The sarees of Paithan
An old town on the Godavari in Maharashtra, the original home of the Paithani, a silk sari with a woven peacock and lotus pallu.
Motifs of Paithan
Woven here
Best time: October to February.
GI: Paithani sarees and fabrics are a registered Geographical Indication.
Paithan is an ancient town on the Godavari river, in the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar district of Maharashtra. It gave its name to the Paithani, a silk sari with a border and pallu woven in gold and coloured thread. It is one of the most prized weaves of western India.
What is woven here
A Paithani has a plain silk body, often in a strong jewel colour, and a wide border and pallu woven with zari. Designs include the peacock, the lotus and the parrot, and the border often has an oblique square design. The pallu is made with the tapestry technique of discontinuous weft. A single sari may take months, and the cloth is used as a wedding sari in Maharashtra.
The craft and its people
Paithani weaving declined in the twentieth century and was revived with help from government and weaver groups. Today it is woven in Paithan and in Yeola. The work requires patience, because each motif is built with separate threads.
Seeing it
Paithan has a weaving centre that can be visited, and a museum of the craft. The town also has a temple of the saint Eknath, and nearby Aurangabad, now called Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, has the Ajanta and Ellora caves a few hours away.
A trail idea for Paithan
- Paithani weaving centre See the discontinuous weft peacock being built up thread by thread on the loom.
- Eknath Maharaj temple A temple of the saint of Paithan, on the Godavari, a short walk from the weaving area.
- Ellora Caves A cave complex in the same district, worth a separate day if you have the time.
Written by the EveryPallu desk with AI assistance. Background: "Paithan" on Wikipedia. Opening hours, markets and workshops change; check locally before travelling. If something is wrong, tell us.
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Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Paithani: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Shalu sari: Sreekumar K. S., CC BY 2.0, source