Corporate lawyer-turned-textile designer Vinay Narkar has travelled the length and breadth of the country researching different weaves. However, he particularly remembers his visit to Achalpur, a town near Vidarbha, some years ago when he sat in the humble home of an 85-year-old weaver. The latter pointed to a joth sari and remarked that he had first started weaving this style as a 15-year-old in the same house. The nearly-extinct handwoven sari is now being revived after months of travelling from village to village to understand its provenance and authenticity.
The joth is a cotton sari with woven silk borders comprising multiple narrow borders with different patterns or motifs, including an arrowhead motif called katari. Narkar works with sleuth-like precision when it comes to investigating vintage saris that have little or no documentation barring oral testimonies.
Rare styles like the joth are being showcased at the exhibition, Dakkhan Ko Chira (Weaves of Deccan), at the Crafts Council of Telangana till 15 August (11 am to 7 pm), along with hundreds of other saris, many of them having a history of 200 years. Narkar came across mentions of joth in an ancient Marathi poem, which mentioned in stanza after stanza how the sari was offered to the goddess. Narkar started visiting institutions such as the Raja Dinkar Kelkar Museum, Pune, besides travelling to villages in Maharashtra, parts of Karnataka and Telangana, talking to weaver families, antique dealers, scholars, and researchers. He finally acquired a sample of the weave and reached Achalpur to discover the octogenarian master weaver.
The travelling exhibition’s third edition in Hyderabad becomes a significant platform to understand the role of sari revivalists and their efforts to empower weaver clusters—sometimes without success. “In Achalpur, for instance, saris are hardly made now. It’s become a place where dhurries are woven,” rues Narkar, who embarked on his journey as a textile revivalist in 2012 after being encouraged by designer Bhanu Athaiya. “Back in the day, 2,000-plus sarees used to get sold daily in the village between 4-6 am to master weavers from other parts of India.”
Rare weaves
Among other things, the exhibition explores the beauty of the motichoor weave, which is part of the visual memory of Maharashtrian textiles. There’s also shikarkhani, which is hundreds of years old and inspired by the Banaras shikargah weave. According to Narkar, while the Banaras shikargah features elaborate weaves all across its body, the Maharashtrian version features a similar detailing only along the border. Some other weaves are being shown for the very first time: suvarna rekha, inspired by the paithani, is a striking number in golden stripes, while another cotton-silk saree with the Chaufuli (‘chau’ means checks, while ‘fuli’ denotes flower) weave honours craftsmanship that dates back centuries.
Narkar grew up in Solapur, which was known for its textiles. His mother’s extensive collection of saris also left an impact on him. As curator for the textile and painting galleries at the four-year-old Zapurza Museum of Art and Culture, Narkar has also become an accidental revivalist of sorts for the art and jewellery of Maharashtra.“People are looking more sensitively at our living heritage,” says Narkar. The exhibition, inaugurated by textile expert and art collector Anju Poddar, brings together rediscovered weaves, meticulously recreated sarees, heritage-inspired jewellery, and historical Maratha artwork, building a vital bridge between India’s textile past and its living future.