Banarasi sari

What is Banarasi sari?

Banarasi silk is the fine silk of Varanasi, a north Indian city whose cloth is famous across India. Almost all of it goes into Banarasi saris. The weaving is home work: Ansari Muslim families weave at looms large enough to fill a room, worked by foot. What sets the saris apart is their finish, detailed patterns covered with zari, the gold or silver thread used to decorate fine cloth, work once done in pure gold. Such a sari is kept for special occasions rather than daily wear, and many Indian girls grow up hoping to wear Varanasi silk at their wedding.

Where does Banarasi sari come from?

Varanasi has woven silk for generations, with the craft handed down from father to son among its weavers, and the city's saris are known across India. The trade has shrunk badly: by 2015 only about 40,000 weavers remained in the city, against 300,000 earlier. Weavers and observers point to a few causes, including fewer buyers for saris, growing numbers of imported saris, and the spread of power looms, which weave by machine. In 2009 the city's weaver associations and cooperatives won Geographical Indication rights for Banaras Brocades and Sarees, an official status that ties the cloth to Varanasi.

How is Banarasi sari made?

Weaving happens inside the weaver's home, on hand-operated looms powered by foot, each large enough to fill a room. Fathers teach the craft to sons, and the skill stays within the family. Once woven, the silk is fashioned into saris, finished with detailed pattern work and zari, a gold or silver thread decoration; in earlier times this embroidery was often worked in pure gold thread. The same silk also feeds Varanasi's brocade trade, and the Geographical Indication covers both brocades and saris. The industry is made up of small, unorganised workshops, and Human Rights Watch reports that children of five or six commonly begin learning the trade, because teaching very young children is thought to work better than training a twelve-year-old.

Colours, motifs and borders

The record names no fixed motifs or colours, but it is clear about the surface. Varanasi saris carry detailed designs and zari work, the gold thread decoration that defines the city's brocades. In earlier generations, the embroidery on these saris was often spun from pure gold. The official Geographical Indication title, Banaras Brocades and Sarees, names both crafts, the woven brocade and the sari, as one protected tradition.

When Banarasi sari is worn

A Varanasi silk sari is not everyday clothing. It is set aside for special occasions, appearing most often at traditional functions and at weddings. The zari-decorated cloth suits celebration, and the association runs deep: many Indian girls grow up hoping to wear Varanasi silk on their wedding day. This bridal pull is one reason the saris stay popular even as everyday sari demand falls.

Styles of Banarasi sari

Two products share the Varanasi silk name: brocades and saris, both brought under the 2009 Geographical Indication for Banaras Brocades and Sarees. The record also shows the pressure on this handloom trade. Power looms are named as one reason the number of weavers fell, and imported saris are another. No regional or modern variants of the sari itself appear in the record.

What Banarasi sari means

Silk weaving shapes Varanasi's identity as much as its economy. Most of the city's weavers are Momin Ansari Muslims, a community whose name, Ansari, means helper in Arabic, and whose skills have moved from father to son for generations. Their livelihoods have narrowed sharply, from 300,000 weavers to roughly 40,000 by 2015, as demand, imports and machine weaving cut into the trade. In 2009, weaver associations and cooperatives secured Geographical Indication status for Banaras Brocades and Sarees, a collective step that ties the cloth's name to the city and its makers.

Questions people ask about Banarasi sari

Good reading and sources

• Silk industry in Varanasi on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• Wikidata recordOpen data