The Enchanting Banarsi

The Enchanting Banarsi- A timeless weave

       
        The photo shoot at Bhoginandeshwara Temple made me relive the  dream world inhabited by the brocade, tanchoi, jaal, jamdani woven on kora or a double silk or georgette … the woman whispering into Nandi’s ears resplendent in her Banarsi brought out the timelessness of the weave. Like Kashi; the Shivnagari that has no aadi or anta it seems the banarsi too is  timeless and eternal. It is Annapoorna to the nameless weavers who have woven the tales from time unknown!

     Banarsi has been an integral part of my growing up. It always conjures up sweet memories like the soft warm hand of your baby on your cheek before she nestles on your shoulder and sleeps ! My world of Banarsis is inahabited by my mom, aunts, elder cousins, all resplendent in their vibrant  coloured silks with zari borders, bootis, jaals  and  insanely rich pallus which were all was clubbed as Banarsi ! It was only later while shopping for my own wedding that i was to learn about the rich weaves of Banarsis.

So how do I spin this tale …where do I begin?

Well from the very beginning !

Princep's drawing of Banaras( Source internet)

     The Banarsi weave  is as old as the city:  Kasika a  textile  synonymous with a city  is a precursor to Kanjeevarm, Pochampali. Banaras has a unique place in Indian history and culture. As far back as 4th century B.C., it was a rich, flourishing city ; renowned world wide for its textile industry especially with Rome causing it much economic distress !

     Hence scholars find it safe to say that Banarsi weave had cotton origin .It  might have been woven with gold and silver threads later with silk when the Chinese silk was introduced. But then we also know that there was indigenohous silk cultivated from wild….and what about Hiranya? The cloth of gold mentionedin the Rig Veda  which might be the earliest equivalent of Kinkhab/ brocade?

   Who knows for sure about the history and origin of this rich Banarasi weave except for the fact that it synonymous with the city and that it has found mentions in secular and religious literature.

    There were important factors that  sustained the Banarsi - Royalty, Religion and  trade. It was the  regional capital under the Nandas, the Mauryas and the Sungas the royal patronage sustained the rich weave of Hiranya. It  was fabric meant for divinity; Hiranya which the Gods in their resplendent grandeur wear it, as they drive in their stately chariots! The mortal remains of a  renunciator like Buddha  were wrapped in a Banaras fabric radiating with rays of yellow, red and blue ! Thus we can safely ascribe to the unbroken tradition of brocade weaving from times immemorial

    The Dhamek stupa carries patterns laid on brick that were woven in silk and cotton! Patterns carved in relief on the Saranath stupa were transferred from the textile designs of the Gupta period, A number of such motifs appearing on the Dhamekh-Stupa at Sarnath (Banaras) presuppose the transference of the textile designs on stone or a copy of some textiles, which originally wrapped such stupas (such textiles were called the Devadushyas) Murals at Ajanta wear patterns identical to ones found at the Stupa.

     Banarsi synonymous with Brocade is on a surer historical footing with the coming of Mughals. The weaving industry reached its peak during the Mughal period due to the patronage of  Akbar. From this  period onwards, we begin to get an uninterrupted account of the zari work and brocades through the Mughal and Rajasthani paintings. It is significant to note that in the sixteenth century the old designs abruptly came to an end; we find from the contemporary paintings that wholesale-personalized motifs were introduced although modified to the Indian taste. More emphasis was given to floral designs. For example, the ancient animal and bird motifs were given up for good. There was an influx of Persian motifs due to the influence and importance of Persian masters in the court of emperor Akbar; Ghias Naqshaband being the greatest Persian master among them to the royal atelier of Akbar. 

Pic source internet

         The Banarsi got  a dynamic boost at the hands of weavers from Surat who were taught by the Chinese.Silk weavers from Gujarat migrated to Kasi in 17th century after a famine. A new environment for weavers gave a way to various innovations and by 19 th century the city flourished as the textile capital of the region. Seventeenth century is the time for Banarsi Brocade as we know it today.

Pic source internet

      The Banarsi that  came under the influence of Persians, Chinese  still remained loyal to its lord. It was still the Hiranya - the divine fabric of Lord of Kashi! Peter Mundy, traveller to Banaras (1632 A. D.) records that in the Viswanath temple, he found a silk canopy hanging over the Siva-lingam. Describing the Bindumadhava temple of Banaras, Tavernier informs that over the holy platform he noticed brocades and other silks.

     The wheel turns full circle. Romans of yore who exported fine cotton weave now bought the divine fabric! Manucci in his famous travel-book “Storia Do Mogor”records that Banaras in the second half of seventeenth century exported to all over the world, its gold or silver zari textiles, which were “of the best quality”!

It is this  brocade that is eponymous with Banaras and has made it world famous.

What is a Brocade?

   The Banarsi is woven on four diff kind of fabrics…Pure silk, Katan, Organza(kora) with silk and zari; georgette and Shattir.   Brocade style of weaving is synonymous with Banarsi. Brocade is a speciality of Banarsi weave. It is a characeristic weave in which the patterns are created by thrusting the Zari threads between warp at a calculated interval so as to evolve the design line by line. But brocade is not the only Banarsi weave.

    It has numerous off springs the most famous ones being Tanchoi. It requires only silk yarn as raw material.

   Jamdani is another Banarsi innovation. It involves laying designs by hands without using any mechanism. It works around cotton only and is still executed on traditional pit looms.

  Tanchoi,  Cutwork, Tissue and Jamevar are other mind boggling  variants!

     I love the resilience of Banarsi . It is one weave that has lived for more than a thousand of  years. How has it done so ? By showing inventiveness and diversity in terms of adapting to new patterns and motifs.  Europeans introduced chemical dyes, mechanization of looms and  new motifs . Consequently the looms used in Banaras  are pit looms, Jacquard looms and power looms.

     Banarsi has seen many changes in terms of colours, patterns , motifs, borders and styles . In the pre - Mughal period, floral patterns, animal and bird were woven with great delicacy. By medieval times these weaves were defined by  the Islamic sensibilities . Butidar designs were in great demand and with the coming of Mughals a new efflorescence in Banarsi weave was witnessed. And in 19th century the weavers started imitating Victorian style wall papers , geometrical patterns and softer shades of pinks and lilacs!

    It is indeed amazing  that in a city that is as old as time the weaving tradition has kept abreast with changing tastes. It  has seduced women of all generations with its elegant craftsmanship. It is the nameless weaver who transforms a six yard into a piece that embodies the spirit and culture of  the Shivanagari. Thus he  embeds the sari so deep  in the conscience of a woman who is left with no choice but to mark important occasions in her life with a Banarsi!

   The wonder spinner works alone ; a karaigar on a single power loom or in the karkhana of a master weaver. Madanpura and Alaipura are considered traditional weaving areas in Benaras. Each group has its own distinctive style of weaving. The work of Madanpura is traditional and known for its fine designs and colours and woven light transparent materials. The weavers  of Alaipura  experiment with new techniques and designs. The galis where the weavers go over the warp and weft the wooden rafters beating a music of its own you feel as if the looms have not changes since the times when Gods rode out resplendent in Hiranya!

Pic source internet.

                It is the naqshaband who gave life to the various bootas and jaals. He experimented, innovated and gave the dynamic pulse to the Banarsi weave.

                      

         Behind the glitter of the Banarsi lies a tale of toil and unsung mundane work.

      The yarn is dyed to give it color. It is usually done with acid dyes. Before the dyeing the yarn is put in boiling soap water to give the product a shiny texture. 

Pic source Internet

The threads are spun to spools with the help of spinning wheel to prepare the spools to load to the fly shuttle, the threads that fill up through fly shuttle is called weft. The warp threads are got ready by spreading them length wise creating pulls and is rolled to beam which is later fixed to the loom.

The yarn for bana is then rolled on a cylindrical structure, called ‘nari barana’. The tana yarn is rolled on a ‘dharki’ (a shuttle).

 The desired design that is to be worked on the saree is drawn on a sheet of graph paper. The designs sometimes are hand drawn or mostly done in pixel calculations and printed on the graph sheet. This graph sheet becomes the reference to punch the cards. They are made to a set of cards that will be tied together and loaded to the jacquard machine. A large brown sheet is cut into small rectangle sheets of height 3inches and width of 12inches approximate. Then these cards are punched following the graph sheet that will have the desired designs. Once these cards are punched they are tied together. The Jacquard cards are completed to be loaded to the jacquard machine.

All the preparations are over .The loom is set up with the threads and the process of weaving begins before which the jacquard cards are fixed to the jacquard machine and following the cards the threads are pulled and the desired design and the saree is weaved. In weaving warp, craftsmen build the base that runs of the required length. Once the punched cards are prepared those are spun with altered threads and colours on the loom allowing to design and are paddled in an orderly manner that the main weaving picks up right colour and pattern to produce the design and weave as well.

     Finally it is while weaving that the weaver creates  different patterns by using different techniques . This he does with a comb that controls the separation of the tana threads. The open space between each wire is called dent. Helped by a hook, the warp thread passes through the heald and then the dent. This is the denting process. 
Lo and behold ! The different  patterns as jangla, jamdani, tanchoi, kharua, etc. are created .

  It may seem that time has frozen still but delicately  remove  the layers and you  will see the changes and the spirit  of Banarsi.The Banarsi had almost become moribund in the 60s. Designers like Ritu Kumar and Jain  gave a fresh  breath of life to Banarsi and now every designer worth his diploma  has his karkahna in Banaras.

     Of late, many more designs comprising of motifs and patterns of folk-art of Assam, Bengal and Gujarat, as also some adaptations of those that are depicted in the art of Mughal, Rajasthan and Pahari, have been introduced.Parsi ghara  on a Banarsi is  unique adaptation. Most of us have become experts on banarsi waxing gyana on shikargarh  thanks to greater information and Google. The GST has dealt a big blow to the weaver  but I know about the courage of  the Banarsi weaver. He has carried it on for thousands of years , what is a mere GST? I remember the time when the Bombay blasts took place , work stopped for days . Babri masjid fell  but the looms did not fall silent…there was no rioting. What is GST against Anushaka's Banarsi swirls  on social media ? 

  What appeals to me most is the eclectic nature of the weave. It stands for the most beautiful representation of Ganga Jamuna Tezeeb , only a Banarsi saree can have the mangla kalash and the dome of a mosque in the same panel woven in red and gold which is to be  worn by the beaming bride!

    Banarasi is a must in the trousseau of any girl getting married in UP , Bihar, Bengal. In parts of UP and Bihar she is married in a yellow Banarsi . She takes the seven steps with countless stars in her eyes in a Banarsi that matches the beat of the groom's heart.

       Who can beat the romance of Kimkhab? Kimkhab means stuff of dream and one in brocade is no less a dream girl. What about the sensuousness of Tanchoi ? The romance of the Banarsi can never fade. It goes stronger every day.Tanchoi – forget the Chinese Tan. When the weaver shows his collection at the gaddi of the wholedealer in the gaalis of Banaras he calls it tanchui meaning touching the body;  a weave that promises you'd  be a dream of someone , a weave that sensuously touches your form , a weave that was Hiranya thousands of years ago, yesterday was a kimkhab and today  a ballad to Virukshaka's romance, even the most cynical will go soft when the tanchui grazes their not so hard skin!

    This is the weave from the city of Kabir .The surreal sufism of the weave resonates deep. While weaving he would sing Jhini jhini bini chadariya ….yes this chadariya ; the body as well as the saree is ephemeral. Nothing is eternal. Why should I spend my time in asking kahe ka taana kaahe ka baana…

But if I was to pass on this love for the Banarsi chadariya to my daughter or daughter in law or my granddaughter, who knows the love affair with Banarsi may transcend time and may become eternal like the very  Shivanagri? 

Acknowledgements
Fabric Art : A Heritage of India ShuklaDas
http://eacharya.inflibnet.ac.in/data-server/eacharya-
documents/53e0c6cbe413016f234436ed_INFIEP_8/77/ET/unit-
1%20Lesson%202.pdf
http://www.varanasiweavers.org/the-weave.html

http://www.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/fashion/warp-weft-and-wah-taj/article4898056.ece


http://varanasi.nic.in/culture/saree.html

Lepakshi - Lores set in stone

Lepakshi Lores set in stone

Living in North, one oes not realise that storie from Ramayana and Puranas are a great part of the living experience down south as well as it is up North ! One such eye opener was Lepakshi !

Lepakshi  was a synonym   for AP government’s emporium on Baba Kharak Singh Marg, New Delhi from where I would buy my lovely cottons. Little did i know about Lepaksi the town in the distict of Anantpur in state of Andhra Pradesh. Moving to Bangalore i was to learn about the stories of Lepakshi, the sacredness of the place set on tortoise shaped hill - the sanctity of the Kurma shila kshetra !

It is named after the fallen Jatayu . His  wings were chopped off at this very spot and he was set free by L Rama by the words...Le Pakshi, Rise ! Bird! The hill abounds with lores. This is the very place where Veerabhadra roamed after the death of sati,14 swayambhu lingas were found in this region ! In the very neighbourhood Arjuna fought the mighty Shiva disguised as Kirata and won over the the Pashupatastra by his devotion ! Rishi Agastya had consecrated this spot with a small temple.

Thus it was  only a matter of time before a grand temple rose at Lepakshi. And it rose in the Fifteenth century The temple was begun by Virupanna, Achyutaraya’s treasurer, in 1530 AD. He was assisted by his brother Veeranna.Considering the fact that the temple was begun by a minister and that it could not be completed owing to petty politics, we can only give an unbridled reign to our poetic imagination. We can guess what an example of Vijayanagara style of architecture it might have been, had the premises not been encroached and the Kalyan Mantapa been completed.

The temple had 7 structural rings, outer most being the Nandi and the inner most being the gaairbha griha. But now o rings remn, rest have been encroached. So much so that the Nandi is no more a part of the existing complex, sitting desolately about a km away from his deity.

India’s biggest monolithic Nandi is at the entrance of this village. This Nandi is supposedly in the 6th corridor Nandi iIts no more a part of the existing complex, sitting desolately about a km away from his deity carved in perfect magnificence with hara and Gandaberunda and the beauty of his countenance is palpable.

pic of gopuram

The small Gopuram and a  rather simple door way with Ganga on the entrance does not prepares one for the grandeur insisde .This temple fortified by plain walls is sprawling with the best specimens of the Vijayanagar style of sculpture and mural paintings.The temple system became more elaborate with increasing number of buildings within the temple enclosure.In addition to the main temple in the middle there are separate shrines, pillared halls, pavillions and other annexes each having its special purpose. The Amman shrine located in the northwest of the building , enshrined with image of the consort of the deity .

As one enters the Navaranga mantapa one is tranfixed by the surfeit of carvings....beautiful sculptures everywhere ! On pillars . on ceilings on wall as friezes , the door jambs. One  runs out of names for such carved structures but the shilpakars never ran out of spots to carve.

The Ranga mantapa is adorned with pillars that astonishes one  with its  exquisiteness and design dexterity.The most striking pillar type is the type  whose  shaft becomes a central core for the attachment of statuary of heroic size and chiselled entirely in the round. 

Bhikshatana carved in the finest details is one such example.

The Natya Mantapa re created the divine nritya mantapa with Rambha holding the centre court 

Guru Bhringi guiding her from the aisle and audience watching her dance. The audience that includes Lord Dattatreya, Shiva, Goddess Parvati, Surya, Tumbara, Riteshwara, Brahma, Nataraja, Chandra and other scholars, some of whom are seen holding musical instruments giving talam to her padam!

The temple can be reference text book where all diifferent kinds of Vijayanagara style pillars can be found The pillared pavilion on the sides of the Ranga Mantapa...the Chitrakhanda pillars with ornamental brackets as part of the capitalsand below the bracket is a pendant that terminates into an inverted lotus bud.

Pavilions containing groups of columns are a form of architectural scheme to add drama to the temple complex.

The Maha Mandapa has three shrines, the main one being of Veerbhadra. Another one is dedicated to lord Papanarheshwara and the third one is for lord Rahunath.

The temple is dedicated to Lord Veerabhadra - the angry manifestation of Shiva.One sees Veerabhadra in the sanctum , on the mural of the ceiling and the rawness of his emotions deeply moves you.

When Shiva found out that his Sati was no more he was seized by violent grief . He tore apart his locks and created Veerabhadra who in a blazing fury almost destroyed the creation. The anger, the sorrow , the resignation and finally the acceptance that Shiva shows as Bhikshatana speak a lot to you . Who will not be touched by the humanness of the Divine Love story ?

 The  temple is not about the fury of Shiva . It  also carries tales of joy and happy endings.Sati  comes back in Shiva's life as Parvati as Girija.Walking under the ceilings that have murals showing petite Parvati getting ready for the nupitals and Shiva waiting for her one is filled with assurance and great joy at this eternal lovestory.

Pic of murals

The temple has some beautiful murals on the ceiling in Fresco-Secco style.The maha mandapa has a beautiful mural of Lord Veerabhadra on the ceiling. 

The ceilings are richly painted. The murals painted in natural colors add visual drama to the granite temple.One cranes the neck to admire the paintings.
Parvati grooming herself and peering into a mirror; Baby Krishna, with his eye following you all around; Ravana with his Shivalinga, and many more such mythological tales. The ceiling of the Ranga Mantapa and the antarala are beautifully covered with tales from Ramayana, Mahabharata and Puranas. 
These paintings are a visual document of the social cultural mores of the times

One steps  out of the Rangamantapa to walk  in the open prangana  to seek the blessings of Doda ganesha . This being a temple for Veerbhadra, it is necessary to invoke Ganesha before entering the sanctum!

As one leisurely  walks  through the  pillared corridors winding down the Kurma shila with the sun setting , you realise there is still much to be savoured : like the unusual Natya mantapa...

One of the most fascinating part of the temple is the Lata Mantapa. A corridor filled with designs carved on pillars  that has been an inspiration for the weavers since eternity !

         Patterns carved on granite for eternity, asking for no royalty no credit nothing…

Veerupana's eyes were gouged out because he was accused of graft by the jealous courtiers hence the temple remained uncompleted the natya mantapa saw no roof and Shiva weds Parvati under open skies star lit with the who's who Hindu Pantheon blessing the divine couple.

The temple architecturally may not be as grand as the Chola temples or sculpturally as rich as any of the Hoysala temples, but many enthralling anecdotes are carved all over the temple. These anecdotes win you over with their human sentiments. It entices you with its sculptural narrative. Lo and behold, “Here is the feet of Sita, there fell Jatayu’s wings and therOne cannot remain untouched and unmoved in this Lepakshi and its sea of stories kind of atmosphere!!

I will leave these anecdotes with you as teaser - just permit me to spoil one for you:
There is a cute story about brothers who were working in the temple precinct. They were hungry and they wanted lunch. Their mother went to cook their meal and asked them to sit quietly. When she came out with their lunch’ she saw a huge seven fanged Naga carved where nothing existed earlier!



Today when I try to give 10 sums to my children to solve while I am organizing their meal, the elder one will deftly post 10 likes on Facebook and the younger one will try to finish off one episode of her TV serial.
How times have changed!