When actor and Rajya Sabha MP Jaya Bachchan visited Bangladesh, she met Sajib and Nashidul Rasal, the country’s iconic jamdani sari weaver brothers, and chose a set of four weaving marvels, recalls Sajib. Every year Sajib gets orders from around the world for some 15 jamdani masterpieces, each worth half a million Bangladeshi taka.
Bangladesh holds the GI tag for jamdani, a sari that is extremely popular in India. It was the centrepiece at a recent exhibition at the National Crafts Museum & Hastkala Academy in Delhi. Speaking at the exhibition’s inauguration, Muzaffar Ali, director of the iconic film Umrao Jaan (1981), shared why he chose jamdani for his heroine Rekha in the film, and his intention to make a film on jamdani. In classics like Satyajit Ray’s Charulata (1964), in fact, there was a tradition of featuring actors in jamdani saris, especially to depict the Tagorean time.
Jamdani is a portmanteau of two Persian words—jam (flower) and dani (vase)—referring to the rich floral motifs on the sari. The UNESCO-recognised industry can be traced to an area by the bank of the river Shitalakshya in the Narayanganj district of Bangladesh, not far from Dhaka. Most of the jamdani weavers are settled in the Rupganj sub-district, with some in Sonargaon—once the estate of the 16th century ruler Isa Khan. Around 2,500 families are engaged in jamdani creation. According to experts, jamdani saris are difficult to replicate anywhere else due to climate and artistic heritage, though there have been attempts to do so. Once upon a time, jamdanis were mainly woven by the Basak community, a Hindu weaving caste. But when they left Bangladesh, they trained local fishermen and muslin weavers in exchange for money.
Kolkata-based Jaya Ahsan, Bangladesh’s iconic actor who has performed in Bollywood and Persian films, feels that jamdani is poetry woven into fabric. She describes her large collection of jamdani saris and how she carefully chooses one to fit the occasion—whether it be for a film release or during Durga Puja. She has also appeared in a Coke Studio music video in a jamdani sari.
Jamdani can be made of cotton, half-silk, silk or even muslin. The sari has a connection with Bangladesh’s liberation movement. Former prime minister Sheikh Hasina used to be fond of it, although jamdani weavers from Rupganj say she did not introduce any schemes to safeguard their livelihood. Her political rival Khaleda Zia hardly ever wore jamdani saris and instead favoured Pakistani attire. Khaleda’s firebrand spokesperson Rumeen Farhana, however, could often be seen in one.
“Jamdani is a must-have piece for everyone. It’s a cultural tradition just like kanjeevaram in south India,” says Dr Sharin Shajahan Naomi, a post-doc fellow at Krea University in Andhra Pradesh. “Every household would cherish jamdani just like every family would love kanjeevaram silk in southern India.”
Unlike venkatagiri and uppada saris, which depict deities as well as flora and fauna, jamdani saris are purely aesthetic. To make one, a particular geometrical grid is followed with great precision. Other than Bangladesh, there is a jamdani weaving community in West Bengal as well. The thread count, 80 in Bangladesh and 100 or 120 in West Bengal, indicates the number of threads per square inch of fabric. The higher the thread count and finer the threads used, the softer and smoother will be the resultant sari, explains a weaver. “But power loom products resemble the handwoven ones so closely that sometimes even we can’t tell them apart,” says jamdani weaver Nitai Chandra Basak. According to Sajib, their products range from Rs14,000 to Rs4.5 lakh. “The high price of jamdani is one of the main reasons why they remain beyond the reach of the lower middle class,” he says.
Because power loom saris are cheaper, handwoven jamdanis have taken a backseat, leading to anxiety among jamdani weavers. The younger generation is no longer interested in handwoven jamdanis, they say. On the other hand there are fabric mavens who earn in millions. “We weave saris worth Rs2-3 lakh with immense effort, but the money goes to the proprietor,” says Nitai’s father. Unlike sari types like tangail which need a machine, jamdani is extremely labour-intensive. Chandrashekhar Saha, a textile maven and jamdani expert, emphasises the skill and memory needed to weave a jamdani sari. “The memorising part is highly essential, and that’s how it turned into a generational art that did not spread across many regions,” he says.
In the age of technology and AI, the jamdani puts premium on human creativity, showing that no machine can replicate it. “The play of opacity and translucency lends the jamdani an ethereal look,” says Chandrasekhar Bheda, textile designer and jamdani specialist from Rajasthan. Jamdanis crafted with special cotton have a lightweight texture and lend the wearer elegance and class. But despite its popularity, it is high time Bangladesh finds better channels and strategy to market the sari and protect the livelihood of its artisans.
WHAT IS JAMDANI?
Jamdani is a time-consuming and labour intensive form of weaving known for its intricate designs, lightness and elegance.
HISTORY OF JAMDANI
Sulaiman, a 9th century Arab traveller, wrote of cotton fabrics made in undivided Bengal so fine they could pass through a signet ring. Islamic experimentation around the 12th century resulted in decorating the fabric with elaborate patterns. But it was during the reign of the Mughal emperor Akbar that jamdani truly became an art form.
HOW IS A JAMDANI SARI CREATED?
In jamdani, fine warp threads are added to a denser thread to create intricate motifs that are woven directly on to the loom with no mechanical means. Originally, jamdani was woven on muslin, typically by two weavers for each sari.
WHAT IS SPECIAL ABOUT JAMDANI?
Jamdani is often described as the most advanced hand weaving technique in the world. The saris are incredibly lightweight and breathable, combining comfort with style. They are also known for their intricate patterns, often inspired by nature and typically geometric in shape.