The vocabulary

Glossary

Textile words used plainly. Bengali script alongside where the term has an obvious English equivalent — see the Atlas for the weaves themselves.

Aanchal: The aanchal (also anchal or pallu) is the decorative end-piece of a saree — the section draped over the shoulder or, in some styles, left to hang at the back. It usually carries the saree’s most elaborate motifs, since it is the most visible part when worn.
Bandhani: Bandhani is a tie-dye technique, most associated with Gujarat and Rajasthan, in which tiny sections of cloth are tightly tied off before dyeing to produce a field of small, dot-like undyed spots. The finer and more even the dots, the more skilled the work is considered.
Batik: Batik is a wax-resist dyeing technique: wax is applied to the areas of cloth meant to stay undyed, the cloth is dyed, and the wax is then removed, leaving the protected areas in the original colour. Multiple rounds of waxing and dyeing build up multi-colour patterns.
Dhonekhali: Dhonekhali is a cotton weaving style named for the town of Dhonekhali in West Bengal, known for a fine, light, single-ply cotton with a narrow, understated border — a saree meant for daily wear rather than occasion wear.
Ikkat: Ikkat (also spelled ikat) is a resist-dyeing technique in which the yarns are tied off in sections and dyed before weaving begins, so the pattern is set into the thread itself. The slightly blurred edge characteristic of ikkat motifs comes from the small shifts in the yarn during weaving.
Jamdani: Jamdani is a supplementary-weft weaving technique in which motifs are built into the cloth by hand, thread by thread, on the loom itself rather than printed or embroidered afterward. The Dhakai Jamdani tradition was recognised by UNESCO as Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2013.
Khadi: Khadi is hand-spun, hand-woven cotton (or occasionally silk or wool) cloth, historically tied to India’s independence movement through Gandhi’s charkha spinning wheel. It has a characteristic slightly irregular texture from being spun and woven entirely by hand.
Mul: Mul (short for mulmul, or muslin) is an especially fine, lightweight cotton weave, spun from very fine yarn to produce a soft, almost sheer cloth. It is prized for hot, humid climates precisely because of how little it weighs.
Paar: The paar is a saree’s border — the woven or printed band running along both long edges of the cloth, usually in a contrasting colour or with its own motif. On a handloom saree the paar is often woven in, not printed on, using an extra warp or weft.
Taant: Taant is the Bengali word for the handloom itself, and by extension the everyday plain-weave cotton saree woven on one. It is the most common handloom saree in West Bengal — light, breathable, and worn for its simple drape rather than heavy ornamentation.
Tussar: Tussar (also tussore or tusser) is a wild silk produced by silkworms that feed on trees other than mulberry, giving it a coarser texture and a natural golden sheen compared to cultivated mulberry silk. It takes dye slightly differently as a result, often looking warmer than the same colour on mulberry silk.
Zari: Zari is metallic thread, traditionally a fine wire of real gold or silver and now more often a metal-coated synthetic yarn, woven into borders, pallus and motifs. The amount and purity of zari is a major factor in how a handwoven saree is priced.