The queens and princesses who lived in marble palaces surrounded by beautiful gardens and lily-filled pools, ordered the master weavers of the court to make fine – quality muslins and silks. They were strictly told that the texture of these silks should be so thin that, it passes through a jeweled ring from the finger of a royal woman. The Silk fabrics were often decorated with gold and silver brocades which the royal woman adored.

This goes to show that because of the high demand of the silk fabrics from the royal families, various Brocade Weaving Centers were gradually developed in and around the capitals of kingdoms and or holy cities. Rich merchants and several other trading ports also contributed to the development of this weave. Hence, Gujarat, Malwa and South India were considered to be some of the main producers of silk since the ancient times. However, Varanasi, Mau, Azamgarh and Murshidabad and a few other places is still now known as the major silk and brocade weaving centers of in the northern part of India.

There are also expert weavers from distant land, who worked with the local weavers and imparted their skill in producing high – quality silk. This intermingling of artists brought great transformation in the textile weaving industry. The exquisite “buti” on the silk  was the result of the fusion of Persian and Indian designs. Some royal workshops under the Muslim era developed some wonderful brocades which could be exported to many countries around the world and Lahore and Multan were developed as major silk – weaving industry during the time of Mughal.

But when we think of silk weaving in Bengal, Murshidabad has always been at the top since Mughal age. However, fabric work on silk is a well – known activity at Shantiniketan in Bengal.

The silk on which fabric designs are done are woven on the looms at Murshidabad. Very thin 100c longitudinal threads are used to cross over the differently coloured horizontal threads to bring out the pure silk weave. They are then sent to the fabric painters of Shantiniketan, so that they use their creative instincts into the creative designing of the sarees.

These fabric painters are largely inspired by nature to paint the sun, moon, stars, etc on the whole body. Sometimes only floral paintings are done on the body, while human, animal and geometrical  patterns painted on the “anchal” and border of the saree.

Though the fantabulous designs make these pure silks an expensive buy for some. But a rich collection of some fabric silk at reasonable prices is largely available at our new online store of Kiukart for parties, regular wears and other occasion for the Indian woman across the world.

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