Paithani — Dakhni.org

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OriginPaithan, near Aurangabad^[1]

Tradition establishedc. 200 BCE, in the Satavahana age^[1]

MaterialPure mulberry silk with a tapestry-woven zari border^[1]

Production timeUp to a year per piece^[1]

Paithani is the tapestry-bordered silk sari woven at Paithan, south of Aurangabad, a tradition established in the Satavahana age around 200 BCE. It is woven in pure mulberry silk with a border and end-piece in real zari — gold and silver thread — worked into the fabric itself rather than embroidered onto it, with a single sari taking up to a year to complete.^[1]

I · The WeavePaithan · Since the Satavahanas

Woven gold on silk

A tapestry-woven border, worked thread by thread into the silk

Unlike embroidery, which is applied after weaving, the Paithani border is built into the fabric on the loom itself — a tapestry technique in which the weft threads carrying the zari pattern are interlocked directly with the silk warp, producing a border and end-piece as strong as the silk ground it sits on. The scale of the work is why a single sari can take up to a year on the loom.^[1]

II · Continuing TraditionThe Looms of Paithan

Still on the loom

A craft that has outlasted the empires it was woven under

The looms of Paithan have continued weaving the Paithani sari since the Satavahana age and into the present — one of the longest continuously practised textile traditions of the Deccan plateau.^[1]

References

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ George Michell & Mark Zebrowski, Architecture and Art of the Deccan Sultanates (The New Cambridge History of India I.7), Cambridge University Press, 1999.