Special issue with the Sunday Magazine
From the publishers of THE HINDU

WOVEN ART : June 20, 1999

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Woven dreams

Jasleen Dhamija

India's genius was expressed in its cotton weaves. The fine cottons woven with shadow-like patterns were known even in the Roman Court as nebula venti, woven winds. The fact that a large number of spindle whorls were found in the Harappan harbour of Lothal in Gujarat indicates that cotton must have been exported from India 4000 years ago. Jamdani, the fine cotton weave with intricate patterns woven into the cloth was so subtle, that only when the cloth was held against the light, was the shadowy pattern visible. It was woven specially for the angarkhas of royalty and the floating veils. The Chanderi saris of Madhya Pradesh were also known for the fine quality of cotton weave. The intricate tapestry borders and pallus were woven in golden thread and silk, while the body carried gold jamdani, hamsa, the swan, or asharfi, gold coin. The women would spin and weave gossamer cotton and thus led a cloistered life. In the weavers' locality of royal Chanderi, women ruled and the husbands were the water carriers/slaves.

The golden brocade of India was known the world over as kimkhab, nothing less than a dream, while its brilliant dyes made its fabrics coveted the world over. India has mastered dyeing by using mordants during the Harappan period and this skill was known throughout the ancient world. In the Book of Job, Job's wisdom is compared to the steadfastness of Indian dyes. Printed and dyed fabrics from Gujarat found their way all over the globe from time immemorial. They were exported to Fostat, the ancient city of Cairo, and were distributed all over the western world and thus came to be known as fustian. Chinese silk was brought by traders to India and were dyed in brilliant iridescent colours and carried to Europe. Jain records mention Pali town in Rajasthan, as an important centre for dyeing.

Silk weaves

Though silk is associated with China, which had a highly developed sericulture industry during the Neolithic period, 4000 years ago, it was also produced in India from the earliest times and was treated as a cloth of purity, to be used for ritual purposes. Buddha had permitted bhikkus the use of kauseya-pravare, a silken chadar. Though no actual examples exist, literary references to silk weaving with wild or uncultivated silk was known in India previous to recorded history. We know that the forests of Bengal and Assam had a range of Bombaycidae and Satumidae cocoons. These were collected by the tribals and woven by the people of the plains.

Assam's silk varieties were endi, muga and pata. Assam is the natural home of endi worms and they may have independently originated in Assam and North America. Every woman knew how to reel, spin, and weave silk for it was an integral part of her cultural heritage and the rulers of Assam encouraged silk cultivation throughout their reign. During the Ahom period (1223-1819) silk cultivation was not only obligatory but the growers were exempted from paying land revenue. The earliest surviving examples of Indian silk brocades are the intricately woven altar cloths of Assam, which found their way to Tibet and were preserved in the monasteries there.

Brocades

Extra weft patterned weaving, known as brocade, was possibly developed because of Central Asian influence. Later the influence of Syria, known for its silk brocades and damask was brought by the introduction of the Tiraz factory during the Sultanate period. The Tiraz factory was an Islamic tradition of weaving ateliers, and was begun by the Caliphate. The majority of silk weavers trace their origins to Gujarat. Some of the most important weavers of Southern India working in silk were originally known as Sorathis and trace their origins to Saurashtra. The fact that an inscription in the 5th century AD Sun Temple at Mandsor, mentions that the silk weavers had donated towards the building of the temple, indicates the importance of the silk weavers' shreni, or guild.

The finest weavers of Varanasi, especially the designer known as naqshaband, migrated from Surat where they had settled when they came from Bokhara, their place of origin. They trace their ancestry to Muhammad Bahud-din au-Naqshaband (1389), the founder of the Naqshabandiyya Sufi sect. Even today, the naqshabandas of Varanasi observe the annual day of the pir.

Shashi Shetye

Fragments of the woven silks of Gujarat have been found mostly in collections abroad and stylistic developments point to a close link with Western Indian decorative traditions. This style of weaving was retained in the Ashavali saris woven in Ahmedabad and Surat. Their influence spread as far as Eastern Bengal, where the famous pictorial pallu saris, the Balucharis, were woven. The indigenous market for saris, stitched cloth, and decorations for palaces was extremely large, and centres for silk weaving developed all over the country.

The aristocracy and ruling class used silk brocaded garments, palace drapes, hangings and canopies. It was, however, in the Mughal court that some of the finest silk brocades and velvets were produced in the royal karkhanas or ateliers, and became coveted gifts sent to powerful rulers of neighbouring countries and to far-off lands.

The widespread use of silk weaving over the subcontinent was confined not only to the enrichment of courtly life, but found its way into ritual and festive use throughout India. Woven silks were offered to the deity in the temple and also used by the devotees. Woven spreads, khes of silk, lungis of silk known as lacha with broad contrasting borders, and turbans using natural silk with checks, stripes and woven patterns, were worn by the well-to-do all over Northern India.

The famous centres of woven silks besides Varanasi were Murshidabad in Bengal for its pictorial Baluchari, Gujarat for the brocaded Ashavali saris, Surat for the Tanchoi, Paithan for the Paithani saris and Yeola of Maharashtra.

Banaras brocaded silks

The brocades of Banaras were not only woven for saris, but also as yardage for garments and were an essential part of a woman's trousseau and the men's sherwani and jacket. Specialised master weavers made gold brocade for Tibet and a range of fine tissues with gold, silver and silk brocaded patterns for the royalty of Saudi Arabia. These were trade secrets and never revealed.

Amr Vastra Kosh

Every woman dreamed of owning a silk brocaded sari. The wedding sari of silk and gold, yellow for the traditional upper caste families of U.P., pink and red for other north Indian Hindu families and the auspicious green for the Muslim brides, were woven specially by the weavers of Varanasi, who even today produce the finest.

Madanpura and Alaipura, two localities of Varanasi, have a distinctive style of weaving. Madanpura weaves traditional designs and is known for its sophisticated use of colours and textures and concentration on light transparent materials. The most outstanding examples are jamdani, organza, tissue saris or dupattas with konia or kairi, the stylised mango pattern at each of the corners; and a big circular pattern called chand, moon-shaped, in the centre, with diagonal creepers, ari jhari, or dotted butis. Literary references and travellers mention that turbans for the Mughal emperors and other native rulers were woven at Varanasi.

Alaipura produced heavy brocades. The weavers adapted their techniques to meet regional demands, keeping pace with changing fashions and designs. The master weavers of Alaipura can also be credited for weaving some of the brocade designs, which were on the verge of extinction in their own regions.

Asavali brocade of Gujarat

The Asavali saris named after the old city of Ahmedabad in Gujarat, had rich brocaded patterns woven in twill weave, a speciality of the area. Intricately woven silken patterns were embedded into the gold surface in myriad colours and were known as meenakari, imitating the enamel work prepared on jewellery. The Ain-i-Akbari refers to Ahmedabad as a famous centre for brocades, velvets and silk. Duarte Barbosa (1518) writing in the beginning of the sixteenth century mentions: ". . . wild tribesmen of Malaya who did not consider their freedom secure until they had stored a pile of Ahmedabad brocades equal to their own height. This was the standard ransom for a captive in war."

Baluchari saris

Baluchari textiles are famous for the elaborate pallu. The sari has large flowing kalka motifs in the centre surrounded by narrow ornamental borders. These are framed by a series of figural motifs worked in rows around the kalkas. A flowing border encloses the zamin background, dotted with little butis and rarely with pairs of birds or kalkas. These motifs are woven diagonally and are worked in four alternating colours, white, yellow, red and green on a shaded background. They were originally woven in Baluchar village in Murshidabad district of Bengal.

The pictorial patterns appear to be a simple outline of a miniature and are diverse; a woman riding a horse holding a rose in one hand with her plait flying behind her; lovers in a mayur pankhi, pleasure boat, with two lovebirds on top; a man seated framed by an arch smoking his huqqa; foreigners riding in a boat or a train and innumerable others.

Paithani saris

Paithani saris with rich tapestry woven gold and silk pallus have the finest weaves. The technique of tapestry weave is one of the most ancient methods of creating patterns with the weaving in of multiple non-continuous weft threads of different colours. The technique is found in Central Asia, as well as in Egypt and Latin American textiles. In Central Asia it was initially woven in wool. Later, the technique was developed in China for intricate silk weaves. It is possible that this technique came to India from Central Asia and was developed into a fine art in the Deccan.

Amr Vastra Kosh

Researchers have also identified Chanderi in Madhya Pradesh, a powerful kingdom known for spinning and weaving of fine quality cotton, and for its rich gold thread, as an important centre of this technique. Chanderi produced fine quality nine-yard saris worn by the royal women extending from Baroda state up to the Hindu states in the Deccan.

The oldest fragments of saris and borders are woven with highly stylised buta patterns, which indicate Persian influence. The single buta of twin leaves and a flower enclosed by a stem ending in a bud is a common motif. Vegetable dyes were used in all early examples. A deep rust for the body is common into which the solid gold ground flows and the design is picked out in pink, purple, and two shades of green. The weave is the interlock. The body of the sari is woven in cotton and carries zari patterns in the Jamdani technique. One of the oldest saris carries a hamsa pattern similar to the oldest patterned sari seen in the Ajanta Cave paintings. These saris have been identified as Chanderis and textile specialists have dated them to the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The later saris, from the end of the previous century and the beginning of this century, which are associated with Paithan and Hyderabad, are of thick rich silk in purple, maroonish red and orange with a gold chatial, metal border of thread. They had a gold pallu with a border pattern of curving leaves and flowers on all four sides often with a central buta of a stylised flowering shrub.

Today some of the finest Paithani saris have been revived by Suriya Hasan in Hyderabad with the help of two master weavers of Paithan.

Tanchoi silk

Another interesting weave is the tanchoi, which is based on the weaving technique brought from China by three brothers, called Choi (tan - three, Choi - brothers). The tanchoi weavers wove silk saris and yardage, which was mostly used by the Parsi community. This technique was revived in the Fifties, however it was complex and expensive. The Banaras weavers copied the pattern and the texture and transferred it to their jacquard looms. This made it possible to not only reduce the price to one third the original, but to innovate the combination of brocaded gold butis and borders in a background of self patterned tanchoi.

The choice today for the women is varied and rich: from the heavy silk brocaded saris, to the fine tissue of gold thread with Jamdani patterns, to the fine gossamer cotton jamdanis with shadow like white thread patterns, sometimes enriched with gold thread and the rich tanchois, which are all woven in Varanasi. There are also the silk Asavali saris of Gujarat, the shimmering gold pallu Paithani and the silken Baluchari with the rich pictorial pallus woven in Murshidabad and in Varanasi. A rich choice indeed . . . .