Dhakai Jamdani: Baroda’s Maharani Radhikaraje Gaekwad’s saree spotlights a traditional weave

A wearable art woven through centuries before ‘wearable art’ was even a term in fashion-scape is the 2013 UNESCO recognised Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity – the Dhakai Jamdani weave. What sparks this conversation is the recent appearance of Maharani Radhikaraje Gaekwad of Baroda who posted about the cultural significance of the attire on her Instagram feed.

What is Dhakai Jamdani?

These handwoven muslin textiles originated from Dhaka which gives it the name Dhakai. As for Jamdani which finds its foothold in Persian etymology, Jam means flower and dani means vase; thus summing up the predominant floral motif of the weave.

This art form thrived under the Mughal reign in Eastern India – primarily in what is today Bangladesh. Dominated with flower and dot motifs, Dhakai Jamdani today is considered as an heirloom in need of preservation and revival. Here’s taking a look at what makes this weave a significant one.

What makes this weave world-famous?

More than the fabric, which was usually cotton and later silk –blend or silk itself, what makes this weave globally renowned is the technique. It was woven and still is in traditional sari looms through the supplementary weft technique. This refers to the fact that the details motifs seen on one sari is neither printed nor embroidered. An extra weft thread weaves these intrinsic patterns onto the fabric and this is done purely by hand. Each motif is made thread by thread and is extremely time-consuming. Also, since the entire weave is done by hand without any machines or blueprint, it is a one-in-the –world piece and almost impossible to reconstruct. Further, each sari engages two people in the make and takes almost a month to six months in the making depending on the complexity of the patterns.

If you have looked at heirloom Jamdani’s from your mother or grandmother’s cupboards they would often have floral, geometric and paisley motifs highlight elements from nature. In fact, each motif has its own name in most cases like the Kalka, Butidar, tercha etc. The one worn by the Maharani has Angurlata motif which means grapewines.

Today, Dhakai Jamdani is mostly woven on cotton, muslin and cotton silk. These are soft and light-weight and often a first choice to wear during festivities and special occasions like marriage. In many households, a Jamdani is seen as an appropriate gift to daughter and daughter-in-laws.

What did Maharani Radhikaraje Gaekwad wear?

The Maharani looked regal in her Dhakai Jamdani which was “a recreation of a 150 year old design named ‘Angurlata’ indicative of its unusual, cornucopian motifs of grape vines. The original saree is currently preserved in the Victoria and Albert Museum and is believed to have been woven in 1875 and taken to England from the Indian Museum in 1879” according to her post.

She further mentions, “The original design is believed to have been woven in the ancient city of Sonargaon in Narayanganj district, although the specific location remains unknown. Sonargaon finds mention in Greek and Roman texts (if it weren’t for the time lapse this connect have explained the Angurlata motif, dominant in those civilisations) However, this splendid saree was woven in Bhargaon, a portion of Sonargaon.”

Giving due credit to the labour intensive nature of weaving the saree she mentions, “This particular revival saree of mine is woven with 100x 100 count pure cotton threads. Dyeing the threads and setting up the warp took around 9-10 days, while weaving required two artisans working 11-12  hours daily for approximately 49-50 days. Roughly calculated, it took about two months to complete.” Her saree was recreated by Color Waves.

The way ahead for Jamdani

The modern techniques and printed mechanisms ruling the technical part of the making, the original art of hand weaving a Dhakai Jamdani is suffering a setback. Due to its high labour requirement, time consuming and costly nature, coupled with high demands, sellers are finding alternate ways to recreate them which endangers this ancient work of hand weaving. Thus several designers and organisations are whole-heartedly trying to preserve this technique by encouraging their revival and the audience to understand the laborious process that goes behind it and the time taken by the artisans to weave each piece.

Many iconic personalities, celebrities and socialites have realised the need to recreate that space for Dhakai Jamdani on a global scale and have started wearing them for International events. Bangladeshi actor Azmeri Haque Badhon wore a Jamdani at the Cannes Film Festival in 2021. In fact, much thought is also being put in by stylists and costume designers in movies to find a scope of highlighting Jamdani. For instance, when Rani Mukherjee wore one in a scene from Mrs Chatterjee vs Norway.

Thus Dhakai Jamdani is not just an heirloom fit for the cupboards but one fit for the world to know more about and in turn open a space for artisan revival.