The Banarasi Saree: Varanasi’s GI-Tagged Silk and Zari Weave

The tag protects the name “Banaras Brocades and Sarees”. It was certified on 4 September 2009. Nine local groups filed the claim together on 4 July 2007. A GI tag says a product gets its quality from its place of origin.

What are the key facts?

• The product is a handloom handicraft from Uttar Pradesh.
• The claim covers classes 23, 24, 25 and 26. These are yarn, cloth, clothing and trimmings.
• The groups included the Banaras Bunkar Samiti and the Human Welfare Association.
• A state official, the Joint Director of Industries (Eastern Zone), also joined the claim.
• The main weaving centres are Varanasi, Azamgarh, Mirzapur, Bhadohi, Chandoli, Chunar and Chakia.

What does the tag do in law?

• It lets only registered users make the product under that name.
• The right can last for ever, as long as the link between product and place stays.
• It cannot be sold or assigned to another person.

What is the memory hook?

Think “nine hands, one name”. Nine groups, one GI, certified in 2009.

Nobody knows for sure. Varanasi was a cloth town from ancient times. But the first firm proof of silk brocade there is from the 1800s. Stories say weavers from Gujarat came north to escape famine, flood and fire. Experts treat these as legends, not proven facts.

What do the legends and clues say?

• The legends place the move between the 14th and 16th centuries.
• Similar zari cloth from Ahmedabad and Surat makes the legends believable.
• Brocade weaving probably reached India under the Delhi Sultanate in the 14th century.
• Weavers say their ancestors were Iranian and Central Asian craftsmen.
• Silk and zari brocades from Varanasi were shown at the Great Exhibition in London in 1851.

A brocade is a cloth with extra threads woven in to make raised patterns. It looks as if it were embroidered on the loom.

Why was Varanasi a good home for the craft?

• It sits on the Ganga, on river and land trade routes.
• It is a holy city, so pilgrims came from all over India.
• Pilgrims carried cloth home, so the trade spread.

What is the memory hook?

Think “legend, not ledger”. The migration story has no firm record, but the 1851 exhibition is proven.

A naqsha is the design plan for the cloth. It shows how every motif must sit on the loom. The person who draws it is the naqshaband. A wrong naqsha gives a bent motif and wastes silk, time and money.

Who does what?

• The naqshaband draws the plan, and the weaver turns it into cloth.
• Other craftsmen clean, bleach and dye the yarn.
• Women of the weaver’s family prepare the warp and cut away extra threads.
• Apprentices lift chosen warp threads while the weaver adds the extra threads.
• Calenderers press the cloth to give it a rich shine.

What do the designs and tools look like?

• Famous motifs are kalga (a paisley shape), bel (a vine) and floral and leaf patterns.
• The shikargah is a hunting scene, with riders and animals, taken from Persian art.
• Other features are jali (a net-like pattern) and meena (enamel-like colour work).
• The weaving happens on a pit loom, often with a jacquard. A jacquard is a punched-card device that lifts threads for a pattern.
• Jala, pagia and naka are attachments used to make the motifs.

What is the memory hook?

Think “plan, weave, shine”. The naqshaband plans, the weaver weaves, and the calenderer shines.

These names are not all the same kind of word. Katan is a type of silk yarn. The others describe how a pattern is made on the cloth. Do not use them as plain synonyms for “Banarasi silk”.

What does each term mean?

• Katan is degummed, very slightly twisted pure silk yarn. Degummed means the natural gum has been removed.
• Kadhua uses extra weft threads for the design. It leaves no loose floats at the back.
• Brocade is cloth where the design stands out. It is zari brocade when gold or silver thread makes the figures.
• Kimkhab is brocade where zari covers about 60 per cent of the cloth, as one textile expert defines it.
• Cutwork leaves loose thread floats at the back. They are cut off after weaving. The cloth is cheaper because a machine jacquard can make it.
• Tanchoi is a self-design made with silk thread. It has no floats at the back or front.
• Tissue has some zari yarn in the warp or the weft, giving a gold or silver sheen.

A float is a thread that skips over other threads and lies loose on the cloth.

What is the memory hook?

Think “katan is the thread, the rest is the trick”. Katan names the silk. The other names describe how the pattern is made.

Silk was never grown locally. It came from Bengal, Central Asia and China. Today it comes from Bengal, Kashmir, Karnataka, Japan and China. Zari is still made locally and bought from Surat in Gujarat. So the weaving place and the raw-material source are different places.

How has the trade worked?

• Gujarati traders, called gaddidars, have run the supply and sale since late medieval times.
• They also told designers what customers wanted.
• Banarasi saris sell in Nigeria under the name “Sari George”.

How is the craft changing?

• Powerlooms, artificial silk, lurex zari and chemical dyes have made cloth cheaper.
• Look-alike cloth is made by block printing, metallic printing and powerlooms.
• Chinese saris that look almost the same are a new challenge.
• Weavers Service Centres were set up after independence. They helped weavers make new patterns.
• A 2016 exhibition at the National Museum, Delhi, showed Banarasi saris at home and in the world.
• The red-and-gold Banarasi sari became a bridal symbol, partly through films.

Lurex is a shiny metallic-look thread made from plastic film, not true gold or silver.

What is the memory hook?

Think “silk from afar, zari from Surat”. Silk comes from outside Varanasi, and much of the zari is bought from Surat.

Which traps repeat?

• The GI certificate date is 4 September 2009. The application was filed in 2007.
• Nine groups filed the claim together.
• Some zari is bought from Surat, Gujarat, and some is made locally. Weaving happens in Varanasi.
• Katan is a silk yarn. Kadhua, cutwork and tanchoi describe how the pattern is made.
• The Gujarati weaver migration is a legend. Do not give it a fixed year.
• The 1851 Great Exhibition in London showed Banarasi silk-zari brocade.

What is the memory hook?

Think “2009 tag, nine hands, Surat zari”. It holds the three facts examiners ask most.