Goddess Sharadha at Race Course perhaps has the best collection and selection of sarees in Coimbatore. The priests who have served the Goddess did their best while draping her with exquisite sarees over the years. Her Divine grace, splendid attire and the emerald green setting - thanks to the presence of lovely trees in the neighbourhood made Sharadha the most popular deity of Coimbatore within a short span of time. Its a given that the deity looks very pretty due the fact that she wears a saree all the time. From the Mahalakshmi of Kohlapur to Akilandeshwari of Thiruvanaikaval, every deity in India presents herself with the best saree at all times. Rta Kapur Chisti and Martand Singh have done a detailed study of the saree and compiled many facts about the same in the book "Saris Tradition and Beyond". The book talks about the existence of over 100 methods of wearing the saree in our country and further astonishes us by letting us know that there are over 700 weaves in our vast country.
The saree is not just one type of a garment for its dimensions, material, weave and style are individualized by the many who use it. The current way of wearing the saree evolved in Bengal thanks to the initiative of Gyanadanandini Devi, the wife of Satyendranath Tagore ICS. Many Indian weavers continue to weave sarees for it had once symbolised the freedom movement that was spearheaded by the charka spinning Mahatma. From Mother Teresa to M.S.Subbulakshmi, the saree presented many noble perspectives. Indira Gandhi and her saree style will be etched in the memories of our people for ever. One of the most beautiful among women, Maharani Gayathri Devi of Jaipur used to undertake her election campaigns by attiring herself with glass bangles and attractive chiffon sarees. Her elegance and popularity coupled with concept of a National opposition in the form of the Swatantra Party got her a landslide victory. It is a fashion statement when worn by actors and celebrities and a multi purpose outfit while worn by the commoner. The saree is very very old outfit and excavations at the ancient Saraswathi River sites have unearthed evidences connected with the existence of a highly developed fabric tradition. Even the Buddhist Jataka Tales share details on clothing!
Textile weaving in India continues to be deeply embedded in the cultural roots of the weavers and the customers. The designs, weaves, types of hand spun yarn used to make the saree hint at the background of lifestyles, climatic conditions and the economic background of the populace concerned. The regional influences and the influences of other regions can be understood if analysed. The wonderful talent of the weavers can only be understood in a museum or in a textile outlet that has experienced salespersons. S.N.Padmanabhan of Gopala Padma Vilas (Estd 1916) used to not only source sarees from all over the country to Salem but also make the customer understand the background of the saree. Jana of Tharakaram Silk House and Balchand & Family of Mahaveers - The Silk People were the pioneers who took pains to talk in detail about the story behind the making of the sarees. In fact the Coimbatore cotton saree is ruling the roost due to the efforts of Mahaveers. There was a time when companies like SRP Ponnuswamy Chetty, VEECO etc., from Coimbatore did much with cotton sarees. Pioneers like Verivada Chettiar made a fortune through the textile trade.
Travellers in India feel fulfilled only if they purchased a saree directly from the loom. The Crafts Council of India under the Late Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay has done much for the saree and the Founder of INTACH Pupul Jayakar did her best too. Every region has its variety and we have at Orissa a heavy cotton saree with auspicious motifs in colours obtained from the roots of a tree to the pristine white cotton saree bordered with elegant gold in Kerala. The traditions in Bengal contain the finest Daccai cotton sarees of Phulia. Can a saree lover not remember the Mangalagiri, Venkatagiri, Narayanpet and Uppada weavers of Andhra or can they not recall the Conjeevarams or Pochampallis or Sungidis that continue to be popular. The great Ahilyabai Holkar popularised the Maheswari sarees while Chettinad cotton, Paithani and Banarasi sarees continue to be loved by all. The wonderful Ikat technique wherein the yarn is tied and dyed in a mathematically precise manner in order to ensure that the pattern emerges in the most perfect way is much preferred. The most difficult form of this is practised at Patan in Gujarat. Bandhini in Rajasthan and Bandhej in Gujarat use unique techniques in order to make memorable sarees. Block printing and hand painting of sarees by Kalamkari workers in Andhra Pradesh are universally loved.
Those were the times when people cherished the sarees received as gifts or the ones that were purchased from weavers who explained the parrots and peacock designs in a saree meant fulfillment of love! Its interesting to learn that some of the Hindu wedding sarees are made by muslims. Some of the tribal weavers in places like Orissa, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh make sarees which have a contemporary look but they have not been handled properly. There is lack of connectivity between the weaver and the wearer. Today a number of design schools like Judy Frater's Design School for craftspeople at Kutch to a number of designers, researchers and innovators like Ritu Kumar, Madhvi, Rakesh Thakore, Manu Parekh, Neeru Kumar etc., are doing a great job. One Parsi - Ashdeen Lilaowala has written a book on the ancient art of Parsi Kusti and he is a researcher for the Parzor Foundation which happens to be a India based UNESCO Project aimed at preserving the Parsi heritage. Laila Tyabhji of Dastkar has done enormous work over the years. Vijayalakshmi Nachiyar and Mani of Ethicus at Pollachi use organic cotton from Kabini, get it spun and they make unique sarees which have details about the weavers. They have further specialised into Ahimsa silk too. Ahalya, the textile designer cum entrepreneur is known for her quality work. Corporate Textile outlets of our country have done much in this field and companies like Nalli, Kumaran and Rmkv are true pioneers. Thus the extraordinary saree has really gathered far too many pleets of history over the millennia and it contains all the seasons, religions, languages, flora, fauna, festivals, rituals and what not of India.
Silk is said to originate from China, however we have the Bhagalpur Tassar Saree which lets us know that India has done much in this regard. The word Tassar has its roots in the word Tahassar meaning wild cloth in the Ho tribal language of Chotanagpur. The Tassar silkworm feeds on the leaves of the Terminalia Arjuna or Terminalia Tomentosa or Asan tree and weaves a protective sheath around itself on maturity. The fibres taken from this is used to produce the exquisite Tassar yarn in our country. This goes on to substantiate the hymns of the Rig Veda which speaks about the ancient times when silkworm grew wild in the forests and how the forest dwellers collected the cocoons and in turn sold it to the villagers who processed it into yarn for weaving for making pure silk cloth or Kauseya derived from cocoon or Kosha. This silk cloth was considered to be sacred. The Mahabharata talks about the Pandavas receiving fabrics made from yarn derived from creatures in the forest. Even the Arthasasthra talks about wild silks derived from worms in the Magadha Vanga regions. The story of Sita's trousseau and the attempted disrobing of Draupadi after the game of dice are quite popular. In fact Binny came out with a Draupadi collection those days. Today companies like the Pathi Silks of Bengaluru have pioneered in the world of silk and entrepreneurs who include Pathi Raghunath and his family have undertaken hundreds of visits abroad in the pursuit of silk exports. Lakshmi Mills of Coimbatore introduced many types which were nomenclatured as Suprabha, Galaxy and Raga. They used models and movie actors to promote their sarees.
The sarees have been embellished and enriched with hand embroidery, zardosi jari etc., The tie and dye sarees, sarees worked on with cut work, specially worked pallus with tassles are part of the saree tradition. The wife of Chennimalai Krishna Chetty, a leading cotton merchant from Coimbatore used to fix gold tassles for her saree on an everyday basis. The blockbuster "Pattikada Pattanama" starring Sivaji Ganesan and Late Tamilnadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa has a song "Adi Ennadi Rakkamma" which talks about the Chinnalapatti saree. According ancient tradition married women used to gift sarees to their friends, relatives and particularly daughters along with bangles, turmeric, kumkumam, fruits, fruits betelnuts and leaves.
Saree wearing has been an art. Nowadays the staff at the saree shops and the wedding dressers are known to excel. Companies which have saree uniforms try to inculcate a standard style for all their employees. The staff at Ganjam (the famous jeweller at Bengaluru) wear wonderful sarees. The Air hostesses of Air India made Indian sarees and tradition popular throughout the world. Saree tying is an art and carrying forward with a saree speaks of unstated elegance. Designs like Kota Kommulu, Malli, Sahasra Chandra Darshanam (This design contained 1000 full moons and is worn on the occasion of Sahasra Chandra Darshanam of an elder at home) continue to be popular. Black sarees are avoided on auspicious occasions. Red is preferred for the Muhurtham. Green and yellow are also preferred colours for wedding sarees from time immemorial. In the South the wedding is heralded with the purchase of turmeric, salt and the wedding saree along with relatives who visit a temple first and complete the process with a meal in a hotel. While India is the saree country of the world Tamilnadu leads the pack with more than 90 weaves.
Great travellers from China, Middle East and Africa including the legendary Marco Polo have written much about the fine textiles and sarees of India. About 100 sea ports in the country were involved with textile exports and in return a lot of gold and silver bullion came into India as a consequence of the same. Scholars like Dr.Vijaya Ramaswamy of Jawaharlal Nehru University have for decades been doing a lot of field work in this area. The Europeans participated in our textile activity in a huge way for centuries. Several initiatives by the Government, weavers, NGO's, Corporates etc., have done a lot of good for the saree. Any study on the saree will be replete with references but can never be complete for the saree is endless and infinite. The Saree kind of represents the infinite tradition of our infinite country which presented the concept of infinity to the world.