The sarees of Kolkata
The great saree market of eastern India, where tant, jamdani, Baluchari and kantha are bought for Durga Puja.
Motifs of Kolkata
Woven here
Best time: September to October before Durga Puja, and November to February for weather.
Kolkata is the place where Bengal's weaving centres meet buyers. Cloth from Santipur, Dhaniakhali, Bishnupur and the Murshidabad area is sold in its markets. The city is also where the modern Bengali way of draping the saree took shape, and its biggest buying season is the weeks before Durga Puja.
What is sold here
A shopper in Kolkata can see tant, jamdani, Baluchari, silk, kantha and block-printed sarees under one roof or in one street. Retail is spread across the city, from old shops in the north to markets in the south such as Gariahat. Wholesale cloth trade is concentrated in the Burrabazar area, which has long been a hub of the textile trade in the east.
The craft and its people
The city's relationship with the saree is also one of dress history. In the nineteenth century, women of reformist households, among them Jnanadanandini Devi of the Tagore family, are credited with popularising wearing the saree with a blouse and with the pallu over the shoulder, which became the Brahmika style and influenced the way sarees are worn across India. The Jorasanko Thakurbari, the Tagore family home, is now a museum.
Seeing it
The Indian Museum and the Victoria Memorial hold textile and costume displays, and the Jorasanko Thakurbari shows the household in which the style grew. Visit the markets in the weeks before Durga Puja, usually in the early autumn, when shops are full and the lanes are crowded. State handloom emporia also sell Bengal's weaves at fixed prices.
A trail idea for Kolkata
- Jorasanko Thakurbari Visit the Tagore family house, the setting for changes in how women dressed in nineteenth century Bengal.
- Burrabazar See the old wholesale cloth district, where bales of cotton and silk are traded in lanes of small shops.
- Gariahat Walk a south Kolkata market street with dozens of sari shops, busiest before the festival season.
- A handloom emporium Compare Bengal weaves side by side at fixed prices, and ask where each one was woven.
Written by the EveryPallu desk with AI assistance. Background: "Kolkata" on Wikipedia. Opening hours, markets and workshops change; check locally before travelling. If something is wrong, tell us.
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