Saree shopping in Banaras

Given that my dad was in a transferable job and that we all have a love of travelling, I have visited numerous places across the length and breadth of India. And given my mom's love for reasonably priced and variety shopping, I have been long exposed to the local handicrafts of almost all the places I have traveled to. Whether its silk sarees from Kerala or beautifully crafted Kashmiri antique jewellery or Manipuri sarees or Bhuj printed cotton.. the list goes on. Maybe because of this early exposure to an assortment of handicrafts across the country, I have a deep interest in the local artworks available at all these places (and nowadays a concern that these may not even be produced anymore in a couple of years!).

So as expected, on my recent trip to Banaras, (as like last time) I spent a considerable amount of time shopping for Banarsi sarees. And this time again I felt the same dread; these beautiful works of art are on the path of vanishing completely. Already, the current generation of weavers prefer to do other jobs rather than practice the skills handed down by the older generation. Soon enough, the only places we would find these beautifully woven and intricate Banarsi sarees would be in museums? This thought was enough to make me buy 6 sarees (instead of the 2 that I had planned for when entering the shop!), but it also got me to think again (and then of course pen down my thoughts!).

First, let me write about what I learnt about the different types of weaving that happens in Banaras.
(This is based on what I understood about the different names being used for the sarees. Am not sure if these are technically correct description or not but I thought I would share anyways)

Tanchoi : These are the most intricate of the Banarsi works; the single coloured patterns are woven all over the sarees and the workmanship is so fine, that it almost feels that the patterns have been printed all over rather than painstakingly woven into the saree.

Jamawar: These are similar to the Tanchoi sarees except that the patterns in Jamawar are in multiple colours rather than a single colour as in Tanchoi. Apparently each coloured pattern is woven by a separate weaver, and so more the colours in the design, the more expensive the piece becomes. These pieces are so exquisite, you just need one look at a Jamawar saree and will feel like owning it:).

The Jamawar and Tanchoi sarees are the most rare of all since they take a lot more effort to produce than the other simpler designs. In fact, of the more than 200 sarees we saw, only about 5-10 were Jamawars. And we had to do everything; plead, beg and threaten to get to see them!

Upada : These designs are not as intricate as Tanchoi and Jamdani and hence available in higher abundance nowadays. This way of weaving is originally from Orissa but now has been adopted by the Banarsi artisans as they are easier to produce. They are beautiful too, until you get to see the Tanchoi; then the Upada don't seem to match up to them in terms of workmanship and fineness.

Kheemkhab : This type of sarees have intricate designs all over based on Mughal art. They give a very heavy and royal look plus are super-expensive.

A lot of the patterns now being produced have been modified to suit the current demand; they have more geometrical designs and the original traditional pattern gradually seem to be vanishing. I bought all sarees with traditional patterns only, they look so much more graceful that way:). Another thing that I loved about the sarees was the ravishing bright colours they come in. Its a welcome change especially when you tend to shop a lot abroad where blacks and grays and whites dominate the colour palette. My shopping bag had all bright colours possible; green, blue, orange, pink and red!

The method of selling the Banarsi sarees seemed very interesting too. The local people from each village bring boxes of sarees daily to the shops in the old part of town. When a customer visits these shops, each seller(one-by-one) shows his own pieces to the customer. It is a really long process to go through each of the sellers collection (and after a point they all start looking the same too). There is also huge competition between all the different sellers to sell their own sarees, so much so that sometimes fights also break out regarding what their place was in the queue!

Another interesting point I noticed was that the price of the saree was decided by the shop owner; he quoted his own price without really consulting the seller and the seller had no option but to accept it. Also, the shop keeper keeps a fixed % of margin from the price. So essentially, all the shops are doing is providing a market for the weavers to sell, without taking any inventory or price risk at all. And if during the day, the sellers don't sell their sarees, they just auction it off to wholesalers in the nightly saree market.

I also noticed that the price of the sarees doubled even within Banaras, the same pieces were selling for much higher in the showrooms in the posh part of the city as compared to the crowded old parts. Wonder what happens to the prices when the sarees come to Delhi or Bombay? Also, it makes you wonder that if the middlemen make so much of the margin, what really do the real hardworking craftsmen make?

Apparently a worker on a Tanchoi saree makes only Rs. 200 a day while he can get better wages of Rs. 300 a day working on the minimum wage government scheme, NREGA. Why would anyone want to work on the saree then? In some years, this knowledge and skill will vanish, given the sad state of the artisans plus the lack of demand from the younger generation who don't really care about wearing sarees anymore. It would surely be a big loss to all of us, losing such skilled workmanship and skill, and by the time we do realise what we are losing, it might be too late to do anything either.