The sarees of Nalanda
Home of the ancient monastic university ruins and of the Bawan Buti sarees, woven with fifty-two small motifs.
Motifs of Nalanda
Woven here
Best time: October to March.
Nalanda district in Bihar is known for the ruins of an old Buddhist monastic university, and also for Bawan Buti, a weaving tradition in which the cloth is covered with small motifs, said to number fifty-two. The name means fifty-two motifs. Bawan Buti is woven on cotton and tussar, and the motifs often draw on Buddhist symbols.
What is woven here
Bawan Buti is a kind of extra-weft weaving, in which motifs are added to a plain ground in the same colour or in contrast, row after row, by hand. The motifs are small and repeating, such as lotus, wheel and tree forms. Because each motif is built into the cloth during weaving, the work is slow, and the cloth is used for sarees, bedspreads and curtains.
The craft and its people
The weavers work in villages of the district, with families who have woven the pattern for several generations. Basarbigha is the village most often named. Like other regional weaves, Bawan Buti has been supported by craft programmes that train younger weavers and introduce the pattern to designers, but demand is small and many weavers work for a limited market.
Seeing it
Nalanda's ruins are the main reason to visit, and a day can be built around them and then a drive to a weaving village. Make contact in advance through a craft organisation or a local guide, since weavers' homes are not set up for casual visits. The nearby town of Rajgir has Buddhist and Jain sites.
A trail idea for Nalanda
- Nalanda ruins See the monastic university site first, which gives the Buddhist background of many of the motifs.
- A weaving village near Basarbigha With a local guide, visit a household loom where Bawan Buti motifs are built into the cloth by hand.
- Rajgir Add the nearby hill town with its Buddhist and Jain sites for a second day.
Written by the EveryPallu desk with AI assistance. Background: "Nalanda" on Wikipedia. Opening hours, markets and workshops change; check locally before travelling. If something is wrong, tell us.
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