By Ines Keane
Start with the time. A museum run by a Patan weaving family says one sari takes four to six months if two people work five days a week. A travel blog from 2016 says a complete silk sari takes three years. A shop’s blog says six months to a year. None of them is obviously wrong, and the spread tells you what kind of cloth this is.
What double ikat means
Wikipedia’s article on patola cloth describes a double ikat weave, usually in silk, made in Patan, Gujarat. Both the warp and the weft threads are tied to resist dye, then dyed before weaving, and the tying is repeated for each colour in the design. The museum explains the word: ikat is an Indonesian term meaning to tie, knot or bind. Single ikat dyes only the warp or only the weft. In double ikat, the museum says, both are tied and resist-dyed so the pattern holds on the field of the sari without blurring. A shop’s blog adds that the two sets of threads must line up thread by thread, and that one miscalculation ruins the pattern.
How the cloth is made
The travel blog describes the steps as it saw them: silk thread is washed and soaked in rice water, then dried until stiff enough to tie; the design is plotted on graph paper; warp and weft are tied and dyed; the silk is washed in concrete tubs; weaving follows on a loom. It says the loom resembles a back-strap loom but is wider, and is worked like a seated pedal loom. The blog says the cloth is the same on both sides, with no reverse.
On dyes the three sources differ. The museum says natural colours are used and displays old vegetable dyes. The travel blog lists indigo, cochineal, pomegranate and madder. The shop blog lists indigo, turmeric, madder root, pomegranate skin and marigold, and says some workshops use imported cochineal.
Where it comes from
Here the dates part. Wikipedia says Salvi silk weavers from Maharashtra reached Gujarat in the twelfth century, seeking the patronage of the Chaulukya Rajputs, and that a legend names over 700 weavers brought to the court of Raja Kumarpal. It says the Patan art is more than 850 years old. The museum also dates the origin to the twelfth century and to Kumarpal’s reign. The shop blog puts the legend at 700 weaver families from Jalna and says Patan flourished between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries. Its title says 900 years old, its closing section says eight centuries, and its body says the technique may be “well over a thousand years” old, so it contradicts itself and we show all three. Wikipedia adds that some historians link tie-dye-like work in the Ajanta cave paintings, of the fourth century, to the technique.
Trade
According to Wikipedia, patola was imported into Southeast Asia from at least the Middle Ages and served as a marker of high status, and elites in Timor and the Maluku Islands sought patola or imitations, often supplied by European merchants. The shop blog says patola was exported to Malaysia and Indonesia from as early as the first century CE and that Indonesia was a major buyer before the Second World War. Those two claims sit centuries apart, and neither cites a document.
Weddings
The travel blog says patolas are traditionally worn by Gujarati brides for their weddings. Wikipedia says patola became part of stridhan, a woman’s own property, in Gujarat, and that the Solanki rulers wore it on special occasions. Those are separate statements. Neither says how common the custom is today.
Motifs
Wikipedia and the shop blog both name parrots, flowers, elephants and dancing figures. The shop blog also names a grid called ratan chowk. Wikipedia says four distinct patterns are woven mainly in Gujarat by the Salvi community.
Who weaves it
The museum describes itself as run by a family of double ikat weavers, says it opened in Patan in September 2014 after fifteen years of planning, and says the family does not supply showrooms. The shop blog says knowledge of the technique was historically held within family lines and that fewer than five families still produce authentic double ikat in Patan. The travel blog said four weavers continued in 2016, and says the family it met made three or four saris a year. We name no weaver; these are living people.
Dates in order
- Fourth century: tie-dye-like work in the Ajanta cave paintings, according to Wikipedia, as some historians read it.
- Eleventh to thirteenth centuries: Patan flourishes, according to the shop blog.
- Twelfth century: Salvi weavers reach Gujarat, according to Wikipedia and the museum.
- 2013: geographical indication protection, according to the shop blog.
- September 2014: the museum opens, according to the museum.
- 2016: the travel blog is published.
Side by side
The time to weave runs from four months to three years. The age runs from eight centuries to over a thousand years. Weaver numbers run from four to fewer than five families. Our reading: these figures describe different cloths, different eras of the craft and different degrees of finish, though no source says so.
What kind of sources these are
Wikipedia; the museum’s own website, a producer’s account of itself; a travel blog by a visitor, 2016; and a shop’s blog, which is promotional. We read no registry entry and no archive, so the 2013 date rests on one promotional page.
Questions a buyer would ask
Is the pattern identical on both faces? The travel blog and the shop blog both say so. Are the motif edges slightly soft rather than crisp? The shop blog says that is a result of tying before weaving. Is a geographical indication label present, and was the cloth made in Patan? Those are questions for a seller, and we give no price.
Quick answers
What is Patan patola? According to Wikipedia, a double ikat weave, usually silk, made in Patan, Gujarat, with both warp and weft tied and resist-dyed before weaving.
How long does a patola take to weave? The museum says four to six months with two people working five days a week; a shop’s blog says six months to a year.
Is a real patola the same on both sides? A travel blog and a shop’s blog both say the design and colour are identical on both faces, with no reverse side.
What we left out
We left out the origin of the raw silk, prices, the lists of motifs by community, and the named weavers in the museum page and the blog, who are living people.
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Roam first. Shop later.