Banarasi sari
A Banarasi saree is a saree made in Varanasi, a city which is also called Benares
or Banaras. The sarees are among the finest sarees in India and are known for
their gold and silver brocade or zari, fine silk and opulent embroidery. The
sarees are made of finely woven silk and are decorated with intricate design,
and, because of these engravings, are relatively heavy.
Their special characteristics are Mughal inspired designs such as intricate
intertwining floral and foliate motifs, kalga and bel, a string of upright leaves
called jhallar at the outer, edge of border is a characteristic of these sarees.
Other features are gold work, compact weaving, figures with small details,
metallic visual effects, pallus, jal (a net like pattern), and mina work.
The sarees are often part of an Indian bride's trousseau.
Depending on the intricacy of its designs and patterns, a saree can take from 15
days to a month and sometimes up to six months to complete. Banarasi sarees
are mostly worn by Indian women on important occasions such as when
attending a wedding and are expected to be complemented by the woman's
best jewelry.
HISTORY
Ralph Fitch (1583–91) describes Banaras as a thriving sector of the cotton textile
industry. The earliest mention of the brocade and Zari textiles of Banaras is
found in the 19th century. With the migration of silk weavers from Gujarat
during the famine of 1603, it is likely that silk brocade weaving started in
Banaras in the seventeenth century and developed in excellence during the 18th
and 19th century. During the Mughal period, around 14th century, weaving
of brocades with intricate designs using gold and silver threads became the
specialty of Banaras.
The traditional Banarasi saree is done with lot of hard work and skillful work
using the silk. The saree making is a cottage industry for about 1.2 million
people associated directly or indirectly with the hand loom silk industry of the
region around Varanasi encompassing Gorakhpur, Chandauli,
Bhadohi, Jaunpur and Azamgarh districts.
Geographical indication
Over the years, the Banarasi silk handloom industry has been incurring huge
losses because of competition from mechanised units producing the Baranasi
silk sarees at a faster rate and at cheaper cost, another source of competition
has been sarees made of cheaper synthetic alternatives to silk.
In 2009, after two years of wait, weaver associations in Uttar Pradesh,
secured Geographical Indication rights for the ‘Banaras Brocades and Sarees’.
(GI) is an intellectual property right, which identifies a good as originating in a
certain region where a given quality, reputation or other characteristic of the
product is essentially attributable to its geographical origin.
Varieties
There are four main varieties of Banarasi saree, which includes pure silk (Katan),
Organza (Kora) with Zari and silk; Georgette, and Shattir, and according to design
process, they are divided into categories like, Jangla, Tanchoi, Vaskat, Cutwork,
Tissue and Butidar.
Environmental concern
Since a large number of silk dyeing units in the trade use chemical dyes, which
cause pollution in the Ganges River, a move is on to shift to natural dyes. A
research team from the Indian Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu
University (IIT-BHU) used the technique of solvent extraction and enzymatic
extraction to develop natural colours from plants, flowers and fruits
including accaccia, butia (palash), madder, marigold .
Threat to traditional Sari weavers
The increasingly errant and erratic electric power supply, which leads to the
electric powered looms sitting idle for greater parts of the day, has made it
difficult for the weavers to complete the saris in short time; consequently their
earnings are affected. Also, increasing quantities of look-alike Banarasi sarees
are flooding the market. These saris are mass-produced in China on massive
looms and therefore retail at very low prices.
Special features
The saree designs are first created on paper: the pattern is
literally punched into paper, making it look much like Braille. A separate pattern
guides each row and hundreds of such patterns, (naksha patras), are created for
a single saree.
Colours
Banarasi sarees are available in a host of colours and are known
more for the gold and silver zari work that adorns them.
Price range
A genuine Banarasi silk saree can be bought for anywhere from
Rs.3,000 to Rs.2,00,000 depending on the design and the intricacy of the work.
That said, a saree with a decent amount of work would cost a minimum of
Rs.8,000 to Rs.10,000.
Types of Banarasi sarees
Let's take a detailed look at the four fabric varieties of Banarasi sarees.
4 Fabric Varieties.
Katan: Katan is a plain fabric with woven pure silk threads which are
twisted and woven into pure silk sarees.
Organza (Kora) with Zari and silk.
Georgette.
Shattir
Jangla
Tanchoi
