🇮🇳 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.
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.
Weaving centres and states of India
🇮🇳 India and 4 moreSariसाड़ी
A single unstitched length of cloth, tucked at the waist and slung over one shoulderSilk · Brocade · Ikat
🇮🇳 India and 1 moreBandhani
Tie-dyed cloth dotted with small tied knots, made in Gujarat and RajasthanSilk · Tie-dye
🇮🇳 IndiaChikankariचिकनकारी (Urdu: چکن کاری)
White thread hand embroidery from Lucknow, stitched on pale, sheer clothCotton · Embroidery · Block print
🇮🇳 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
🇮🇩 Indonesia and 5 moreSarongꦱꦫꦸꦁ
A wrapped tube of cloth worn at the waist, from the Malay world to Kerala and SomaliaCotton · Batik · Ikat
🇮🇳 IndiaJamawar
A brocaded shawl cloth from Kashmir, once sold by the yard and woven in pashminaWool · Brocade
🇮🇳 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
🇮🇳 India and 1 moreMalda silk
A soft, golden-yellow silk yarn from Malda district, West Bengal, woven into sareesSilk
🇧🇩 Bangladesh and 1 moreAbrawan
A legendary, sheer muslin from Dacca named after flowing waterCotton · Zari work
🇮🇳 IndiaTsüngkotepsü
A black and red Ao Naga warrior shawl with a white band of animal and star motifsChecks and stripes
🇮🇳 IndiaShantiniketan batik
Hand-painted batik from Shantiniketan in Bengal, its colours mixed from leaf and barkBatik · Hand painting
🇮🇳 IndiaKimkhwab
A heavy silk brocade woven with gold and silver yarns, famed in Mughal IndiaSilk · Brocade · Zari work
🇮🇳 India and 4 moreEri silk
A wild silk from northeast India, spun from cocoons the moth has leftEri
🇮🇳 IndiaPatola sari
A double ikat silk saree from Patan, Gujarat, dyed and knotted before it is wovenSilk · 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
🇮🇳 IndiaOdisha Ikat
Silk tied, dyed and woven in Odisha villages into saris with hazy, feathered edgesSilk · Ikat · Tie-dye
🇮🇳 IndiaPheichom
A men's wrap of the Meitei people of Manipur, worn like the dhoti, in cotton or silkCotton · Block print
🇮🇳 IndiaKanchipuram sari
A silk sari from Kanchipuram with a separate contrast border locked onto the bodySilk · Zari work · Brocade
🇮🇳 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
🇮🇳 India and 1 moreUppada Jamdani sari
A light handwoven silk sari from Uppada, Andhra Pradesh, patterned in the jamdani waySilk · Jamdani · Zari work
🇮🇳 IndiaMangalagiri sari
A plain-bodied cotton sari from Andhra Pradesh with zari on the borderCotton · Zari work
🇮🇳 India and 1 moreHandloom sari
Saris woven by hand on pit looms in India and BangladeshSilk · Zari work · Jamdani
🇮🇩 Indonesia and 5 moreIkat
Yarns are tied and dyed before weaving, giving the cloth a softly blurred patternSilk · Ikat
🇮🇳 India and 1 moreTant sari
A light, near-transparent cotton sari woven in Bengal, suited to hot, humid weatherCotton · Jamdani · Embroidery
🇮🇳 IndiaPasapali sari
A handloom ikat saree from Odisha with chess-board checks in contrasting colours.Ikat · Checks and stripes
🇮🇳 IndiaMaheshwari saree
A handloom saree from Maheshwar, woven in cotton, silk and zari with local motifsSilk · Zari work
🇮🇳 India and 1 moreSari-inspired dress
A dress that borrows the sari's drape, ornament and colourChiffon · Embroidery
🇮🇳 IndiaChattayum mundumചട്ടയും മുണ്ടും
A two-piece white cotton dress of Kerala's Syrian Christian womenCotton · Embroidery · Zari work
🇮🇳 IndiaShalu sari
A Banaras sari made with silk from two weaving traditions, worn by brides in MaharashtraSilk · Zari work
🇮🇳 IndiaKhandua
An Odisha ikat silk saree woven with temple verses and auspicious motifsSilk · Ikat
🇮🇳 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
🇮🇳 IndiaArani silk saree
A handloom silk saree from Arani, Tamil Nadu, known for its zari workSilk · Zari work · Block print
🇮🇳 IndiaKorial sariকোরিয়াল শাড়ি
A red-bordered mulberry silk saree woven on hand looms in West BengalSilk · Jamdani · Zari work
🇮🇳 IndiaKoorai silk sariகூரை பட்டு புடவை
A nine-yard silk-cotton bridal sari with small checks, woven at Koranad in Tamil NaduBlend · Checks and stripes
🇮🇳 IndiaAssam silk
Golden muga, white pat and warm eri silks, reared and hand-woven in AssamMuga
🇮🇳 IndiaPuttapaka saree
A silk double-ikat saree tied and dyed by hand in Puttapaka village, Nalgonda.Silk · Ikat · Tie-dye
🇮🇳 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
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Bandhani: RubyGoes, CC BY 2.0, source
- Pasapali sari: Prateek Pattanaik, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- 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
- Shantiniketan batik: Sumita Arup, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Eri silk: Simtastic01, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Patola sari: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Odisha Ikat: Atudu, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Madras: Shweta Venkateswaran, CC0, source
- Pheichom: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Kanchipuram sari: McKay Savage, CC BY 2.0, 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
- Shalu sari: Sreekumar K. S., CC BY 2.0, source
- Sari-inspired dress: Triangle films, Public domain, 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
- Arani silk saree: Balu 606902, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Assam silk: Hiranmoy Boruah, CC BY-SA 3.0, 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