Be it a marriage, festivals like Durga Puja, Dussehra, Diwali, or any ceremonial occasion, one simply cannot deny the sheer elegance that the Saree brings to the wearer. We bring you some details of the variety of sarees available with us, based on their origin, construction and uniqueness.

1. Banarasi: Perhaps one of the most opulent and royal of all, the Benarasi saree as its name suggests, originated from Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. It is known for gold and silver hand woven or powerloom brocade or zari embroidery. These heavy saris are made of finely woven silk and are decorated with intricate intertwining floral and foliate motifs, kalga and bel, a string of upright leaves called jhallar at the outer edge of border, gold work, compact weaving, figures with small details, pallus, jal (a net like pattern), and mina work. The saris are often part of an Indian bride’s trousseau. Fabrics like – Dupion silk, Ghicha (Tussar) silk, Monga silk, Linen, Shattir, Kora Organza, Khaddi Georgette are used to make banarasi saree and its varieties are brocade, Jamdani, Jangla, Jamwar Tanchoi, Tissue, Cut work, and Butidar.

2. Kanjeevaram : Kanchipuram silk sari is made in the Kanchipuram region in Tamil Nadu, Pure mulberry silk and Zari is used in the making of Kanchipuram saris. If the mundhi or aanchal of the saree is woven in a different shade, it is first separately woven and then delicately joined to the Sari. These saris are distinguished by their wide contrast temple borders, checks, stripes and floral (buttas) designs inspired from images and scriptures in South Indian temples or natural features like leaves, birds and animals, paintings of Raja Ravi Varma and epics of Mahabharata and Ramayana. Kanchipuram saris vary widely in cost depending upon the intricacy of work, colours, pattern, material used like zari (gold thread) etc.

3. Chanderi : The beautiful Chanderi sari is a traditional sari made in Chanderi, Madhya Pradesh and dates back to the 13th century. Chanderi saris are made from pure silk, Chanderi cotton and silk cotton. Traditional coin, floral art, peacocks and modern geometric designs are woven into different Chanderi patterns. The saris are among the finest in India and are known for their gold and silver brocade or zari, fine silk, and opulent embroidery.

4. Tussar : Tussar silk or tassar or kosa silk is produced from larvae of silkworms. Tussar silk is valued for its rich texture and natural, deep-gold colour. Tussar silk is considered more textured than than “mulberry” silk, and has shorter fibres. Bhagalpur, Bihar, West Bengal. Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand are main producers of tussar. The tussaar saree is a much loved variety of the nine yards for its vibrant colours as well as its natural colours. The sarees are hand-woven and can be embroidered, hand painted, dyed and embellished to one’s choice and is a versatile item in a woman’s wardrobe.

Here, we take a look at some Special Types of Saree weaves:

• Brocade: In a brocade weave, in addition to the primary weft that holds the warp threads together to weave the ground, an extra weft is used by the weaver that only weaves the motifs. Brocades are essentially of two kinds :

1. In Fekuan brocade, the extra width runs end-to-end weaving motifs across the width of the fabric. If the motifs cover only a small area on the fabric, there are often floating extra weft on the back which are then diligently and carefully clipped off.
2. In Kadhuan Brocade, the weaver weaves each motif individually, along with the cloth. There are no cuts at the back as there are no floating extra wefts. Thus the motifs are sharper, have more colors, and the fabric is more comfortable to the skin due to absence of cuts. This variety is very pricy considering the long time it takes to weave the saree.

• Tanchoi : Tanchoi is a complex weaving technique involving a single or double warp and two to five colors on the weft which are often of the same shade andthe background fabric texture has a Satin finish. These sarees are extremely colourful, lightweight and soft to drape. Like Brocades, Tanchoi is constructed using an extra set of colorful weft silk yarn covering the satin ground thus creating unusually distinctive patterns.
  Usual designs are figures of flying birds, paired cocks amidst floral sprays, which are worked all over the body surrounded by flowers. Sometimes the pallu is done more solidly with peacocks, baskets or bunches of flowers or hunting scenes. Tanchoi silk sarees are also ornamented in some ravishing floral, geometrical and paisley designs. Most of the times the designs are of Chinese origin but weavers also integrate Indian motifs to create unique pieces of art.
• Ikat: Ikat is a universal weaving method where,  parts of the yarns for the warp and/or weft are protected with a resist before dyeing. The most coveted double ikat woven fabrics come from Guatemala, India, Japan and Indonesia; each region has its own distinct patterns, styles and choices of colour. Ikat is has 4 varieties based on which threads are dyed.

1. Warp Ikat: Where only the warp threads are bound.
2. Weft Ikat: Where only the weft threads are bound.
3. Compound Ikat: Where both the warp and weft threads are bound, but their designs are independent of each other.
4. Double Ikat: Where both the warp and weft threads are bound, but their designs work together to create the overall pattern. This technique is the most complicated and difficult.

• Paithani: The Paithani silk sari, named after Paithan town in Aurangabad, Maharashtra, comes in single colored and kaleidoscope-colored designs. The kaleidoscopic effect is achieved by using one color for weaving lengthwise and another for weaving width wise.
  Paithani is characterised by borders of an oblique square design, and a padar with a peacock design. It is a plain weave, with weft figuring designs according to the principles of tapestry. Traditionally, Paithanis had a coloured, cotton muslin field that often contained considerable supplementary zari patterning. Due to proximity to the Ajanta caves, the influence of the Buddhist paintings can be seen in the woven Paithani motifs.
• Jamdani: Jamdani or Muslin, is a fine woven saree (cotton, silk or a mix of both) crafted by supplementary weft technique of weaving. Jamdani weave is a supplementary weft technique of weaving, where the artistic motifs are produced by a non-structural weft, in addition to the standard weft that holds the warp threads together. The standard weft creates a fine, sheer fabric while the supplementary weft with thicker threads adds intricate patterns to it; each one of the motif designs is hand-woven into the muslin using a single continuous extra weft yarn. The result is a complex mix of different patterns that appear to float on the surface of the Jamdani fabric. Usually motifs are flora and fauna, geometric in its silhouette.
• Baluchari : Baluchari sarees can be broadly categorized based on the threads used in weaving the patterns:
  1. Baluchari (resham): the simplest balucharis have resham threads in a single colour to weave the entire pattern

  2. Baluchari (meenakari): these balucharis have threads in 2 or more colours with attractive meenakari work that further brightens the patterns.

  3. Swarnachari (baluchari in gold): They are the most gorgeous balucharis, woven with gold or silver coloured threads (often with meenakari work in another colour) that illuminate the patterns to a much larger extent.

  The original baluchari sarees in Murshidabad in the 18th and 19th centuries were woven on the traditional jala looms, where jala refers to the reference master design which is made first and copied repetitively for weaving the sarees. The elaborate process took 15-18 weeks to weave a saree and created a large variety of very intricate patterns. During the revival of baluchari weaving in the 20th century by the artist Subho Thakur, jala was replaced by the jacquard technique of weaving. Here, the design is first drawn on a graph paper and then punched into cards accordingly. These cards are then arranged sequentially, sewed together and finally fixed into the jacquard machines. The jacquard technique is simpler and faster, reduces the weaving time to 1 or 2 weeks, but is not as flexible as the jala technique and cannot produce patterns with as much diversity or intricacy. This is the technique that is used in modern times to weave baluchari sarees.