The Maheshwari sari started out as a pure cotton sari in pale colours with slightly contrasted colourful stripes along its borders and in the pallu. Another distinct Maheshwari style is the pure cotton body with a pale gold border which is distinct for its distinctive pattern of chevrons. Chevrons look like this: <<<<<<<<. The other pattern that is found on a Maheshwari, but not so commonly is the brick patter or the ‘chatai’ / cane pattern. The pallu is a continuation of the body, intersected by thicker gold lines, and sometimes the entire pallu is made of gold in heavier saris.
Now for the story of the origin of Maheshwari – as laced with gold as the sari. The acclaim of ‘inventing’ the Maheshwari sari belongs to Maharani Ahilyabai Holkar (1725 – 1795) of the Holkar dynasty of the Marathas that ruled over the Malwa region. She was a tough queen who ruled and protected her kingdom after the death of her husband and her father-in-law. She was also a great patron of the arts. In 1960, she commissioned the famed weavers of Surat to weave something worthy of her royal family. It is said that Ahilyabai herself attended to and contributed to the design of the first Maheshwari. They created the sari, with designs inspired by the patterns and motifs of the forts of Maheshwar. Thus, was born the Maheshwari sari, which started out as a cotton sari. Now it has a cotton warp and a weft made of Banaras silk – a stately cotton silk, with the customary gold border.
This sari, like many other traditional saris of that time, had to endure a trying journey of its own as it faced near extinction due to industrialization. Many weavers of the Maheshwari lost patronage in the 1970s and had to leave the weaving town in search for other, more lucrative professions. It was around that time, in the late seventies, where a direct descendant of the Holkar family decided to do something about this rich legacy and founded the Rehwa Society – a name synonymous with the Maheshwari sari --- it was established in 1978, by Richard and Sally Holkar as a weaver's society. The Society works towards the revival of the art and also the weavers of this art. The Maheshwari, since then, represents the elegant, the simple, the tasteful, and classy. Buy and wear a royal heritage …
