"Jamdani" Weaving in India

Clothes for women, sari from India popularly known as Jamdani. Thes saris are the special creations of the Benaras weavers. They are essentially han woven. They are woven both in silk and cotton. The name 'Jamdani' has been given to these saris for such a long time that there are no traces available on its source. It is unclear when these muslins first appeared, because although the name Jamdani is believed to be of Persian origin, many Hindi and other north Indian language textile terms had become Persianized after the Islamic invasion and this may not be an exception. The Jamdani weaving is decorating the sari with opaque patterning on a transparent background. Often the supplementary threads are thicker and heavier than the base. For example, on a silk base, cotton threads are used.  

The colour beige is seen most often for making these motifs as it merges with every dark, light or pastel shade.The Jamdani weaving method does not require the use of the Persian derived drawn loom. Instead it employs two weavers sitting side by side on at a simple handloom who add every discontinuous supplementary-weft motif separately by hand, using individual spools of threads. The cotton threads used for opaque motifs are sometimes replaced by zari (golden) threads.

Because of the intense labour involvement, the prices of such saris have always been incredibly high. Still the production of such saris has never decreased, as it has constantly been present in the fashion of yesteryears and today as well. Benaras and Tanda in Uttar Pradesh are the two main places for the weaving of these saris.