West Bengal has a rich and cultural heritage of Handloom Weaving. In fact, handloom weaving is the most widely practised occupation, next to agriculture. The handloom industry still remains a great employer of the rural sector of Bengal. Santipur, Fulia in Nadia district, Dhaniakhali, Begampur in Hooghly district, Samudragarh, Dhatrigram, Katwa, Ketugram in Burdwan district, Bishnupur in Bankura district are the main handloom concentrated areas in the state of West Bengal.
Bengal Handloom Cotton and Silk Sarees have been pioneer sarees in the field of heritage handloom products of India, especially Jamdani and Tangail sarees.
"Jamdani" originates from a Persian word "Jam" meaning a cup and "Dani" meaning a container. It is during the Mughal rule, especially during the reign of Emperor Akbar or Emperor Jahangir, the figured or flowered woven muslin cloth came to be known as "Jamdani". Jamdani weaving is one of the most time consuming and labour intensive form of handloom weaving that produces one of the most artistic textile from a Bengal weaver.
Jamdani weaving has an extra weft used to create the artistic motifs. The extra weft threads are usually thicker cotton threads that are added separately by hand to create intricate patterns to the fine fabric. These patterns are not sketched or outlined on the fabric, rather they are drawn on a paper kept underneath the warp. This kind of weaving requires sheer skill and deftness of the hand that places the Jamdani weaver atop the list of fine artists.
'Tangail' originated from Tangail, a district of present Bangladesh. Previously it was named as "Begum Bahar" where silk warp and cotton weft were used. Later on, both cotton warp and weft were in vogue. The weavers were mainly of 'BASAK' community who migrated from Tangail district before partition of our country & settled in 'Katwa' Dhatrigram, Tamaghata, Samudragarh, area in Burdwan district.
At present, silk Tangail sarees have been revived. The technique of drawing and weaving of extra weft for figured Tangail sarees is more or less identical to Jamdani sarees. Silks of Bengal have been very much acclaimed since ancient times. The most well known Bengal silk saree which carry its popular name is Baluchari saree - a production of exclusive design and fabulous weaving technique. A revival in recent time of both the Baluchari and another out standing traditional Bengal saree - "Daccai" has lead to nation wide and world wide popularity and interest in Bengal silks.
Like silks, cotton sarees are also woven in a fascinating and exquisite range. Bengal Tant sarees are woven from cotton yarn and are well known for its lightness and exquisite stitch embroidery. Bengal Tant sarees are the most comfortable sarees to wear to suit our hot and humid climate.
Bengal Ghicha Silk and Cotton sarees are also becoming quite popular these days. Ghicha is the name given to yarns that are not dyed when Tussar silk is reeled. Ghicha is thus a natural yarn that is durable and long lasting, obtained from a raptured cocoon. It is generally blended with cotton or pure silk sarees to create beautiful motifs, designs and borders too.
Shubhsarini Collections presents a range of Bengal Handloom sarees like Bengal loom Cotton Sarees, Silk Cotton sarees with applique work, Jamdani Sarees, Kaantha Stitch sarees, Goradh Silk sarees etc. We procure our Bengal handloom collection from Hat Kalna in Burdwan district.