Handloom of Uttar Pradesh
Banarasi
The Mughal-court brocade of Varanasi — five hundred years of silk-and-zari kadhwa weaving on the Ganga.
History
Origins & patronage
The Banarasi tradition rose in the 16th century when weavers migrated from Gujarat during a famine and settled in Varanasi under the patronage of the Mughal court. The weave absorbed Persian, Central Asian and Mughal design vocabularies — jhaal (delicate all-over florals), meena (multicoloured supplementary weft threads), pallus with kalka (paisley) — and by the 17th century a Banarasi was standard trousseau for the north-Indian aristocracy. The traditional weavers are Muslim families whose lineage traces back six or seven generations, still living in the mohallas of Alaipur, Madanpura, Lallapura and Ramnagar.
Motifs & identifiers
Signature vocabulary
Kadhwa (individually-hand-woven motif, no floats behind the fabric); kadiyal (double-warp reversible weave for the border); jangla (all-over dense jaal); jhalar (fringed pallu edge); classic motifs include amru buti, ghungroo buti, konia paisley, gyasar Buddhist prayer patterns; heavy zari made from real silver drawn to fifty-times-hair thickness and gilded with 24k gold.
Weaving villages
Where it is woven
Weaving mohallas concentrated in Varanasi (Alaipur, Madanpura, Lallapura, Ramnagar) and satellite villages in Mubarakpur, Chandauli and Mirzapur. Approximately 100,000 weavers across the Banaras cluster.
How to spot a real one
Authenticity guide
Flip the pallu inside out — a kadhwa Banarasi has clean motifs on the reverse (no floats). Machine-woven "phekwa" imitations show clumps of loose thread on the reverse; genuine Banarasi zari passes the copper-sulphate test (dip a corner in a diluted solution — real silver-and-gold zari does not blacken); look for the Banaras GI (Geographical Indication) tag.
From our collection
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