Sari Stories

A sari holds countless stories - stories of the people who made it, sold it, wore it, preserved it.  There is magic in the threads that come together to make a beautiful woven cloth and then are draped ever so carefully and tightly to transform any wearer into looking like royalty. As I’ve researched the sarees in the Textile Resource Center, (TRC) at the School of the Art Institute, I’ve been fascinated by imagining these textiles coming to life and telling the stories of the hands that have made them and the people they have adorned. Sarees have been worn since the 16th century (Manhaptra) and are still being worn today. The construction technology has changed over the years but the main process stays the same. Thread is woven into intricate patterns using a ceiling loom and punched card system. Border and embroidery are attached afterwards and then the saris are sold all over India. The saree is also a rite of passage into womanhood for many Indian women.

In looking at the Textile Resource Center collection I was drawn to one sari in particular donated by Joan Livingstone. A mix of yellow, magenta, and highlights of orange and green caught my eye initially but I then noticed fabulous brocading and a lightness that I haven’t seen in a sari before. There was nothing on the ID tag besides “sari” so I felt like this piece needed to be explored a bit more.

I married into an Indian-American family several years ago and have learned so much about Indian culture and have had the opportunity to wear many beautiful garments such as saris, anarkalis, chanya choli and more for many family weddings including my own. 

My new extended family has a vast collection of saris including saris belonging to previous generations and those that have become personal favorites over the years. My hope in this project was to identify the history of the sari from the TRC and also collect stories from the women in my family who have worn and purchased saris for themselves and others over their lifetime. The construction of each sari tells a story and prepares the wearer for specific moments and events in their life. As a researcher, I’ve tried to be mindful to listen and investigate what these garments would tell me if they could talk.

Wrapping a Sari Takes a Community

A sari is a singular long piece of material up to nine yards in length. It is typically woven in three separate pieces: the pallu, the sari body and the border.

There are many unique ways to wear or wrap a sari and in my experience, similar to the construction of the cloth, wrapping it takes a community.  In all ways to wear, the pallu stands out as the most decorated piece of the sari and the sari is draped over the body in a way to accentuate it.  A more intricate and expensive pallu signifies a sari is for festivals, poojas or even weddings. These are often preserved by future generations of a family and shared among friends and family, just not at back-to-back events, a social faux pa. 

Research & Discovery

Different states have different patterns and construction methods so I carefully observed the patterns, colors and structures to aid my research. Looking closer at the sari from the TRC,I observed there were triangle shapes of varying sizes moving vertically along the warp. In doing some additional research, I found this type of pattern is known as temple border and is common in south India. Looking closer at the triangles of the temple border with magnification, I saw how the magenta thread from the weft of the border was combined with the yellow weft of the sari body. This technique is done by hand and is called a kuttu border. This old handweaving technique requires a highly skilled handweaver and is similar to brocading. Most saris today are woven by machine due to cost being much less expensive so seeing evidence of handweaving was very exciting and meant I had a really valuable piece of intel!

I also noticed under higher magnification that this sari had a combination of silk and cotton thread. The pallu and border were all silk, but the sari body had a weft of a much thicker fiber that upon inspection was cotton! This combination of silk/cotton has been in practice for years in a Gadwal sari. 

I also noticed that the tassels at the pallu end of the sari were all magenta but the tassels at the sari body end of the sari body were blue. This meant that the warp changed midway through. Typically the pallu, sari body, and border are all woven separately and then combined. Since I knew the border and sari body were combined through a kuttu border I looked at the pallu and sari body to see if I could observe how they were connected. Upon looking under magnification I saw where there was a stripe where magenta and blue overlapped and the warp changed. 

Gadwal History & Signifiers

After studying the sari, I was pretty confident it was a Gadwal sari from the kuttu border, cotton and silk combination and pallu to sari body attachment. I also learned that the color palette and motif of this sari fit the Gadwal region.

Gadwal sarees originate in Gadwal, a small town in Andhra Pradesh about 150km from Hyderabad and are produced by handloom. The Gadwal sari became more prevalent in the 1930s when the invention of the spinning loom became available. They spread throughout India in the late 1940s when the Gadwal Center was opened in Hyderabad. They were beloved by the women of India because of the blend of silk and cotton that makes the sari light and breathable. 

Traditionally, the weavers would weave each Gadwal sari such that it could be folded to the size of a matchbox. The temple border signifies their historical use, as puja or prayer sarees. The bright colors of the Gadwal sari that originally attracted me to want to study it more are actually one of the signifiers that it was made in this region of southern India. Because this kind of sari is still produced on a handloom and not a jacquard, it is seen as a status symbol and is often gifted to a bride at her wedding by the groom’s family. Gadwal sarees can be purchased throughout India and range anywhere from 16,000-20,000+ rupees. 

Another trait of typical Gadwal sarees is the zari, or elaborate embroidery work on the border, typically using gold thread. Though not present in the sari from the TRC, many Gadwal sarees have elaborate gold or silver embroidery thread many times depicting paisley, patterns in nature, or architecture like the temple pattern.  Because of the lack of gold zari work, my hypothesis is that this sari is more of a modern or casual garment perhaps for worn work but not quite festive enough for a formal event. The tassels are left on the Gadwal sari when worn and not surged behind and hidden, another trait that makes this sari uniquely Gadwal.

What is magical about a sari? 

There is so much more to this textile than meets the eye. As my instructor Isaac Facio said when we first looked at this piece together, the back of the cloth holds all of the secrets. That is most certainly true with this Gadwal sari. When looking at this sari with a plain eye it would almost be impossible to depict the history of its construction. Three separate parts formed together through age old hand weaving technique -- incredible!   Apart from their creation, after being woven, sarees are magic in that they can be worn by any woman. A blouse of the wearers size is required, but the sari can be shared among friends not like many other garments. 

On a personal level, the magic for me has been not only observing such complex weave structures but in hearing the stories of the women in my family. I even got to see a very special sari that belonged to my husband’s late grandmother (Dadi) whom I was never able to meet. This time spent with my new family and learning about their culture has been a magic all on its own. Due to COVID family gatherings like Indian weddings and festivals like Holi, Diwali, where Indian festival clothing is worn haven’t happened. However I do look forward to the return of family gatherings and being able to wear a magnificent sari with more appreciation for the handiwork and stories it holds.