- Baluchari silk weaving originated over 200 years ago in the village of Baluchar in West Bengal. It was patronized by the Nawab of Bengal in the 18th century. - In the early 20th century, artist Subho Thakur worked to revive the tradition by inviting master weaver Akshay Kumar Das. Now it takes 5-6 days to weave a Baluchari sari using a jacquard loom, with two weavers working in shifts. - Baluchari saris are characterized by intricate woven motifs depicting scenes from religious epics or historical temples. Common motifs include flowers, animals, people, and narratives from the Ramayana and Mah

2. Vidya Balan in
Parineeta, donning a
gorgeous red and
cream Bengali style

3. Over two hundred years ago
Baluchari silk was woven in a small village
called Baluchar in Murshidabad district
in West Bengal. In the eighteenth
century, Murshidkuli Khan, Nawab of
Bengal patronized this weaving tradition
and Baluchari flourished.
In the first half of twentieth century,
Subho Thakur, a famous artist, was
motivated to recultivate the rich
tradition of Baluchari craft. He invited
Akshay Kumar Das, a master weaver of

4.  The Baluchari sarees are made in the town
of Baluchar in Murshidabad district.
 They have a silk base with silk brocaded
designs. The color scheme of these sarees
are unique in the sense that each pattern is
made in a color which is in harmony with the
ground of the saree.
 The most popular colors used are red, blue,
yellow, green and scarlet. These sarees
mostly have large floral motifs interspersed
with flowering shrubs.
 Here the tussar silk is used for making these

5. Silk weaving of
Baluchar continues to
be an important
landmark of Bengal's
handloom tradition.
Baluchari sarees are
woven in Bengal silks
which are much
acclaimed in the world
over, since ancient
times. Like silk, cotton
baluchari sarees are
also woven in a

6. The weaving of Baluchari is an intricate process,
and requires ample time and labour. A proper and
pre-settled division of labour can be seen in this
pocket.
Previously the system used to weave Baluchari, was
called Jala system. The silk yarn used in Baluchari
was not twisted and therefore had a soft and heavy
texture. The usual size of old Baluchari used to be
of 447cm(length) 112cm(wide) Before modern
chemical dyes were introduced, vegetable dyes
were used to dye yarn, both silk and cotton, with
very fine results.
Earlier the technique was very time consuming and

7. Weaving
a
Balucha
ri Saree
on a
Jacquar
d Loom,
Bishnup
ur,

9.  After jacquard
loom has been
introduced, a
Baluchari takes
five to six days
to complete. Two
weavers work on
it, in shift basis.

10.  To tighten the
saree from both the
side while weaving a
metal and wooden
clip is attached.
It is called Katani.

11.  To keep the
yarn tight from
the other side
of the loom,
some weight is
hanged. This
weight consists
sand, rolled yarn

12.  After little weaving is
over, water is sprinkled
on the woven part and
polishing is done with an
oval shaped tin sheet.
Time to time wax is put
on the yarn to make it
more even and slippery.
During the weaving of
paisley (buti) a small boy
is needed to weave
the buti, and the main

13. Baluchari Saris have small
patterns or “butis” all over,
beautiful floral borders, and
gorgeous “pallu” which are
decorated with narrative
motifs.
The sari has large flowing
kalka motifs in the centre
surrounded by narrow
ornamental borders. These
are framed by a series of
figural motifs worked in
rows around the kalkas.
These motifs are woven
diagonally and are worked in

14. Some of the famous scenes are
hunting scene of Nawab, running
horse with a rider, warrior with a
spear in hand, Nawab smoking hukka,
etc. some of the contemporary
design used in Baluchari are stories
from epics, like Pancha
Pandava, Shakuntala, Meerabai, Krish
nalila, Madan Mohan, temples of
Bishnupur etc.
Sarees depicting wedding scenes
are a delight too. The pallav starts
with small rectangles all showing
palanquin bearers, seemingly carrying

16. The border shows scenes
from the ancient epic , the
Mahabharata

18. The border shows the
bride being taken to her
husband's home in the
wedding Doli

20. Baluchari is usually
five yards in length.
These sarees have
colors, which
harmonize with one
another.
Mostly nature
designs like flowers,
shrubs etc. are
woven into the silk
base of these sarees.
Narrative designs
such as people on

21. Detailed
figures, animals
and
architectural
scenes are
depited on these
sarees. The
classic Baluchari
has scenes from
the religious
epics of India.
Wide borders
feature repeat
motifs from the

22. The
Baluchari
sarees look
similar to
Banarasi
sarees.
There is
only one
difference
between
the two
sarees,
Baluchari
Baluchari
saree
Banarasi

23. Baluchari refers to the
traditional weaving of silk
saris with floral or
geometrical silk brocaded
designs on it. These saris are
characterized by artistic
motifs depicting scenes from
Ramayana or sculptures made
on historical temples weaved
on the sari borders. Others
may include motifs like
animals, vegetation, miniscule
images of human beings,
marriage processions, brides
in palanquins, horse riders,
ethnic musicians. One

25. Baluchari was the sign of
aristocracy, the attire of
status. But elite Hindus made
it into sarees in which the
ground scheme of decoration
became a very wide pallav,
often with a large mango or
paisley (buti) motifs at the
center, surrounded by smaller
rectangles depicting different
scenes. The saree borders
were narrow and had floral
motifs. The whole ground of
the saree was covered with
small paisley and other floral
designs.

26. The various designs depicting narrative
folktales in the pallu of the sarees are
as:follows:
 A woman riding a horse holding a rose in
one hand with her plait flying behind
her.
 Pleasure boat, with two lovebirds on top.
 Traditional muslim court scenes.
 Women smoking hookah.
 Puranic tales or legends of Ramayana
and Mahabharata are also depicted on
the classic baluchari sarees etc.

28. This saree comes in various
different pattern and different
colors like red, bright, blue,
cream, yellow, green etc.
Not many contrasting colors are
found in this type of sarees. Even
if the sari is red, we find
intricate golden work on it, which
gives it an elegant and royal look.
The ground colors range from

31. Most Bengali sarees are six
yards in length which is
measured by the distance
between the elbow and middle
finger tips. If measured by
hand, it is twelve times the
length from the tips of the
fingers to the elbow. This length
is usually just enough for three
to five folds in the front, for
covering the head (ghomta) and
for aanchal (pallav) which is
about one meter.

33. Thank you..