A town in Aurangabad district, Paithan is a quiet religious place on the northern banks of the river Godavari in Maharashtra, the splendid capital of Satvahana Dynasty in 200 BC. In ancient times, Paithan was a prosperous trade centre called ‘Pratisthan’ and exported rich fabrics and precious stones to far off lands. Today the glorious past has stayed behind in the form of ‘Paithani’, a Poem in Silk and Gold.
Paithani derives its name from Paithan where it has been produced for 2000 years. It is essentially a silk sari with an ornamented zari pallu and border and traditional motifs. The sari is often known by the motif that dominates its border or pallu.
A special feature of Paithani is that no mechanical means are used to produce the designs. Skilled weavers count the threads of the warp for each part of the design and using tiny cloth pins or ’tillies’, interlock the silk or gold yarn on the weft with them. The progress is slow. Sometimes only half an inch can be woven in 12 hours.
Material: Normally Paithani is woven using silk yarn and the zari is drawn from pure gold. But today an economically viable sari may be woven substituting silver for gold.
Motifs: The oldest traditional Paithani motifs are Ashavali (vine and flowers) and Akruti (squarish flower forms). Some other traditional motifs are Narali (coconut form), Pankha (fan), Rui Phul (a kind of flower) and Kalas Pakli (a petal form). Storks and Swans were popular motifs during the Shalivahan era, while the golden Lotus in Yadav times. The Mughal period inspired new motifs derived from flowers, plants, trees and birds, e.g. Peacock in Bangdi Mor design. The Ajanta influence is seen in motifs like Ajanta lotus, the triple bird and the seated Buddha. Some other motifs are Kuyri Vel(mango), Anaar Vel (grapes), Gokarna Vel (Gokarna flower), Tota – Maina (parrot), Humaparinda (pheasant) and Behestiparinda (bird of paradise). The Muniya or Tota-Maina motif symbolizes the parrot. Parrot is the sign of love and passion. Its red beak represents the red earth before the rain or the unfulfilled desire and the green feathers representing the green earth after rains or fulfilled desire, full of joy that forms an indispensable part of human life. The Lotus or Kamal Pushpa is a motif that bears a close resemblance to the murals of Ajanta Caves located in Aurangabad, Maharashtra. It is the sign of rebirth. The Lotus closes in the evening and falls into water. But in the morning, it opens up lifting itself above the surface of water. It also represents essence of life in addition to representing royalty, beauty and purity. Though a traditional Paithani has a plain body, it is not unusual to have tiny motifs or ‘butties’ of various shapes, such as Paise (coin), Tara (star), Phool (flower), Paan (leaf), etc.
The Paithani comes in various colours, some pure and some resulting from the blending of yarns of different colours in the weave. Usually, the dominant colour in the border and the pallu is different from the body. The local names for the colours are Kaali Chandrakala (black), Uddani (faint black), Pophali (yellow), Neeligungi (blue), Pasila (red-pink-green blend), Pheroze (white-red-pale green), Samprus (green-red), Kusumbi (purple-red), Motiya (pale pink) and Kshirodak (white).
Kadiyal border Sari: The word ‘kadiyal’ means interlocking. The warp and the weft of the border are of the same colour while the body has different colours for warp and weft.
Kad/Ekdhoti: A single shuttle is used for weaving of the weft. The colour of the warp yarn is different from that of the weft yarn. It has a Narali border and simple buttis like paisa, watana, etc.
