By Ines Keane
The border does not come off. That is the claim at the centre of Kanchipuram silk, and two government-linked sources make it in nearly the same words.
What the sources say about the join
The Kancheepuram district website says that in an authentic Kanchipuram silk saree the body and the pallu are woven separately and then stitched together, and that the joint is woven so strongly that even if the saree tears, the border will not detach. The government-linked Vikaspedia handloom page says the same thing. A craft article from the Imp-Art organisation says the saree has three separately woven parts: body, border and pallu. So the sources agree that the parts are woven separately. They differ on whether the border is one of them. We show both.
Three shuttles
Vikaspedia says three single threads of silk yarn are used along with zari, and that three shuttles are used to weave the saree. It says the work takes weeks or even months on traditional handlooms. We have no second source for the three-shuttle count and give it as Vikaspedia’s.
Where the thread comes from
The district website says the mulberry silk comes from Karnataka and the gold zari from Surat, and describes zari as silk threads dipped in liquid gold and silver. Vikaspedia uses the same phrase. Imp-Art says about 75 per cent of the gold zari is imported from Surat and the rest comes from the Tamil Nadu Zari factory. We have not checked what the zari contains today, and we do not repeat the phrase “liquid gold” as a fact about the metal content.
How old
The sources give different time scales. The district website says the origin of the Kanchipuram saree dates back centuries, when sarees used to be woven in temples. Vikaspedia says the tradition spans over 400 years. Imp-Art says the earliest weaving records trace to the tenth century in Kanchipuram, beginning with the Saliyar community from Andhra Pradesh, and that later weavers included the Devanga and Sengunthar or Kaikolar communities and weavers from Saurashtra in Gujarat. It says that by the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries the weavers had shifted mainly to silk sarees with silver zari. Over 400 years and since the tenth century cannot both be a start date, and we do not choose between them.
The loom work
Imp-Art describes a chain of steps: dyeing, starching, warping, the jacquard loom and the fly-shuttle technique. It says a single warp of about 18 metres typically produces three sarees. It names the ground colours arakku, a red, and manjal, a yellow. We have no second source for the warp figure.
The patterns
Vikaspedia lists traditional motifs: Rudraksham, after rudraksha beads; Gopuram, after temple towers; Mayilkan, the peacock’s eye; and Kuyilkan, the nightingale’s eye. It says the designs draw on South Indian temples and nature.
How many people
The numbers do not agree, and they are not dated alike. The district website says about 5,000 families were engaged in production as of 2008, that about 50,000 weavers currently work through cooperative societies, and that about 60,000 silk looms operate in Kanchipuram. It says skilled and semi-skilled weavers come from nearby towns, among them Salem, Arani, Coimbatore and Kumbakonam. We cannot tell whether families, weavers and looms are counted in the same way, and we do not make a total.
Geographical Indication
The district website says the GI was approved in 2005 to 2006 by the Government of India. Vikaspedia says it was recognised officially since 2005 to 2006, and that the standards set a specific weight, zari content and place of production. We have not seen the register.
A name from the twentieth century
Imp-Art credits Rukmini Devi Arundale with reformulating and reviving traditional colours and motifs. The article is a craft organisation’s own account and tells a revival story, so we give the claim as theirs.
The three accounts side by side
On the join, the district site and Vikaspedia agree. On the number of parts, Imp-Art says three where the others name two. On zari, all three say Surat, and Imp-Art alone gives a share. On age, the three give a temple-weaving origin, over 400 years and the tenth century. On the number of people, only the district site gives figures. The pattern is clear enough: the sources agree on how a saree is built and disagree on how old the craft is and how many people make it.
What kind of sources these are
The district website and Vikaspedia are government-linked pages. Imp-Art is a craft organisation’s article and presents a favourable view of its subject. None is a weaver’s own account, and we name no weaver or workshop.
What the sources do not say
None says how a buyer tells a genuine piece from a copy beyond the join and the standards, how long the standards have required hand weaving, or what share of looms now run on a powered setup. We have not filled those gaps. We also left out the export destinations in one article and all prices.
What it means for a buyer
Our view is that the useful questions come from the sources. Ask whether the piece carries the GI mark, since the sources say the standards cover weight, zari content and place of production. Ask where it was woven, since the district site says weavers come from neighbouring towns as well as Kanchipuram. Ask how the border is joined. And treat any single number for weavers or looms as an estimate.
Where sources differ, we show each: the body and border parts, the age of the craft and the counts of families, weavers and looms. We list them in the check file.
Roam first. Shop later.