🇮🇳 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
🇮🇳 IndiaChanderi sari
A silk sari woven in Chanderi, Madhya Pradesh, with gold and silver zariSilk · Brocade · Zari work
🇮🇳 IndiaMaheshwari saree
A handloom saree from Maheshwar, woven in cotton, silk and zari with local motifsSilk · Zari work
🇮🇳 IndiaMurshidabad silkমুর্শিদাবাদী রেশম
Fine, light silk from Murshidabad in West Bengal, woven mostly into sarisSilk · Zari work · Jamdani
🇮🇳 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
🇮🇳 IndiaSurat zari
Metal-wrapped thread made in Surat and woven into silk sarees across IndiaSilk · Zari work · Brocade
🇮🇳 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
🇮🇳 IndiaBalaramapuram handloom
A fine undyed cotton weave with a golden kasavu zari border, hand-woven in KeralaCotton · Zari work
🇮🇳 IndiaBanarasi sari
Fine silk sari of Varanasi, hand-woven at home with zari work for weddingsSilk · Brocade · Zari work
🇮🇳 IndiaThirubuvanam silk sari
Silk saree from a Thanjavur district town, its border and pallu dense with zariSilk · Zari work
🇮🇳 IndiaGota patti
Rajasthani applique embroidery that stitches down ribbons of gold and silverGeorgette · Appliqué · Embroidery
🇮🇳 India and 4 moreZardoziज़रदोज़ी
Heavy gold and silver metal embroidery on silk, satin or velvet, from Iran to IndiaSilk · Embroidery · Zari 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
🇮🇳 IndiaKimkhwab
A heavy silk brocade woven with gold and silver yarns, famed in Mughal IndiaSilk · Brocade · Zari work
🇮🇳 IndiaGarad sariগরদ শাড়ি
A fine silk sari woven on pit looms in Murshidabad and Birbhum, worn at Durga PujaSilk · Zari work · Brocade
🇮🇳 IndiaBerhampur Patta
Odisha silk saree with a phoda kumbha temple border and zari edging, GI protectedSilk · Zari work · Temple border
🇮🇳 IndiaKhara Dupattaکھڑا دوپٹہ
A six-yard embroidered net veil draped over a wedding ensemble in HyderabadNet · Embroidery · Zari work
🇮🇳 India and 3 moreDupattaदुपट्टा, دوپٹہ
A versatile long scarf and veil draped with traditional ensembles across South AsiaSilk · Brocade · Tie-dye
🇮🇳 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
🇮🇳 IndiaIlkal sari
A cotton saree with a loop-joined silk pallu and broad red border, from Ilkal, KarnatakaCotton · Zari work · Embroidery
🇧🇩 Bangladesh and 1 moreAbrawan
A legendary, sheer muslin from Dacca named after flowing waterCotton · Zari work
🇨🇳 China and 5 moreBrocade
A decorative shuttle-woven silk fabric patterned with raised supplementary-weft motifsSilk · Brocade · Zari work
🇧🇩 Bangladesh and 1 moreJamdaniজামদানি
A sheer cotton muslin saree decorated with hand-woven supplementary weft motifsCotton · Jamdani · Brocade
🇮🇳 IndiaBomkai sari
An Odisha handloom saree with extra-weft threadwork, woven in cotton and silkCotton · Zari work
🇮🇳 IndiaKasavu
Kerala's off-white cotton cloth with a fine gold or silver border woven into itCotton · Zari work
🇮🇳 IndiaMundum neriyathumമുണ്ട് നേരിയത്
A two-piece white cotton cloth of Kerala, worn with a golden border called kasavuCotton · Zari work
🇮🇳 IndiaLanga voniలంగా వోణి
A two-piece half sari worn by girls in South India, a skirt with a short diagonal drapeSilk · Embroidery · Zari work
🇮🇳 IndiaBanarasi sari
A heavy silk brocade saree woven with gold and silver zari in VaranasiSilk · Brocade · Zari work
🇮🇳 IndiaPaithani
A Maharashtrian handwoven silk sari with interlocking tapestry borders and peacock motifsSilk · Zari work · Brocade
🇮🇳 IndiaKanchipuram sari
A silk sari from Kanchipuram with a separate contrast border locked onto the bodySilk · Zari work · Brocade
🇮🇳 IndiaKovai Cora cotton
A handwoven cotton-silk saree from Coimbatore with bright bordersCotton · Zari work · Brocade
🇮🇳 IndiaDharmavaram silk sari
A handwoven Andhra silk sari in mulberry silk and zari, made only on pit loomsSilk · Zari work · Tie-dye
🇮🇳 India and 1 moreHandloom sari
Saris woven by hand on pit looms in India and BangladeshSilk · Zari work · Jamdani
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Garad sari: Bongan, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Mundum neriyathum: L. Anantha Krishna Iyer (Diwan Bahadur), Public domain, source
- Chanderi sari: India Untravelled, CC BY 2.0, source
- Kanchipuram sari: McKay Savage, CC BY 2.0, source
- Paithani: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Handloom sari: P.K.Niyogi, Public domain, source
- Shalu sari: Sreekumar K. S., CC BY 2.0, source
- Chattayum mundum: Alexander J. Mapleton, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Arani silk saree: Balu 606902, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Gota patti: User:आशीष भटनागर, Public domain, source
- Ilkal sari: T B Dinesh, CC0, source
- Zardozi: Zarood, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Surat zari: Hiart, CC0, source
- Dupatta: Kinshuk Sunil, CC BY 2.0, source
- Jamdani: Salim_Khandoker, CC0, source
- Banarasi sari: Ekabhishek, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Brocade: After James Lehman (England, circa 1688-1745), Public domain, source
- Langa voni: Kannadiga, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Dharmavaram silk sari: Ch Maheswara Raju, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Khes: RAJIVVASUDEV, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Bomkai sari: Nayansatya, CC BY 3.0, source