India Post Special Covers on GI Tagged Products: 047. Narayanpet Handloom Sarees

Sunday, January 7, 2024

047. Narayanpet Handloom Sarees

Narayanpet Handloom Sarees are exquisite and unique cotton handloom and silk sarees which are made from Narayanpet District, Telangana. These sarees are worn by the women folk on traditional, ceremonial and religious occasions. They are very popular in the state of Maharashtra, where it is still considered auspicious to wear these sarees. These sarees are also offered to Goddesses.

The origin of the Narayanpet Sareers can be traced back to the period around 1630 AD, when the region was under the rule of Chattrapati Shivaji. It is said that he rested here for some time and few weavers from his entourage have stayed behind. They started weaving a unique type of saree which over a period of time became popular and came to be called as Narayanpet Sarees. During the reign of the Lokapalli Samasthanam the production of Narayanpet Sarees flourished, and its popularity reached its peak.

These sarees are traditional and their weaving is done by hand and mostly undertaken as a family business. The knowledge of weaving them has been passed on from one generation to the other. The making of these sarees is described as a unique process wherein eight sarees are made in one go at the loom.

The process of making each saree begins with dyeing of yarn at very high temperature. The yarn is dried under shade and then finally loaded in the loom for the final process of weaving. They are traditional woven using the interlocked-weft technique.

Checks are weaved in the entire body of the cotton saree. The size of the checks may be small or big, but the presence of checks is a compulsory feature in all Narayanpet cotton sarees. There essentially is a border on both sides of the saree, running through the entire length of the body of the saree. There is no border in the pallu area. The size of the border on both sides is uniform.

The temple design in the border is the unique feature of all Narayanpet silk sarees. The presence of arrow heads known as ‘Theni pallu’ in the pallu of silk sarees is another unique feature. Border of silk sarees are normally thicker than body.

In all the Narayanpet sarees i.e. either cotton, silk, or mix of these two, the minimum length of the pallu is 60cms. The pallu and border have zari work. Zari border always in the form of bold ribbon as border and in pallu. Colours used are bold and pastel shades from naphthol and vat dyes. Water quality in region contributes to quality of colour.