The Exquisitely Beautiful Banarasi Sari

The banarasi sari is in vogue since the Mughal era. It is sleek, elegant and is widely appreciated and popular among the women all over the world. This sari is made in and around the holy city of Benaras in Uttar Pradesh in India. Wearing the sari is an old tradition and children as young as ten years old start learning this art. It is mostly woven by Muslim weavers on handlooms across the length and breadth of the region.

Banarsi saris are quite expensive as they are quite heavily embroidered, and are generally preferred to be worn on formal occasions like weddings and festivities. These saris are very famous and are exported all over the world. They are mainly divided into four categories; pure silk, organza with zari, shattir and the georgette. Earlier during the Mughal period the natural silk for the silk saris used to come from China but nowadays it is obtained from Bangalore in South India.

The discerning factor of the banarsi saris are decorations with embroidery and rich paisley motifs. They have elaborate embroidery all over, or only along the border. The motifs are in the form of flowers, foliage, scenes of village fairs, dancing monkeys and many more. During the Mughal era beautiful Persian designs were fudged with Indian designs to form elaborate flowery patterns, which are visible in the modern designs as well. A simple sari takes up to 15 to 30 days to be completed, but some may even take six months or even more. The saris are hand woven, and it normally takes as many as three persons to work on one sari. If the sari has very heavy embroidery, and the cost of the saris can run up to several thousand Indian Rupees.

Once the saris are ready, the artisans come and sell them in the wholesale markets of Benaras, from where they are sent all over India and even exported. These saris can be bought from emporiums, or in sari showrooms, and no sari showroom worth its name is complete without the banarsi sari in its ranks. They can even be bought online from select online stores like indianselections.com