🇮🇳 The sarees of India

127 sarees from India, best known first, across 80 centres and states.

The sari is an unstitched length of woven cloth draped over the body, worn across India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Pakistan. Its history runs back to ancient drapery in the northwest of the subcontinent, and it shares roots with earlier pieces like the stanapatta, uttariya and antariya.

A sari measures 4.5 to 9 yards long and 24 to 47 inches wide.
Over 80 drapes are recorded; historian Rta Kapur Chishti found 108 across 14 states.
Cotton was cultivated and woven in the subcontinent around the 5th millennium BCE.
Indigo, lac, red madder and turmeric were ancient dyes, still in use today.
Red is the most favoured colour for a Hindu wedding sari.

Sarees in India

The sari is a single piece of unstitched cloth. It can run from about four and a half to nine yards long and roughly two to four feet wide. One end is tucked at the waist and the other rests on a shoulder like a stole, often leaving the midriff bare. The word comes from shatika, a Sanskrit term for a strip of cloth. Older texts describe a set of three pieces: a chest band, a shoulder veil and a wrap for the lower body. These grew into the modern choli, dupatta and skirt. The garment is everyday and formal wear across the region, and it sits beside related draped cloth in Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Weaves and fabrics

Cotton was grown and woven in the subcontinent from around the fifth millennium BCE, and silk from about 2450 to 2000 BCE. Handloom saris are made in silk and cotton. Named traditions include brocade silks such as Banarasi, Kanchipuram, Gadwal, Paithani, Mysore, Chanderi and Maheshwari, and lighter cloths like jamdani, tant, Mangalagiri, Ilkal and tussar. Ikat and tie-dye appear too. Polyester, georgette and charmeuse are now common as well.

How it is worn

More than eighty drapes have been recorded, and one scholar, Rta Kapur Chishti, documented a hundred and eight across fourteen states. The nivi style is the most seen today: cloth wrapped at the waist, pleats in front, the loose end, or pallu, over one shoulder. Related family styles include kaccha or nauvari, where pleats pass between the legs, and sidha pallu, worn by women in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan, with the end brought forward. Bengali wear folds in a single box pleat. In Nepal, a Newari drape ties the pallu at the waist.

Dyeing, printing and embroidery

Dyeing is old here. Indigo, lac, red madder and turmeric were used in ancient times and are still worked with. Tie-dye and block-print saris include bandhani, leheria, bagru, ajrakh, sungudi, dabu, bagh and kalamkari. Embroidery covers gota patti for formal wear, plus mochi, pakko, kharak, suf, kathi, phulkari and gamthi. In the south the choli is called ravike and ties at the front; kasuti embroidery decorates it.

Weaving centres

Many saris are known by the place or style they come from. Silk brocades include Banarasi, Kanchipuram, Gadwal, Paithani, Mysore, Uppada, Chanderi, Maheshwari and Narayanpet. Ikat and cotton saris include Patola, Pochampally, Bomkai, Khandua, Sambalpuri, Berhampuri, Bargarh, Jamdani, Tant, Mangalagiri, Guntur, Tussar, Ilkal, Kotpad and Manipuri. Kerala keeps a two-piece mundum neryathum. Kashmir took the choli from the Deccan by royal order.

Weddings, festivals and daily wear

Red is the favourite colour for a wedding sari, and it is the traditional bridal choice at Hindu weddings. Handloom silks, brocades, tie-dye and block prints serve festive and formal days. Ikat and cotton saris are worn for both festival and everyday use, while tie-dyed and printed cloth was favoured in the monsoon. A married woman may draw the loose end over her head as a ghoonghat, still seen in Hindi-speaking areas.

The saree today

The sari stays fashionable in the subcontinent and counts as formal dress in several countries of the region. Newer fabrics such as polyester, georgette and charmeuse are widely used. Since 2017 a non-profit project, the Sari Series, has gathered short films showing more than eighty regional drapes, keeping that variety visible.

Where this page comes from

The facts in this overview come from the Wikipedia article "Sari", written by its contributors and used under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence. EveryPallu rewrote the text in its own words, with AI assistance, and compares every page with the article to make sure no passage is copied. It may be reused under the same CC BY-SA 4.0 licence with a link back.

🇮🇳 India and 4 moreSariसाड़ी A single unstitched length of cloth, tucked at the waist and slung over one shoulderSilk · Brocade · Ikat

🇮🇳 IndiaMundum neriyathumമുണ്ട് നേരിയത് A two-piece white cotton cloth of Kerala, worn with a golden border called kasavuCotton · Zari work

🇮🇳 IndiaChanderi sari A silk sari woven in Chanderi, Madhya Pradesh, with gold and silver zariSilk · Brocade · Zari work

🇮🇳 India and 1 moreMundumuṇṭŭ A cotton cloth wrapped at the waist, edged with the thicker woven line called the karaCotton · Embroidery 🇮🇳 IndiaTansukh cloth A fine, soft muslin-class cotton of medieval India, made into bodices, skirts and sarisCotton 🇮🇳 India and 1 morePathin A striped wrap skirt of the Hajong people, worn from bust to calf in Northeast IndiaSilk · Checks and stripes 🇧🇩 Bangladesh and 1 moreAbrawan A legendary, sheer muslin from Dacca named after flowing waterCotton · Zari work

🇮🇩 Indonesia and 5 moreSarongꦱꦫꦸꦁ A wrapped tube of cloth worn at the waist, from the Malay world to Kerala and SomaliaCotton · Batik · Ikat 🇮🇳 IndiaMoirang Phee A Manipur handloom with stepped tooth borders woven from both edges toward the centreCotton

🇮🇳 India and 2 moreMadras A light handwoven cotton cloth of bright checks, named after the city of ChennaiCotton · Checks and stripes · Embroidery

🇮🇳 IndiaPheichom A men's wrap of the Meitei people of Manipur, worn like the dhoti, in cotton or silkCotton · Block print

🇮🇳 IndiaKandangi A checked cotton saree from Chettinad, dyed in earthy colours with broad bordersCotton · Checks and stripes

🇮🇳 IndiaPaithani A Maharashtrian handwoven silk sari with interlocking tapestry borders and peacock motifsSilk · Zari work · Brocade

🇮🇳 IndiaPochampally sari A Telangana handloom saree whose geometric motifs are dyed into the yarn before weavingSilk · Ikat 🇮🇳 IndiaMangalagiri sari A cotton saree from a temple town in Andhra Pradesh, with a zari border and a plain bodyCotton · Zari work

🇮🇳 India and 1 moreHandloom sari Saris woven by hand on pit looms in India and BangladeshSilk · Zari work · Jamdani 🇮🇳 India and 1 moreUppada Jamdani sari A light handwoven silk sari from Uppada, Andhra Pradesh, patterned in the jamdani waySilk · Jamdani · Zari work

🇮🇩 Indonesia and 5 moreIkat A yarn-first resist dye method; the pattern blurs slightly on both faces of the clothSilk · Ikat

🇮🇳 India and 1 moreTant sari A light, near-transparent cotton sari woven in Bengal, suited to hot, humid weatherCotton · Jamdani · Embroidery

🇮🇳 IndiaChikankariचिकनकारी (Urdu: چکن کاری) White thread hand embroidery from Lucknow, stitched on pale, sheer clothCotton · Embroidery · Block print 🇮🇳 IndiaMaheshwari saree A handloom saree from Maheshwar, woven in cotton, silk and zari with local motifsSilk · Zari work

🇮🇳 IndiaChattayum mundumചട്ടയും മുണ്ടും A two-piece white cotton dress of Kerala's Syrian Christian womenCotton · Embroidery · Zari work

🇮🇳 India and 2 moreKhadi Hand-spun and hand-woven cloth from the subcontinent, tied to the swadeshi movementCotton 🇮🇳 IndiaTangaliya shawl A Gujarat shawl woven on pit looms, its dots raised by knots of contrast threadCotton

🇮🇳 India and 5 moreLungiলুঙ্গি A cloth tube or sheet tied at the waist, worn across South and Southeast AsiaCotton · Batik · Checks and stripes

🇮🇳 IndiaKoorai silk sariகூரை பட்டு புடவை A nine-yard silk-cotton bridal sari with small checks, woven at Koranad in Tamil NaduBlend · Checks and stripes 🇮🇳 IndiaBalaramapuram handloom A fine undyed cotton weave with a golden kasavu zari border, hand-woven in KeralaCotton · Zari work 🇮🇳 IndiaKasaragod saree A hard-wearing handloom cotton saree from Kasaragod district in KeralaCotton · Checks and stripes

🇮🇳 IndiaChendamangalam saree A fine cotton saree with a thin black tamarind-leaf border, handwoven in Kerala.Cotton · Checks and stripes

🇮🇳 IndiaBagh print Hand block printing with natural red and black dyes from a village on the Bagh riverCotton · Block print

🇮🇳 IndiaHimroo A silk and cotton fabric from Aurangabad that reworks the royal kinkhwab brocadeSilk · Brocade 🇮🇳 IndiaSujini embroidery A Bihar quilt craft where women stitch stories with a simple running stitchCotton · Embroidery

🇮🇳 IndiaKutch embroidery Hand-stitched mirror work from Kutch, Gujarat, made by women of its tribal communitiesCotton · Embroidery · Mirror work 🇮🇳 India and 1 moreAgrun A shawl-like festive wrap of the Hajong people, brocaded in silks with birds and flowers.Silk · Brocade · Zari work 🇮🇳 IndiaDorea A light, yarn-dyed striped cloth of Mughal-era India, woven in cotton and tussar.Cotton · Checks and stripes 🇮🇳 India and 1 moreGazzi cloth A coarse handloom cotton from Punjab, once sent in bulk to Afghan markets.Cotton 🇮🇳 IndiaBegampuri sareeবেগমপুরী শাড়ি Cotton handloom saree from Begampur in West Bengal, woven with a contrasting borderCotton · Checks and stripes 🇮🇳 IndiaBafta A plain-woven cotton calico from Gujarat, woven at Bharuch and traded far and wideCotton

🇮🇳 India and 4 moreWoodblock printing on textiles Patterns pressed onto cloth with hand-carved wooden blocks, the chhapa of South Asia.Linen · Block print

🇮🇳 IndiaTripuri dress A woven cotton wrap from Tripura, with its own pattern for each Tripuri clan.Cotton

🇮🇳 India and 2 moreChintzछींट A painted or woodblock-printed floral cotton cloth originating in GolcondaCotton · Block print · Hand painting 🇮🇳 IndiaShaphee Lanphee A heavy black and red embroidered textile woven by Meitei craftswomen in ManipurCotton · Embroidery

🇧🇩 Bangladesh and 2 moreMuslin A gossamer plain-weave cotton fabric historically spun and woven across BengalCotton · Jamdani

🇮🇳 IndiaIlkal sari A cotton saree with a loop-joined silk pallu and broad red border, from Ilkal, KarnatakaCotton · Zari work · Embroidery

🇮🇳 IndiaBomkai sari An Odisha handloom saree with extra-weft threadwork, woven in cotton and silkCotton · Zari work

🇮🇳 India and 1 moreKhes A thick hand-woven cotton blanket cloth from Punjab, checked and worn as a winter wrap.Cotton · Checks and stripes · Zari work

🇵🇰 Pakistan and 1 moreAjrakاجرڪ Geometric block-printed cloth dyed in deep indigo and crimsonCotton · Block print

🇮🇳 IndiaLeheriya A Rajasthani tie-dye whose slanting stripes echo wind ripples on desert sandCotton · Tie-dye

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

Mundum neriyathum: L. Anantha Krishna Iyer (Diwan Bahadur), Public domain, source
Chanderi sari: India Untravelled, CC BY 2.0, source
Mundu: Raja Ravi Varma, Public domain, source
Sarong: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Madras: Shweta Venkateswaran, CC0, source
Pheichom: Unknown author, Public domain, source
Kandangi: RidahZ, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Paithani: Unknown author, Public domain, source
Pochampally sari: Hermann Linde, Public domain, source
Handloom sari: P.K.Niyogi, Public domain, source
Ikat: Midori, CC BY 3.0, source
Tant sari: Billjones94, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Chikankari: Joey Berzowska, CC BY 2.0, source
Chattayum mundum: Alexander J. Mapleton, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Khadi: Unknown author, Public domain, source
Lungi: Laportechicago at English Wikipedia (Paul La Porte)., CC BY 2.5, source
Koorai silk sari: En.saravanan, CC BY 4.0, source
Chendamangalam saree: Malluchronicle, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Bagh print: Mrqd9, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Himroo: RubyGoes, CC BY 2.0, source
Kutch embroidery: Jainamishra, CC BY 3.0, source
Woodblock printing on textiles: William Morris, Public domain, source
Tripuri dress: Bijayan tripura, CC0, source
Chintz: Karun Thakar Collection photo. Work by unknown Coromandel artisans. Ph, Public domain, source
Muslin: Unknown author, Public domain, source
Ilkal sari: T B Dinesh, CC0, source
Khes: RAJIVVASUDEV, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Ajrak: Kashif11, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Leheriya: Daderot, CC0, source
Bomkai sari: Nayansatya, CC BY 3.0, source