The Paithani saree is named after the place of its origin, Paithan, situated about 40 kilometres from Aurangabad, Maharashtra. It is one of the saree types in a traditional categorisation called ‘shalu’or drapes in muslin with gold thread-work, made exclusively for royalty and aristocracy. It was called ‘maha-vastra’ (grand attire), part of trousseaus and worn on special occasions like religious ceremonies and weddings. Some families possess 100-year old heirloom Paithanis, lovingly preserved and passed down over the generations, to the daughter or the daughter-in-law. A signature Paithani carries a criss-crossing border design along with colourful motifs on the ‘padhar’ (end-piece). The motifs are borrowed from nature – ‘munia’(parrots),‘bangdi mor’ (peacock inside a ring), ‘asavali’(creepers), ‘kamal’ (lotus) and ‘narali’(coconut). The nature motifs and buttis(small gold motifs) are worked in gold thread when placed in the body of the saree, and in colour when on the shimmery end-piece. The saree background is usually in magenta, peacock blue, turmeric yellow and crimson. Dual-shaded sarees, called ‘dhup-chaav’(light and shadow) are also made with different colours in the warp and weft, for example, red and green. It takes a month to hand-weave one simple Paithani and several more, for a more intricate one.
An edited version of the article was published in Culturama’s December 2012 Issue.
