🇮🇳 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
🇮🇳 IndiaShalu
A sari from Varanasi that joins Paithani and Banarasi fabricsSilk · Zari work
🇮🇳 IndiaBerhampur Patta
A silk saree from Brahmapur, Odisha, with a zari border in a temple (phoda) designSilk · Zari work · Temple border
🇮🇳 India and 1 moreHandloom sari
Saris woven by hand on village looms in India and BangladeshSilk · Brocade · Zari work
🇮🇩 Indonesia and 5 moreSarongsarung
A tubular waist-wrap of batik or checks, worn across Asia, Africa and the Pacific.Cotton · Batik · Ikat
🇮🇳 IndiaIlkal sari
A Karnataka sari with a cotton body and a loop-joined silk palluCotton · Embroidery · Zari work
🇮🇳 IndiaPheichom
A men's wrap of the Meitei people of Manipur, worn like the dhoti, in cotton or silkCotton · Block print
🇮🇳 IndiaBanarasi sari
A heavy silk brocade saree woven with gold and silver zari in VaranasiSilk · Brocade · Zari work
🇮🇳 IndiaKutch embroidery
Mirror-set hand embroidery from Kutch district, Gujarat, worked mainly by womenCotton · Embroidery · Mirror work
🇮🇳 India and 1 moreDhoti
An unstitched cloth tied at the waist and worn to the ankle, the men's answer to the sariCotton
🇮🇳 IndiaMalda silk
Fine golden-yellow silk from Malda, West Bengal, woven into Baluchari and Garad sarisSilk
🇮🇳 IndiaGadwal sari
A handwoven sari from Telangana with a cotton body, silk border and zari palluCotton · Zari work
🇮🇳 IndiaArani silk saree
A silk saree woven in Arani, Tamil Nadu, and noted for its zari thread workSilk · Zari work · Block print
🇮🇳 IndiaSurat zari
Metal threads from Surat district for patterns in silk fabricsSilk · Zari work · Embroidery
🇮🇳 IndiaPuttapaka sari
A silk ikat saree from Puttapaka village, with patterns tied into the warpSilk · Ikat · Tie-dye
🇧🇩 Bangladesh and 1 moreTangail saree
A Bengal handloom saree in cotton or silk, known for stepped extra-weft patterns.Cotton · Jamdani · Brocade
🇮🇳 IndiaPaithani
A handwoven silk sari from Maharashtra with zari borders and a peacock palluSilk · Brocade · Zari work
🇨🇳 China and 5 moreBrocade
A decorative shuttle-woven cloth with an extra weft, used for Banarasi saris.Silk · Brocade · Zari work
🇮🇳 India and 1 moreAbrawan
A fine muslin from the Indian subcontinent, named for water in motionCotton · Zari work
🇮🇳 India and 4 moreBlock printing
Printing patterns on cotton, silk and linen with carved wooden blocksCotton · Block print
🇮🇳 IndiaHabaspuri sari
A tie-dye cotton handloom sari from Kalahandi, Odisha, with fish and temple motifsCotton · Tie-dye
🇮🇳 IndiaThirubuvanam silk sari
A Thanjavur district silk sari with a wide zari border and matching palluSilk · Zari work
🇮🇳 IndiaLanga voniలంగా వోణి
A South Indian half sari: a string-tied skirt and a short diagonal upper clothSilk · Embroidery · Mirror work
🇮🇳 India and 1 moreBandhani
A tie-dye cloth of tiny knotted dots, made in Gujarat and Rajasthan for saris and turbansSilk · Tie-dye
🇮🇳 India and 1 morePathin
A striped wrap skirt worn by Hajong women in Northeast India and BangladeshSilk · Checks and stripes
🇮🇳 India and 3 moreDupattaदुपट्टा / دوپٹہ
A long scarf-like wrap worn across South Asia with skirts or tunicsSilk · Tie-dye · Zari work
🇮🇳 IndiaKimkhwab
A silk brocade woven with gold and silver yarns, once called cloth of goldSilk · Brocade · Zari work
🇮🇳 IndiaMadisarமடிசார்
A nine-yard Tamil Brahmin sari drape, worn over one shoulder for ceremoniesSilk
🇮🇳 IndiaGarad sariগরদ শাড়ি
A fine silk handloom sari from Murshidabad and Birbhum in West BengalSilk · Zari work · Brocade
🇮🇳 India and 1 moreKhes
A thick hand-woven cotton blanket cloth from Punjab, woven in pairs and joinedCotton · Checks and stripes · Zari work
🇧🇩 Bangladesh and 1 moreTangail saree
A handwoven Bengali saree named for Tangail, woven in Bangladesh and West BengalCotton · Jamdani
🇮🇳 IndiaGaji
A coarse handloom cloth of cotton or silk, wrapped as a sari and used for winter clothingCotton
🇮🇳 IndiaTarpaya
An ancient Indian fine silk or linen cloth worn as a ritual lower garmentSilk
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Rajshahi silk: Bongan, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Khara Dupatta: Kinshuk Sunil, CC BY 2.0, source
- Banarasi sari: Ekabhishek, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Tangail saree: P.K.Niyogi, Public domain, source
- Shalu: Sreekumar K. S., CC BY 2.0, source
- Sarong: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Ilkal sari: T B Dinesh, CC0, source
- Handloom sari: P.K.Niyogi, Public domain, source
- Pheichom: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Kutch embroidery: Jainamishra, CC BY 3.0, source
- Dhoti: Redaloes at English Wikipedia, Public domain, source
- Arani silk saree: Balu 606902, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Surat zari: Hiart, CC0, source
- Paithani: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Brocade: After James Lehman (England, circa 1688-1745), Public domain, source
- Block printing: William Morris, Public domain, source
- Langa voni: Kannadiga, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Bandhani: RubyGoes, CC BY 2.0, source
- Khes: RAJIVVASUDEV, CC BY-SA 4.0, source