Saree Verse

While the first discovered saree dates back to the Indus Valley Civilization around 2000BC, sarees have since spanned the Indian subcontinent and been revered as symbols of each state’s culture and history.

As trading and weaving in India flourished, so too did sarees. With the influx of rich foreigners, Indian women began requesting artisans to incorporate gold threads, expensive stones and fine fabric into their sarees.

Though this soon turned into a symbol of status, the saree remained unchanged as a commonly worn garment across all strata of society.

With the dawn of industrialisation came the rise of synthetic dyes. Local traders began to indulge in the export and import of chemical dyes, and various methods of printing and new techniques flooded the market, leaving women with a variety of options to choose from amongst sarees displaying prints of motifs, figures and flowers.

And soon enough the saree became the traditional attire for Indian women, with each state having its breed of sarees to identify it and each type of saree having its own national roots.

Banaras, for example, is a thriving sector of the cotton textile industry. The Brocade and Zari textiles of Banaras date back to the 19th century, possibly beginning around the time when the silk weavers from Gujarat migrated there during the famine of 1603.

During the Mughal period, brocade weaving with intricate designs using threads of gold and silver threads became the speciality of this city. In recent years various Varanasi brands have begun to revive this saree by bringing it directly to mainstream consumers.

The Kanchipuram saree, another one of South India’s most famous drapes, is often made of heavy silk and gold cloth and has, as of 2005, been giving a geographical indication of the state of Tamil Nadu.

The weaving culture of the Chanderi saree began between the 2nd and 7th centuries. Situated on the boundary of Malwa and Bundelkhand, the Chanderi saree tradition officially began around 1350, when Koshti weavers from Jhansi migrated to and settled in Chanderi. However, it was only during the Mughal period, that the textile business of Chanderi peaked.

These historical stories are as infinite as the variety of sarees in our country. That’s why it cannot be said enough that this garment is so much more than attire but the artistic artefact that depicts our nation’s development and also develops alongside it. Each strain of saree is a beautiful byproduct of Indian culture at its core, telling a million stories that tie together into one like the countless threads in each drape.