Paithani

Paithani........the ultimate feminine wear of India. There is no match to Paithani in India even today. Perhaps every Indian woman who at all love to wear saree (and there are few left in that category now a days I believe) have strong desire for Paithani and dream to have at least one in her wardrobe. I know few ladies who have more than one, but the number of ladies who have none is more!

According to me, it is wrong to refer to Paithani as saree. It is not saree as what we commonly understand. The correct word is "shaalu". Yes, Paithani is shaalu and not saree. It is simply Paithani.

But let us first understand what is Paithani. I mean what is real or authentic Paithani. I ventured in the study of Paithani during 1990-93 (of course with the kind consent of my wife!) and found many interesting aspect of this ultimate Indian feminine wear.

Paithan is a small town near Aurangabad about 60 kms. in north-west. The name is derived from this town. The shaalu woven in Paithan...so its Paithani. Paithan was known as "Pratishtan" in ancient India. It was capital of Satavahanas whose one of the famous Rules was Shalivahana.(200 BC) There are number of stories of the immense wealth of the people living in Pratishtan. At that time, it had been an international trade centre for silk and zari. It was exporting cotton and silks to the great Roman Empire. During the 17th century, Aurangzeb patronized the weavers and the designs in this era came to be known as "Aurangzebi".

The art of weaving Paithani is more than 2000 years old. There are very few families left in Paithan who know the art of weaving Paithani in authentic manner. I know there are 5-6 families in Paithan and 2 families in Aurangabad who still weave Paithani by old method i.e. all by hand!

In recent time, Paithani was at the peak of its popularity during the reign of the Peshwas. The Nizam of Hyderabad was also attracted to the Paithanis and made several trips to Paithan. His daughter-in-law, Niloufer, is believed to have introduced new designs of border and pallu (padar in Marathi i.e. outer end of the sari). During the period of Nizam, the men wore the stole over their dhoti and kurta, while their women were resplendent in Paithani in weddings, festivals and religious ceremonies. As with most of the traditional arts and crafts of India, Paithani too suffered a decline under the British Raj. Once there were over 500 families practicing this hereditary art which required high technical skill and aesthetic sense, and tremendous discipline to do the slow, tedious work. I have seen that a normal Paithani takes about 2 to 3 months to complete even if all the raw material is in hand. The actual waving takes so much time. The time to complete increases as per the complexity of the design.

There are mainly three type of silk threads used in making Paithani. They are 1) Charkha - this is widely used. It is cheap, dull and uneven. 2) Gatta : Fine quality silk, thin shear, shiny, smooth and even. 3) China silk : Extremely fine and very expensive to use.

Due to proximity to the Ajanta caves, the influence of the Buddhist paintings can be seen in the Paithani motifs. Commonly used motifs are : Kamal or Lotus flower (on which Lord Buddha sits or stands) as shown in Ajanta paintings, Hans, Ashraffi, Asawalli (flowering vines) this became very popular during the Peshwa's period, Bangadi Mor, peacock in bangle, Tota-Maina, Humarparinda (peasant bird), Amar Vell, Narali, etc. Small motifs like circles, stars, kuyri, rui phool, kalas pakhhli, chandrakor, clusters of 3 leaves, are common for the body of the sari.

Pallu (or Padar in Marathi) of Paithani is the matter of "concern" for every woman buying Paithani. The prominant part of Paithani is therefore its padar. All ladies, who I accompanied to buy Paithani, were very fussy about this Padar. So I ventured to find out what all the fuss is about and landed with loads of information. The padar are mainly of this type : Muniya, a kind of parrot (popat) used in borders and always found in green colour with an occasional red touch at the "chonch" (mouth), Panja a geometrical flower-like motif, most often outlined in red, Barwa 12 strands of a ladder; 3 strands on each side, Laher design is done in the centre to strengthen the zari, Muthada, a geometrical design, Asawali a flower pot with a flowering plant, Mor (peacock). The mor is very popular now a days. Honestly, padar of Paithani is not a matter of description, its a matter of experience. dekho toh jaano.

Making of Paithani is all about using natural ingredients. Cotton or silk, gold, silver, precious natural stones, pearls and above all natural colours. Yes, the colours used to dye the yarn is derived from vegitables. The dominant traditional colours of vegetable dyes are Pophali - yellow, Red, Lavender, Purple, Neeligunji - sky blue, Magenta, Motiya - peach pink, Brinjal - purple, Pearl pink, Peacock - blue/green, Yellowish green, Kusumbi - violet red, Pasila - red and green, Gujri - black and white, Mirani - black and red, I must add, purple is rather known as "baingani" means like baingan.

I had the privillage of knowing many things about Paithani from none other than my grand-mother. (my mother's mother). She had few authentic Paithanis in her wardrobe which she carefully kept wrapped in full white pure cotton cloth cover. (mul-mul). The secret of identification of perfect natural baingani colour was explained to me by her! According to her, Paithani HAS to be of 9 "war" and NOT 5 "war". She said all these girls who wear 5 war Paithani is all rubbish! (now here, "girl" means any woman who may be even the age of my mother!) The Paithani which was ultimate in her collection was the one she wore in her marriage and which obviously was given to her by her father. That is the ultimate Paithani I have ever seen. Other few I remeber is one kept in Mubarak Mahal in City Palace museum in Jaipur and one in New Palace museum in Kolhapur. It is not known to whom those Paithani belonged. But they are in fairly good condition.

Many times, I was caught unawares and was commanded by my mother to accompany some ladies of my family to buy Paithanis. Once my aunt came down from US and commanded that I must accompany her to select and buy Paithanis at the house of the Paithani weavers. Those particular days were the days of my life fully testing my endurance! I realized what Bhagwan Shrikrishna described as "sthitapradnya" in Bhagwadgita. (Chapter 13 of Dynaneshwari). The person who shows around the Paithani and actually make all these ladies to buy one or even two when they infact intended one, is the real "sthitapradnya" I must admit.

Now a days I often see banners and ads about something called as "Yeola Paithani". I don't know what exactly it is. But one thing I am sure, that can not be authentic Paithani for the simple reason that at the price which they are being sold, it is impossible to make real Paithani with all that natural silk, gold/silver zari and forget about diamonds, rubies even simple natural pearls.

All in all.............Indian woman's desire for shaalu or rather Paithani is aptly described in the famous Marathi song thus ..... पदरावरती जारतारिचा मोर नाचरा हवा ... ग आई मला नेसव शालू नवा .....