🇮🇳 The sarees of India
127 sarees from India, best known first, across 80 centres and states.
The sari is an unstitched length of woven cloth draped over the body, worn across India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Pakistan. Its history runs back to ancient drapery in the northwest of the subcontinent, and it shares roots with earlier pieces like the stanapatta, uttariya and antariya.
- A sari measures 4.5 to 9 yards long and 24 to 47 inches wide.
- Over 80 drapes are recorded; historian Rta Kapur Chishti found 108 across 14 states.
- Cotton was cultivated and woven in the subcontinent around the 5th millennium BCE.
- Indigo, lac, red madder and turmeric were ancient dyes, still in use today.
- Red is the most favoured colour for a Hindu wedding sari.
Sarees in India
The sari is a single piece of unstitched cloth. It can run from about four and a half to nine yards long and roughly two to four feet wide. One end is tucked at the waist and the other rests on a shoulder like a stole, often leaving the midriff bare. The word comes from shatika, a Sanskrit term for a strip of cloth. Older texts describe a set of three pieces: a chest band, a shoulder veil and a wrap for the lower body. These grew into the modern choli, dupatta and skirt. The garment is everyday and formal wear across the region, and it sits beside related draped cloth in Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
Weaves and fabrics
Cotton was grown and woven in the subcontinent from around the fifth millennium BCE, and silk from about 2450 to 2000 BCE. Handloom saris are made in silk and cotton. Named traditions include brocade silks such as Banarasi, Kanchipuram, Gadwal, Paithani, Mysore, Chanderi and Maheshwari, and lighter cloths like jamdani, tant, Mangalagiri, Ilkal and tussar. Ikat and tie-dye appear too. Polyester, georgette and charmeuse are now common as well.
How it is worn
More than eighty drapes have been recorded, and one scholar, Rta Kapur Chishti, documented a hundred and eight across fourteen states. The nivi style is the most seen today: cloth wrapped at the waist, pleats in front, the loose end, or pallu, over one shoulder. Related family styles include kaccha or nauvari, where pleats pass between the legs, and sidha pallu, worn by women in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan, with the end brought forward. Bengali wear folds in a single box pleat. In Nepal, a Newari drape ties the pallu at the waist.
Dyeing, printing and embroidery
Dyeing is old here. Indigo, lac, red madder and turmeric were used in ancient times and are still worked with. Tie-dye and block-print saris include bandhani, leheria, bagru, ajrakh, sungudi, dabu, bagh and kalamkari. Embroidery covers gota patti for formal wear, plus mochi, pakko, kharak, suf, kathi, phulkari and gamthi. In the south the choli is called ravike and ties at the front; kasuti embroidery decorates it.
Weaving centres
Many saris are known by the place or style they come from. Silk brocades include Banarasi, Kanchipuram, Gadwal, Paithani, Mysore, Uppada, Chanderi, Maheshwari and Narayanpet. Ikat and cotton saris include Patola, Pochampally, Bomkai, Khandua, Sambalpuri, Berhampuri, Bargarh, Jamdani, Tant, Mangalagiri, Guntur, Tussar, Ilkal, Kotpad and Manipuri. Kerala keeps a two-piece mundum neryathum. Kashmir took the choli from the Deccan by royal order.
Weddings, festivals and daily wear
Red is the favourite colour for a wedding sari, and it is the traditional bridal choice at Hindu weddings. Handloom silks, brocades, tie-dye and block prints serve festive and formal days. Ikat and cotton saris are worn for both festival and everyday use, while tie-dyed and printed cloth was favoured in the monsoon. A married woman may draw the loose end over her head as a ghoonghat, still seen in Hindi-speaking areas.
The saree today
The sari stays fashionable in the subcontinent and counts as formal dress in several countries of the region. Newer fabrics such as polyester, georgette and charmeuse are widely used. Since 2017 a non-profit project, the Sari Series, has gathered short films showing more than eighty regional drapes, keeping that variety visible.
The facts in this overview come from the Wikipedia article "Sari", written by its contributors and used under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence. EveryPallu rewrote the text in its own words, with AI assistance, and compares every page with the article to make sure no passage is copied. It may be reused under the same CC BY-SA 4.0 licence with a link back.
Weaving centres and states of India
🇮🇳 India and 1 moreSariसाड़ी
An unstitched cloth draped over the body, worn across the Indian subcontinentCotton · Brocade · Ikat
🇵🇰 Pakistan and 1 moreAjrakاجرڪ (Sindhi), اجرک (Saraiki)
A Sindhi block-printed cloth in indigo and crimson, worn as a shawl or wrapCotton · Block print
🇮🇳 IndiaMaheshwari saree
A handloom saree woven in Maheshwar, Madhya Pradesh, in cotton, silk and zariCotton · Zari work
🇮🇳 IndiaPhool Patti ka Kaam
An appliqué and embroidery craft of Uttar Pradesh, once used for women's sarisCotton · Appliqué · Embroidery
🇮🇳 IndiaPatola sari
A double ikat silk saree from Patan, Gujarat, with patterns dyed into both threadsSilk · Ikat
🇮🇳 IndiaBhagalpur sari
A tussar silk sari from Bhagalpur, known for its dyeing and its handloomsSilk
🇮🇳 IndiaMoirang Phee
A Manipur cloth with a stepped tooth motif woven in from both edgesCotton
🇮🇳 IndiaPat silkপাট ৰেচম
Assam's own mulberry silk, naturally white and glossy, spun by worms fed on mulberry leavesSilk
🇮🇳 IndiaBomkai sari
A handloom Odisha saree with fish and temple threadwork on border and palluCotton · Brocade
🇧🇩 Bangladesh and 1 moreNakshi kanthaনকশি কাঁথা
An embroidered quilt from Bengal, stitched from old sarees with a simple running stitch.Cotton · Kantha · Embroidery
🇮🇳 India and 2 moreMadras
A light handwoven cotton cloth of bright checks, named after the city of ChennaiCotton · Checks and stripes · Embroidery
🇮🇳 IndiaShantiniketan Batik
A hand-painted batik from Santiniketan, West Bengal, brushed with natural dyesBatik · Hand painting
🇮🇳 IndiaSrikalahasti kalamkari
A Kalamkari style of dyed hand-painting on cloth, made in Srikalahasti, Andhra PradeshKalamkari · Hand painting
🇮🇩 Indonesia and 5 moreSarongsarung
A tubular waist-wrap of batik or checks, worn across Asia, Africa and the Pacific.Cotton · Batik · Ikat
🇮🇳 India and 1 moreTant sari
A light, see-through cotton saree from Bengal with a heavy borderCotton · Jamdani · Embroidery
🇮🇳 IndiaMundum neriyathumമുണ്ട് നേരിയത്
Kerala's two-piece cotton wrap: a lower mundu and an upper neriyathuCotton · Zari work
🇮🇳 IndiaChikankariچِکن کاری (Urdu) / चिकनकारी (Hindi)
A hand embroidery from Lucknow, usually white thread on light fabric.Cotton · Embroidery · Block print
🇮🇳 India and 1 moreAgrun
A shuttle-woven Hajong shawl with big, symmetrical brocaded patternsSilk · Brocade · Zari work
🇮🇳 IndiaDharmavaram silk sari
A handwoven Andhra silk sari in mulberry silk and zari, made only on pit loomsSilk · Zari work · Tie-dye
🇮🇳 IndiaMekhela sador
A two-piece Assamese dress: a wrapped skirt and a drape, woven in muga, eri or pat silkSilk · Brocade
🇮🇳 IndiaAssam silk
Assam's three silks: golden muga, white pat and warm eri, woven in SualkuchiMuga
🇮🇳 IndiaKhandua
An Odia ikat sari, usually red or orange, worn at weddings and offered to JagannathSilk · Ikat
🇮🇳 IndiaKoorai silk sariகூரை பட்டு புடவை
A nine-yard silk and cotton bridal sari from Koranad, checked, for Tamil Hindu weddingsSilk · Checks and stripes
🇮🇳 IndiaLeheriya
A Rajasthani tie-dye of diagonal stripes, rolled and bound before the dye goes inCotton · Tie-dye
🇮🇳 IndiaKasaragod saree
A handwoven cotton sari from Kasaragod, Kerala, made for everyday wearCotton · Checks and stripes
🇮🇳 IndiaPochampally sari
A Telangana handloom saree whose geometric motifs come from dyed-then-woven ikat yarnsSilk · Ikat
🇮🇳 IndiaKorial sariকোরিয়াল শাড়ি
A handwoven Bengal silk sari with a red border and fine designs on the anchalSilk · Brocade · Zari work
🇮🇳 India and 1 moreMashru
A heavy hand-woven satin with a silk face over cotton, woven in Punjab and SindhSilk
🇮🇳 India and 1 moreMundu
A cotton garment wrapped around the waist in Kerala and the MaldivesCotton · Embroidery
🇮🇳 IndiaGota patti
An appliqué embroidery from Rajasthan that stitches shiny ribbon into patterns on clothAppliqué · Embroidery
🇮🇳 India and 1 moreGazzi cloth
A coarse handloom cotton of the Punjab region, woven from local short staple cottonCotton
🇮🇳 IndiaUttariya
Ancient Indian upper garment of loose cloth draped over shoulders and armsCotton
🇮🇳 IndiaDorea
A striped or checked cloth of the Indian subcontinent, first cotton then silkCotton · Checks and stripes
🇮🇳 India and 3 moreTussar silkkosa (Sanskrit)
A wild silk with a dull gold sheen, gathered in forests and woven into sareesSilk · Kantha
🇮🇳 IndiaKhara Dupattaکھڑا دوپٹہ
A six-yard embroidered net veil draped over a wedding ensemble in HyderabadNet · Embroidery · Zari work
🇮🇳 IndiaPhanekꯐꯅꯦꯛ
A wrapped skirt worn by Meitei women in Manipur, woven with patterned stripesMuga · Checks and stripes · Embroidery
🇮🇳 IndiaSambalpuri sari
A handwoven Odisha sari patterned by tie-dyeing yarn before weavingSilk · Ikat · Tie-dye
🇮🇳 IndiaKasavu
A Kerala handloom cloth with fine gold or silver border lines on white cottonCotton · Zari work
🇮🇩 Indonesia and 5 moreBatikꦧꦛꦶꦏ꧀
A wax-resist dyeing technique from Java, used for patterned cloth.Silk · Batik · Hand painting
🇪🇬 Egypt and 5 moreResist dyeing
A family of dyeing methods that keep colour out to form a patternTie-dye · Ikat
🇮🇳 IndiaDokhonaदख'ना
A wrap-around cloth worn by Boro women of Assam, usually yellow, with woven Agor designsCotton · Brocade
🇮🇳 IndiaKanchipuram sari
A silk sari from Kanchipuram with a separate contrast border locked onto the bodySilk · Zari work · Temple border
🇮🇳 India and 4 moreEri silk
A wild silk from northeast India, spun from cocoons the moth has leftEri
🇧🇩 Bangladesh and 1 moreJamdaniজামদানি
A fine figured muslin from Bangladesh, patterned on the loom with a supplementary weftCotton · Jamdani · Brocade
🇮🇳 IndiaGamosaগামুছা
A white cotton cloth with a red border from Assam, woven for Bihu, prayer and daily useCotton
🇮🇳 IndiaTsüngkotepsü
A black and red Ao Naga warrior shawl with a white band of animal and star motifs
🇮🇳 India and 2 moreKhadi
Hand-spun woven cloth from cotton and other fibres, promoted in India's independence movementCotton
🇮🇳 IndiaChendamangalam saree
A hand-woven Kerala cotton sari with a dark tamarind-leaf line at its edgeCotton · Zari work · Checks and stripes
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Ajrak: Kashif11, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Patola sari: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Tant sari: Billjones94, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Pat silk: Hiranmoy Boruah, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Bomkai sari: Nayansatya, CC BY 3.0, source
- Madras: Shweta Venkateswaran, CC0, source
- Nakshi kantha: A junaid alam khan ( talk ), Public domain, source
- Shantiniketan Batik: Sumita Arup, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Srikalahasti kalamkari: Anilbhardwajnoida, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Sarong: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Mundum neriyathum: L. Anantha Krishna Iyer (Diwan Bahadur), Public domain, source
- Chikankari: Joey Berzowska, CC BY 2.0, source
- Dharmavaram silk sari: Ch Maheswara Raju, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Mekhela sador: Deepraj, CC BY 2.5, source
- Koorai silk sari: En.saravanan, CC BY 4.0, source
- Leheriya: Daderot, CC0, source
- Pochampally sari: Hermann Linde, Public domain, source
- Mashru: Edwin Lord Weeks, Public domain, source
- Gota patti: User:आशीष भटनागर, Public domain, source
- Mundu: Raja Ravi Varma, Public domain, source
- Uttariya: Biswarup Ganguly, CC BY 3.0, source
- Tussar silk: Biswarup Ganguly, CC BY 3.0, source
- Khara Dupatta: Kinshuk Sunil, CC BY 2.0, source
- Sambalpuri sari: Rahul191313, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Phanek: অজয় দাস, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Batik: Fpangestuphotographer, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Resist dyeing: Ardyansa Nugraha, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Dokhona: Bodoland Territorial Council, CC0, source
- Jamdani: Salim_Khandoker, CC0, source
- Kanchipuram sari: McKay Savage, CC BY 2.0, source
- Eri silk: Simtastic01, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Gamosa: Priyankoo at en.wikipedia, Public domain, source
- Khadi: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Chendamangalam saree: Malluchronicle, CC BY-SA 4.0, source