Banaras is a major textile hub that caters the needs of both the local and international markets. One simply cannot miss the Jamdani and brocades of Banaras. The silk Jamdani or the ‘figured muslin’ is a technical variety of brocade traditionally woven in Banaras. It may be considered to be one of the finest products to come out of the Banarasi loom. Here silk fabric is brocaded with cotton and rarely with zari threads.
Jamdani Fabric
Jamdani is woven by transfixing the pattern thread between a varying number of warp threads in proportion to the size of the design, then throwing the shuttle to pass the regular weft. By repeating this process, where in the size and placing of the cut-thread is in accordance with the character of the pattern, the Jamdani weaver produces an array of intricate designs.
Cutwork Fabric
Benarasi Jamdani in making
Developing the motifs
Different types of motifs
Close up of Jamdani motif
The price of this saree can be estimated anywhere between Rs.100,000-200,000.
Comparison of front side & reverse side of the saree
A major threat that Banarasi Jamdani faces today is the high job dropout rate of weavers due to inadequate wages. The weavers are paid a meager wage averaging about Rs.150 per day. Due to poor wages, several weavers have quit working with looms. Weavers are forced to look out for other jobs with better wages over the craft that’s been practiced for generations. There’s no bigger loss to the industry than the loss of these highly skilled weavers who form the very backbone of the textile industry.
Banaras is still fighting sweatshop culture like poor working conditions as well as the menace of child labor. Many children from the age of eight and above are still seen working in small-scale textile industries. Most of these underage-labour belong to extremely downtrodden families of marginalised castes and they are systematically forced with no choice but to work in order to fulfill their basic necessities of foot-shelter-and-clothing. Several Indian fashion designers, NGOs, and government are taking measures to promote and revive this beautiful craftwork and working conditions in Banaras. But then, there are several other lesser-known textile hubs in India where the scene could be much worse than what I found in Banaras.
FOOTNOTES: BANARASI BROCADES
