BALUCHAR SARI

BALUCHAR SARI The Baluchar sari derives its name from the village of its origin, which is situated on the banks of the river Bhagirathi in the Murshidabad district of Bengal. Patronized by the aristocratic Jain traders and merchants who settled and flourished there in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the Baluchar style acquired a special place among the traditional saris of India.

The uniqueness of this sari is as much in its design concept as in its weaving technique. Multicolored motifs emerge on the ground through the introduction of extra wefts of floss silk with the help of small shuttles. The weavers could create the desired pattern on the draw loom (naqsh loom) with the help of several draw boys, who would lift the thread with harness cords, to pass the extra weft. Later, these looms were replaced by the jacquard. What distinguishes the Baluchar from other brocades is the complexity of its design, executed in silk on silk without gold or metal thread, setting it apart even among the various rich brocades of India.

The most distinguishing feature of the Baluchar sari is the intricate design of its large pallu (end of the sari). Most saris produced and worn in Bengal have a comparatively simple pallu, which is arranged vertically from the shoulder when draped. The Baluchar, on the other hand, has an elaborate pallu, more like the heavy pallu of the saris from Gujarat, where women preferred to exhibit the richly decorated pallu in the front, and where the Jain patrons of Murshidabad had originally lived. These saris were also exported to Gujarat. The plain or butidar (with a small floral motif) ground is bounded by a floral border along the entire length of both sides. The pallu, at the end, is decorated with an elaborate design, arranged in rectangles around a row of large kalga, or paisley motifs. The decorations on these rectangles consist of human figures, such as noblemen smoking a huqqa, a king or a nobleman riding an elephant, or a lady holding a flower; some even depict couples, wearing European dress, seated in a railway carriage, or European soldiers carrying cannons, revealing the influence of European trade contacts. In some cases, the row of figures is repeated on all four sides of the rectangle; the figures change direction so that they will be in the correct position when the sari is worn, involving a great deal of work on the part of the weaver, who had to retie the leashes of the pattern harness. One of the central paisleys is sometimes a different color from the rest, functioning as a nazarbattu to ward off the evil eye. Generally, these saris are purple, maroon, red, blue, or yellow, but occasionally they are made of two tones, using different colors of warp and weft.

Later, other important centers of Baluchar saris also developed at Kasimbazar, Ajimganj, Jiaganj, and Baharampur in West Bengal. The tradition of the Baluchar sari almost disappeared in the early twentieth century after the death of the famous master weaver Dubraj Das and his contemporaries. However, it was revived in the late twentieth century with incentives offered by the government. A much simplified version of the Baluchar sari is now in vogue.

Kalpana Desai

See alsoBrocade

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Dhamija, Jasleen, ed. The Woven Silks of India. Mumbai: Marg, 1995.

Lynton, Linda. The Sari: Styles, Patterns, History, Techniques. Singapore: Thames and Hudson, 1995.

Riboud, Krishna, ed. In Quest of Themes and Skills: Asian Textiles. Mumbai: Marg, 1989.

Singh, Martand. Saris of India: Bihar and West Bengal. New Delhi: Wiley Eastern, 1995.