The Banarsi brocade and a monument of weaves

A new exhibition traces the long history of the Banarasi brocade weave back to the late 19th century

A  Banarasi brocade sari is not a mere garment — it is a living testimony of the subcontinent’s handweaving skills. It’s also a personal museum of memories, of sorts, with a grandmother or the mother handing her bundle of life stories over to the next generation with the sari. It is to explore the significance of the Banaras brocade sari, both as a textile for personal adornment and as a cultural artifact, that the National Museum has organised <I>Unbroken Thread: The Banarasi Brocade Sari at Home and in the World. </I>Curated by Abeer Gupta, Suchitra Balasubrahmanyan and Anamika Pathak, the show features 100 objects — 42 from the Museum’s own collection, some of which date back to the late 19th century, and 58 others on loan from private collections.

It all started a year ago when Gupta and Balasubrahmanyan received a fellowship from the India Foundation for the Arts, in collaboration with the museum, to engage with the Decorative Arts department and re-stage its collection of Banaras brocade saris. This is not the first time that weaves of India have made their way from the looms to the museum. Since last year, contemporary dialogues have been held simultaneously with historical narratives on the subject, as one saw during The Fabric of India show at London’s Victoria & Albert Museum and the recently held Weaves of Banaras, organised by the Fashion Design Council of India at the “Make in India” week.

This exhibition takes this dialogue further. “We wanted a tripartite participation — from the museum, public and fashion designers,” says Balasubrahmanyan. Hence, joining the museum’s collection are Banarasi saris belonging to women from all parts of India, alongwith their accounts of what the garment means to them as a repository of feelings, associations and continuities. “So, you will find a brocade in white, which is worn during a Christian wedding in the south. Then there is a Kanjivaram in pink, again from the south,” says Gupta.

One of the most striking is a red wedding sari loaned to the exhibition by Dora Gupta of Kolkata.  This was purchased in 1977-78 from Kolkata’s famous Indian Silk House, located in Gariahat, for her wedding. Her account of the purchase accompanies the object: “One has to buy a minimum of two Banarasis and at least 10 other varieties in silk and cotton. Of the Banarasis, one must be red, which is worn for the main ceremony of the wedding… . This sari has not only been worn by me on various occasions, but after 12 years, my niece wore it for her her older sister’s wedding. The beauty of the sari is that it remained fashionable during their time as well.” These have been displayed in the same way as a museum object would, “to mirror the fact that a Banarasi sari in people’s collection is as precious as a museum’s collection is to the museum,” says Balasubrahmanyan.

The exhibition has been divided into six sections, all seeking to explore the sari’s identity as a museum object. “One section focuses on brocade traditions from other parts of India, be it the jamdani or the ashavali from Gujarat.

The second is about the rich repertoire of Banaras weavers, who were not just producing saris, but also <patkas>, turbans and furnishings in the Mughal times, which were being sent to the northeast, Tibet and beyond,” says Gupta. The third section looks at Banaras in great detail. The remaining three sections are dedicated to contemporary adaptations and interpretations of the Banaras brocade. The garments on loan from the public form a part of this, as do garments by three fashion designers — Rahul Mishra, Ritu Kumar and Ashdeen. “Mishra has used traditional materials to create a contemporary look through bomber jackets and more. Ashdeen has woven saris using Parsi motifs. The idea is to show that Banarasi saris have a life of their own, they are not static but constantly evolving,” says Gupta. The exhibition also features collaborations with Good Earth, Mallika  Mathur and Asian Paints, besides prints and posters from visual artist Pushpamala N, Osian’s and Brooklyn Museum, New York.

Kumar, who was part of the Weaves of Banaras and is also participating in this show, is happy to be part of revivalist projects centred around the traditional crafts of India. “I want to revive the fabulous tradition of gold and silver weaving of Banaras through my designs, so that it can make a comeback to mainstream fashion,” she says. These, she says, are the only surviving textiles in the world in which the skills of the master weavers create handlooms that are a true statement of the bespoke garment. “Banaras weaves are almost like a monument worth preserving, like no other in the world,” she says.

Unbroken Thread is on display at the National Museum, New Delhi, till April 25