TRADITIONAL SAREES FROM ANDHRA PRADESH : TYPE, DESIGN AND LOOK WITH IMAGES

Andhra Pradesh is renowned for its huge variety of hand-woven traditional silk and cotton sarees. The weavers of the state are experts in producing the most exclusive traditional hand-woven sarees, most of which have a gorgeous look and distinctive designs. The traditional sarees of Andhra Pradesh are well known for their rich pallus and the borders adorned with gold or silver thread works. The sarees are specific to districts of Andhra, and are named after their places of origin. Each origin loom has its distinct style of weaving, distinct fabric, and style of work on the fabric. Recently, the weavers have expertise in producing fabrics which are a fine blend of natural silk and cotton and these have been named 'cotton silk' or 'seico'.

These are the 14 famous traditional sarees from Andhra Pradesh:

Pochampally sarees

Pochampally is a small town in the Nalgonda district that is famous for its geometric designs made with the weaving technique, Ikkat which means tie and dye. The master craftsmen of Pochampally use interesting techniques to develop threads that are dyed in beautiful colors. These threads are used in the weaving of traditional elegant silk sarees and cotton sarees.  Gorgeous Pochampally sarees have designs that are rich in look and contemporary, the history of Pochampally sarees dates back to 1800 A.D.

Narayanpet  sarees

Narayanpet sarees are manufactured at Narayanpet town in Mahbubnagar. The place is famous for traditional silk and cotton sarees. Narayanpet sarees have a very distinct design; they mostly have a checkered surface body with a border and pallu contrasting the body of the saree. These sarees have a layered or patti border with a broad pallu which is known as top-tenni pallu. The top-tenni stripes of the pallu are woven in gold threads which give a gorgeous and rich look to the saree. The specialty of traditional Narayanpet sarees are light in weight and easy to carry.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

                                                                             

Gadwal  sarees

Gadwal sarees are produced in Gadwal town in Mahbubnagar district. The artisans of this place exhibit excellent skilled work to produce world-famous traditional Gadwal sarees most of which have broad and rich zari(silk thread)borders with gorgeous zari pallus with bodies made of cotton. The zari and cotton fabrics of the traditional Gadwal sarees are weaved separately and later interlocked together. Locally, the weaving technique of these sarees is known as ‘kupadam’ or ‘tippadamu’. The weavers also make natural silk and a fine blend of cotton and natural silk or the seico sarees.

Upadda  sarees

 Uppada is a small town located on the beach on the east coast and is situated in the East Godavari District of Andhrapradesh. Traditional Uppada sarees are famous for their unique beautiful cotton and silk sarees, which have contrasting colours, patterns and designs on the fabric with gold and silver zari on it. The traditional sarees are woven with a special technique of inter locking system in which each and every thread is interlocked to weave the designs of the body, border and pallu as well. Uppada sarees are good to wear in occasions.

Mangalgiri  sarees

Mangalgiri is a town located in the Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh. Mangalagiri is famous for its handloom of unique traditional cotton sarees with gold or copper thread working on borders. The body of the traditional Mangalgiri saree is cotton, which either has stripes or checks on it and the pallu is simple with small stripes of zari and the colours of these sarees are often vibrant. These sarees are weaved on a pit-loom.

Venkatgiri  sarees

Mangalgiri is a town located in the Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh. Mangalagiri is famous for its handloom of unique traditional cotton sarees with gold or copper thread working on borders. The body of the traditional Mangalgiri saree is cotton, which either has stripes or checks on it and the pallu is simple with small stripes of zari and the colours of these sarees are often vibrant. These sarees are weaved on a pit-loom.

Dharmavaram sarees

Dharmavaram which is a small town in the Anantapur District is special and famous for its rich handloom-worked traditional wedding sarees. The bright Dharamavaram sarees are of silk and have rich pallu and a border of zari brocade, contrasting with the body of the saree to give a gorgeous look, perfect for heavy bridal wear. The simple patterns of traditional Dharmavaram sarees are made of a special combination of two color blends which give a double shade and are used for daily purposes.

Madhavaram sarees

Madhavaram is a small village situated on the banks of river Penna in the Cuddapha / Kadapa district. Traditional Madhavaram sarees have petu border with jacquard or zari pallus. Most of these sarees are brightly colored and can be used for daily wear as well as occasional wear. The weavers of Madhavaram produce the traditional sarees specially meant for the brides, even Madhavaram Madhuparkams (the single wrap of dhoti and saree for the bride and bridegroom) are famous. Mostly, weavers use vegetable colors for dyeing and thus contribute to saving the environment.

Kalamkari sarees

Kalamkari (Kalam = pen and Kari = craft) is a type of traditional hand-painted or block-printed cotton fabric. The artisans use eco-friendly natural vegetable colors for dyeing and it involves twenty-three steps to make Kalamkari design. These pretty traditional sarees are much more popular as casual sarees nowadays.

Kalamkari sarees are world-famous for both Machilipatnam and Srikalahasti styles.

·        Machilipatnam style - Machilipatnam is a city in the Krishna district.  This traditional Kalamkari saree is first dyed in a basic colour, dried out under the sun and block printing is done on it later. The designs tend to be small motifs of flowers, leaves, etc.

·        Srikalahasti styles - Srikalahasti is a village in southern Andhra Pradesh. In this traditional Kalamkari saree artisans use a technique of dye-painting with a pen-like tool, and paint beautiful designs, mostly of gods or scenes from Hindu mythology, in vibrant colours over cotton and silk sarees.

Bandarulanka sarees

Bandarulanka is a small village in the coastal 'Konaseema' region of East Godavari district and the hand-woven sarees of this place have earned fame. The artisans weave a fine variety of traditional cotton sarees in 80s count and these have fine pattu borders and zari or cotton buta borders with rich pallus.

Bandar sarees

Bandar sarees are traditional hand-woven sarees of Andhra Pradesh. This simple sober saree is made in Machilipatnam or Masulipatnam which is a city in the Krishna district.

Chirala sarees

Chirala is a coastal town in the Prakasam District of Andhra Pradesh. The town gained popularity for its excellent traditional handloom sarees and is named Chirala, the word Chira in the Telugu language means saree. The 7 yards traditional sarees which fit into a matchbox are an example of the marvelous work, unmatched skill and excellent talent of the weavers of this area. The weavers of this area produce ordinary cotton sarees, seico sarees which are a fine blend of cotton and silk.

Ponduru Khadi sarees

Ponduru Khadi is also an incredibly classy and elegant type of traditional saree from the Srikakulam District. The sarees are made up of special varieties of hill cotton and red cotton which are grown in the Vizianagaram and Srikakulam districts. Ponduru Khadi is 100% handmade, the spinning and weaving are truly done in the looms of the houses of the Pattushali, Sali and Devangi communities.

Ahimsa Silk sarees

Ahimsa silk saree is the symbol for ahimsa and animal rights. These silks are made without killing the silkworms in their cocoons. Kusuma Rajaiah from Hyderabad, innovated this new technique to save the silkworms. The traditional silk saree looks pretty good.

Other than the above mentioned sarees Andhra Pradesh is also famous for Khadi sarees, Kat sarees, Super-net sarees, Guntur sarees, Putappaka sarees and Embroidery sarees. The variety of sarees produced in Andhra Pradesh is endless.