Elegant Paithani online sarees in India

Paithani means Marathi, is a variety of sari, named after the Paithani town in Aurangabad Maharashtra state where they are woven by hands. Made from very fine silk it is considered as one of the richest saris in Maharashtra. The Paithani saree is woven in gold and silk. The Paithani is characterized by borders of an Oblique square designs, and a pallu with a peacock design. Plain as well as spotted designs are available. Among other varities, single colored and Kaleidoscope-colored designs are also popular. The kaleidoscope effect is achieved by using one color for weaving lengthwise and another for weaving widthwise.

The pattan (Paithani) is a gold and silk sari. In the revival of Paithani weaving, the production was oriented towards export requirements, while saris were produced only for sophisticated buyers. Paithani evolved from a cotton base to a silk base. Silk was used in Weft designs and in the borders, whereas cotton was used in the body of the fabric. Present day Paithani has no trace of cotton. There was a time when silk was imported from china. Now Yeola and Paithani buy silk from Bangalore.

The material used in the sari made is silk and zari. It is a plain weave with weft figuring designs done on principles of tapestry. Traditionally, Paithani had a coloured, cotton muslin field that often contains considerable supplementary zari patterning. Although in 19th century, silk fields were also woven. The three types of silk threads are used they are Charkha, Ciddle-Gatta and china silk.

The warp is usually made in the peg or drums warping process and is tied in ball form at the back of loom. It is usually made for 2 pieces of sari and is about 11.5 meters in length. While coloured silk is mostly used in figure work, the soild border have extra weft figuring threads. The weft for border therefore appears as separately woven and stitched to the body of the sari. Some times a separate pallu warp is twisted on the body. The end piece has fine silk. Warp threads are only of zari forming a golden ground upon which angular, brightly coloured silk designs are woven in the interlocked weft, producing a tapestry effect.

The region is also famous for Ajanta caves, the influence of the Buddhist paintings can be seen in the woven Paithani motifs. Small motifs like circles, stars, kuyri rui phool, kalas pakhhli, chandrakor, clusters of 3 leaves, were very common for the body of the sari. The pallu contains muniya a kind of parrot used in borders and always found in green colour with an occasional red touch at the mouth. The other patterns used are Panja, Barwa, Laher, Muthada, Asawali and Mor.

The Paithani saris are silks in which there is no extra weft forming figures. The figuring weave was obtained by a plain tapestry technique. The three ways of technique for weaving are split tapestry, interlocking method and dobe tailing method. Weving could take between 18 to 24 months, depending upon the complexity of the design. Today there are many weavers who are working for the revival of this treasured weave.

Prachi.L She is a freelancer long associated with ethnic fabrics, known for her special leaning towards ethnic sarees. She enjoys the privilege of being a part-time consultant to Unnati Silks. S.E-mail her at unnatikaro@gmail.com.