Paithani
Origin of Paithanis
Even today Maharashtra is the home of the most celebrated textile's the paithani, gold embroidered zari sari with its wonderful designs and woven borders. Even during the medieval period, the interaction between the Hindu and Muslim rulers gave rise to new styles. The Marathas extended their patronage to textile activities. Some centres became renowned for their textiles and the fabric frequently derived its name from the place of origin. The Peshwas in the 18th century had a special love for paithani textiles and it is believed that Madhavrao Peshwa even asked for the supply of asavali dupattas in red, green, saffron, pomegranate and pink colours. Human skills may have been replaced by machines. However, no machine-made fabric can compare with the hand-made beauty of the paithani sari by the master craftsmen of Maharashtra.
1) Background
The art is more than 2000 years old, developed in the then splendid city of Pratishthan ruled by the legendary Satavahanas ruler Shalivahana (See Shalivahana era) now Paithan by the Godavari in Marathwada, some 50 km from Aurangabad). In the far past it had been an international trade centre for silk and zari. Paithan was the capital of the Satavahanas dynasty (200 B.C.) and used to export cotton and silks to the great Roman Empire. During the 17th century, Aurangzeb patronized the weavers and the designs in this era came to be known as "Aurangzebi". Yeola is another place where Paithani is still alive, although few families practice the art now. It is said that the Peshwas encouraged this fascinating art of Paithani and patronized the production in Paithan. This technique of tapestry is one of the most ancient methods of creating Paithani with weaving in a multiple weft threads of different colours. The Peshwas in the 18th century had a special love for Paithani textiles and it is believed that Madhavrao Peshwa even asked for the supply of asavali dupattas in red, green, saffron, pomegranate and pink colours. Paithani weave was at the peak of its popularity during the reign of the Peshwas.
It is believed that the Nizam of Hyderabad was also attracted to the Paithanis and made several trips to the small town of Paithan. His daughter-in-law, Niloufer, is believed to have introduced new motifs to the border and pallu (outer end of the sari) designs. Literature, both classical and folk, testifies to the existence of Paithani silk even before the Mughal age, though the last munificent patrons were the Peshwa rulers. The men wore the stole over their dhoti and kurta, while their women were resplendent in Paithani saris at weddings, festivals and religious ceremonies. As with most of the traditional arts and crafts of India, Paithani too suffered a decline under the British Raj. Once there were over 500 families practicing this hereditary art which required high technical skill and aesthetic sense, and tremendous discipline to do the slow, tedious work. Their migrations began with Muslim aggressions. The khatri community of weavers got scattered in search of work and settled down to whatever they found.
2) Specialty of Paithani sari
A pattan (Paithani) is a gold and silk sari. In the revival of Paithani weaving, the production was oriented towards export requirements, while saris were produced only for sophisticated buyers. Paithani evolved from a cotton base to a silk base. Silk was used in weft designs and in the borders, whereas cotton was used in the body of the fabric. Present day Paithani has no trace of cotton.
3) Motifs:
A) Sari
1) Due to proximity to the Ajanta caves, the influence of the Buddhist paintings can be seen in the woven Paithani motifs
2) The Kamal or lotus flower
3) The Asawalli (flowering vines), became very popular during the Peshwa's period
4) The Bangadi Mor, peacock in bangle
5) The Tota-Maina
6) The Humarparinda, peasant bird
7) The Narali motif, very common
8) Small motifs like circles, stars, kuyri, rui phool, kalas pakhhli, chandrakor, clusters of 3 leaves, were very common for the body of the sari.
B) Pallu
1) Muniya, a kind of parrot used in borders and always found in green colour with an occasional red touch at the mouth
2) Panja, a geometrical flower-like motif, most often outlined in red
3) Barwa, 12 strands of a ladder; 3 strands on each side
4) Laher, design is done in the centre to strengthen the zari
5) Muthada, a geometrical design
6) Asawali, a flower pot with a flowering plant
7) Mor, a peacocTraditional colours.
4) Traditional Colours:
The dominant traditional colours of vegetable dyes included:
Pophali - yellow
Red
Lavender
Purple
Neeligunji - sky blue
Magenta
Motiya - peach pink
Brinjal - purple
Pearl pink
Peacock - blue/green
Yellowish green
Kusumbi - violet red
Pasila - red and green
Gujri - black and white
Mirani - black and red
5) Manufacturing processes
A) Loom
It took approximately 1 day to set the silk threads on the loom. "Tansal" is used to put the "wagi". The "pavda" works like the paddle to speed up the weaving. The "jhatka" is used to push the "kandi" from one side to the other. "Pushthe" is used in designing the border of Paithani in which it is punched according to design application. "Pagey" are tied to the loom. The threads are then passed through "fani".
There are two types of motion:
Primary motions:
Shedding - dividing the warp sheet or shed into two layers, one above the other for the passage of shuttle with the weft threads.
Picking - passing a pick of weft from one selvedge of a cloth through the warp threads.
Beating - dividing the last pick through the fell of cloth with the help of slay fixed on the reel.
Secondary motions:
Take up motion - taking up the cloth when being woven and winding it on the roller.
Let off motion - letting the warp wound on a warp beam, when the cloth is taken up on the cloth roller beam. Taking up and letting off the warp are done simultaneously.
B) Weaving technique of Paithani saree:
It is a revival of hundreds of years tradition in weaving .But so far as its weaving technique is to filling the picks will not move directly from one end of saree to the other end, width wise, but the weft yarn returns being interlaced or interlocked with the threads of different weft colors. This procedure of returning of thread has no Indian technical name but still it is called brocade weaving.
Ghanshyam Sarode's work in handloom is interesting, but for the approaching into what goes behind the tempt of the long-established hand-weaving in India. When one buys these sarees, she is buying a feeling in owning such an astonishing design. The exploration in the field of Handlooms has made few accepted techniques emerge from an exasperatingly lengthy, dense &complex with time intense process.
Paithani saris are silks in which there is no extra weft forming figures. The figuring weave was obtained by a plain tapestry technique. There are three techniques of weaving. Split tapestry weave - the simplest weave where two weft threads are woven up to adjacent warp threads and then reversed. The warp threads are then cut and retied to a different colour.
Interlocking method - two wefts are interlocked with each other where the colour change is required. The figuring weft is made of a number of coloured threads, weaving plain with warp threads and interlocked on either side with the grounds weft threads are invariably gold threads which interlock with the figure weft threads, thus forming the figure. This system of interlocking weaves, known as kadiyal, is done so that there are no extra floats on the back of the motif thus making the design nearly reversible.
Dobe-tailing method - two threads go around the same warp, one above the other, creating a dobe-tailing or tooth-comb effect. Weaving could take between 18 to 24 months, depending upon the complexity of the design. Today there are many weavers who are working for the revival of this treasured weave.
6) Borders and the pallu
In the days of Peshwas, the borders and the pallu were made of pure gold mixed with copper to give it strength. The proportion was 1 kg of gold to 1 tola of copper. The combination was spun into a fine wire called the zari. In recent times, zari is made of silver, coated with gold plating. The borders are created with interlocked weft technique either with coloured silk or zari. In the border woven with a zari, ground coloured silk patterns are added as supplementary weft inlay against the zari usually in the form of flower or a creeping vine.
Two types of border are the Narali and the Pankha.
Even if a very good weaver has woven the main body, a master weaver is needed for the intricate inlay border paths. The borders and the pallu are woven in zari regardless of the colour of the sari.
7) Types of Paithani
Paithani can be classified by three criteria: motifs, weaving, and colours.
Classification by motif:
Bangadi Mor - the word bangadi means bangle and mor means peacock. So bangadi mor means a peacock in a bangle or in a bangle shape. The motif is woven onto the pallu, the design sometimes having a single dancing peacock. The saris using this motif are very expensive because of the design.
Munia brocade - The word munia means parrot. Parrots are woven on the pallu as well as in border. Parrots are always in leaf green colour. The parrots in silk are also called tota-maina.
Lotus brocade - lotus motifs are used in pallu and sometimes on the border. The lotus motif consists of 7-8 colours.
Classification by colour:
Kalichandrakala - pure black sari with red border.
Raghu - parrot green coloured sari.
Shirodak - pure white sari
