiful and richly woven fabric where the patterns are pattered with different designs made by warp and weft threads.Silver threads are coated with gold and are then woven closely around silk yarn to create zari brocade.

JANGLA

JANGLA SAREE

These styles of sarees are woven in colourful silk threads.The name itself tells that it has intricate jangla pattern in form of jangala vegetation motif that scrollsand spreads across the length of the saree,which are believed to be the ancient ones among the Banaras brocades.These kind of sarees are apt for wedding ceremonies.

GEORGETTE

GEORGETTE BANARASI SAREE

It is a finely woven light transparent fabric with a simple and plain weave.This fabric is made of crepe yarn where twisted yarns are interwoven with both warp and weft threads.This is more popular in modern types and are used to produce designer sarees.

TISSUE

TISSUE SAREES

These have a gossamer look!Delicately woven sarees with golden zari weft adds sheen to these tissue sarees and therefore it is known as golden cloth.

CUTWORK

CUTWORK SAREE

This type of saree is prepared by cut work technique on plain ground texture after removing the floating threads which are not design woven during the weaving process which provides good transparent look.These are cheaper thanjamdani variety.

BUTIDAR

BUTIDAAR SAREE

The most striking feature of this saree is that it is brocaded with pattern threads of gold and silver.Due to the darker shade of gold and lighter shade of silver this vareity is conventionally known as Ganga-Jamuna,indicating the confluence of these two rivers whose waters are believed to be dark and light respectively.

JAM WAR TANCHOI

TANCHOI SAREE

Using a technique similar to that of brocade ,weavers of Banaras weave sarees using colourful extraweft silk yarn for patterning.This variety is known as Tanchoi.The field has a densly spread minute diaper of jamwar style paisely.The end panel has large motifs of multiple paisely.

LUCKNOWI SAREES

Lucknowi sarees are basically cotton ,chikan,embroidery and zari zardozi type of sarees.However ,Lucknow is mainly known for chikan work.

CHIKAN WORK

CHIKAN WORK SAREE

Chikan work is a type of thread embroidery that is popular in India,predominantly of floral design.Lucknow is the main center for chikan work.These are made using untwisted white silk or cotton or rayon threads.

SAREES OF ANDHRA PRADESH

Hey!!

I'm back with another blog.Let's straight away get to the point.frocks,jeans,skirts,gowns,shorts,kurtas and sarees...among these what do think enhances the beauty of a woman?i'm sure it's a saree.They are always in vogue!in Indian tradition sarees accompany a woman in different stages of her life,in motherhood,marriage etc.It also represents her mood and tells us about the occasion its worn 

for.

A sari or saree is a south asian female garment that consists of a drape varying from five to nine yards(4.57meters to 8.23meters) in length and two to four feet(60cm to 1.20m)in breadth that is typically around the waiste,with one end draped over the shoulder.It is associated with grace and regarded as a symbol of Indian , Bangladesh and Sri lankan culture.The word 'sari' is derived from sanskrit word 'sati' which means 'strip of cloth' and became 'sari' in hindi.In the history of Indian clothing the sari is traced back to the Indus Valley Civilisation ,which flourished during 2800-1800 bc around the western part of the Indian subcontinenet.The earliest known depiction of the Indian subcontinenet is the statue of an Indus valley priest wearing a drape.

indus valley priest wearing a drape

from then, evolution in the making of sarees started.We have a wide range of varieties.There are 80 different styles of draping a saree .in india alone there are a number of varieties in each of the 28 ...oops! 29 states.So,let's learn  about them starting from my very own state Andhra Pradesh(both telangana and a.p).

there are mainly five varieties of sarees in Andhra Pradesh.They are:

POCHAMPALLY SAREES

Pochampally is a mandal located in the Nalgonda district.

it is famous on account of its exquisitively designed silk and cotton sarees The designs are intricate geometric designs based on ikat process of weaving.They are made using tie and dye methods of yarn.These have been popular since 1800.In 19th century popular with traders in the silk route which symbolised luxury and power.

Pochampally is a cluster of 80 villages.It has traditional looms,whose design is more than a century old Today this silk city, which is more of a cottage industry is home to more than 10000 weaving families in 100 villages. The fabric is marketed through the cooperative society and the master weavers and the business houses in design efforts are on to revive the dying art.it does more than rs 1000000 annual business in terms of yarn sales , purchase of handloom products and sales. The government in 2010 divided the belt into two clusters Pochampally 1 and Pochampally 2 and is proving common weaving centres because of its unique design efforts are on to revive  the dying art.

GADWAL SAREE

Gadwal is a municipal town in the Mahabubnagar district.These sarees are famous all over the world for its beautiful weaving.the body of the saree may be cotton or silk whereas the pallu are in silk.the cotton and silk fabrics are woven separately and attached together. Rich traditional designs adorn the pallu and the border.The mango motif is usually used in the designs.yellow,parrot green , pink and beige are the colours used most often.

MANGALAGIRI SAREES

 Mangalagiri is a mandal in the guntur district.The major occupations of Mangalagiri is an ancient institution of hand-woven fabrics.It produces the most exclusive sarees and dress-materials ,having delicate and distinctive designs .These sarees are made of pure and durable cotton are exclusively to the mangalagiri region.The fabric is woven on a pit-loom and the nizam border in the sarees.They are soft and comfortable to wear and also suites all the climates.the cotton sarees are characterised by pure durable cotton,does not contain any weave design on the body, nizam borders and does not contain any gap in weaving the fabric.the high cost of handloom fabrics is  limiting the marketability.The handloom industry is searching for a breakthrough for survival.

DHARMAVARAM SAREES

Dharmavaram is a city situated in the Anathapur district.It is a famous hub for hand made pure silk sarees.this city is the major business centre in Anathapur .Usually,these sarees have broad borders ,adorned by brocaded gold patterns.not following any colour contrast ,dharmavaram saris comprise heavy 'pallus' with exclusive designs.besides silk,dharmavaram also produces saree in different materials, like cotton, tussar silk, cotton silk,etc.There are around  one lakh weaving looms in dharmavaram.These sarees are hand woven.Each wever works from home with  his /her family helping in differnt steps of the process .The core materials used for manufacturing the saree are silk,cotton and zari.

VENKATAGIRI SAREES

Venkatagiri is a small town in the Chitoor district .These sarees have gracefull strains of gold all over and are available  in cotton and silk,with pure silver zari and brocade designs in the border.these have pleasant colours with golden dots,leaves,parrots or simple geometric designs.these are also hand woven and are soft smooth and light.

Apart from these, there are a number of varities that are quite famous.So, if at all you happen to  visit A.P do take out some time for  shopping and pick out your favourite!