Fabric & Design

Sambalpuri fabrics reflect an original style of craft known as Baandha. Traditionally, craftsmen created Baandhas with images of flora or fauna or with geometrical patterns. More recently, new types of Baandha depicting portrait, landscape and flower pods are being designed. Baandha fabric is created using a tie-dye technique. The yarns are tied according to the desired patterns to prevent absorption of dyes, and then dyed. The yarns or set of yarns so produced is called 'Baandha'. The unique feature of this form of designing is that the designs are reflected almost identically on both side of the fabric. This versatile technique enables a craftsman to weave colourful designs, patterns and images into a fabric capable of inspiring a thought or conveying a message. Thus Baandha can be defined as "A length of systematically arranged yarn, dyed according to a preconceived design in such a manner so as to enable a weaver to portray the design when the yarn is converted to a fabric through the process of weaving". It is believed that this art migrated to Western Orissa along with the Bhulia community who fled Northern India in the year 1192 AD after the fall of the Chouhan empire at the hands of the Mughals. Since then and up to the year 1925 it flourished in Western Orissa in a limited number of designs and in vegetable colours and consisted mostly of saris used by the womenfolk of the Orissa. These saris were known as 'Bhulia-Kapta'. The demand was limited, distress sale was common and the craftsmen lived in penury.

Where to buy

The best place is to buy it is at Sambalpur, obviously.

If you are not able to visit Sambalpur then for authentic Sambalpuri sarees you can order it from this website http://www.sambalpuribastralaya.co.in, this website is of "Sambalpuri Bastralaya". Sambalpuri Bastralaya born during the period of British regime in India. At the time of this critical juncture Padmashree Dr. Krutarth Acharya came forward to the rescue of the poor weavers of Kosal. To preserve, improve and propagate the traditional Handloom Ikat and founded ‘Sambalpuri Bastralaya’ in the year 1930. This website is currently not taking online orders but you can contact them and get your orders placed.

Second option is http://boyanika.com . This is by the Department of Handlooms, Textiles and Handicrafts, Govt. of Odisha.

Sambalpuri Sarees

Sambalpuri Sarees are some of the most beautiful sarees in India. These Sambalpuri sarees are an unparalleled one. The sarees come in a variety of designs and colours to suit every taste and pocket. In the 1980s, the Sambalpuri sari became an international brand, thanks to substantial non-governmental support and the setting up of weavers' cooperatives.

Late Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi became a sort of 'brand ambassador' of the Sambalpuri saree -- it was her favourite attire. Newsreaders on India's national television channel, Doordarshan, turned this saree into an unofficial uniform. The Sambalpuri saree that Indira Gandhi wore at the time of her death Following her lead, women newsreaders in Doordarshan began flaunting it. In keeping with heirloom politics, Sonia Gandhi wears it today.

The term ‘Sambalpuri’ may ring a familiar bell in the ears of many a Indian woman. If not ‘Sambalpuri’, the terms ‘Ikkat’, ‘Pata’, ‘Patoli’ – localized misnomers of Sambalpuri should definitely sound a chime.The Sambalpuri sarees are available both in cotton and in silk. The cotton pieces are comfortable in the Indian heat and are nipple-safe in the over air-conditioned offices of India. The silk material on the other hand embalms many a layers of the petite Indian woman to showcase the curvy Indian female in their class and opulence.

The increasing demands for Sambalpuri sarees reached its peak when it managed to wake up the Odisha state government and by 2006, the Sambalpuri fabric was granted a Geographical Indication (GI) status as ‘Odisha Ikat’ in the Government of India’s GI registry. Today the Sambalpuri fabric is used in sarees, salwar-suit pieces, dupattas, kurtas, kurtis, lungis, dhotis, shawls, bed-sheets, curtains, bags, you name it.

So what is so special about this Sambalpuri saree? Well, in a sentence it makes you look hot and classy at the same time. The fabric is conceptualized, designed and coloured by the hands of the weaver. The colours of the fabric never fade, even though the cloth may wear out eventually. In folk logic, the colour represents the soul and the fabric represents the body. The fabric/ body may die, the soul/ the colour lives on.  A newly spun Sambalpuri cotton fabric may look a trifle dull at first but the colours shine out more with every wash.

The sarees are hand-woven using the warp, weft, tie and dye art. The print, which comes in a variety of ranges, comprises of a variety of ethnic Indian symbols. These symbols include vegetables, local flowers especially lotus, birds especially peacock, insects like house fly and animals especially elephant, deer, fish and tortoise. The most common symbol however is that of temple spires, most often lined throughout the border of the fabric. The Bomkai print-pattern in particular has an abundance of these symbols. Another popular symbol is found in Sambalpuri sarees bearing the Pasapali print. The name ‘Pasapali’ is derived from ‘Pasa’, a game akin to that of chess played in certain villages in Odisha. True to its name, the print comprises of check patterns bearing contrast colours splayed across the saree or the pallu of the saree. Other patterns include the Barapali print and the Bapta print. rgo, wearing the material in any form- sarees/ suits/ kurtis/ dupattas for women or kurtas/ shirts/ dhotis/ lungis/ shawls/ scarves for the men stamps them with an ethnic Indian look.
 

Sambalpuri fabric has become a wardrobe-must-have for many Indian women office-goers. The office-look fashion market is flooded with a variety of labels. But an Allen Solly dress-piece cannot hide the sedentary paunch or the Indian layers that a simple inexpensive Sambalpuri cotton does with élan.  A friend in the days of meeting back to back deadlines used to wear baggy white salwar-kameezes and still got off with looking classy, thanks to a long Konark wheel adorned dupatta. 

The Sambalpuri saree derives its name from Sambalpur- a district in a remote, neglected, Kosal part of Odisha. However, it is only the Pasapali print which hails from Sambalpur. The other prints- Bomkai – Sonepuri print, Barapali print, Bapta print- have their roots in other areas of Odisha, namely, Bargarh, Sonepur, Balangir. However, in the present day, most of the sarees are an amalgam of all of these prints.

Traditionally, the women from Sambalpur wore the Sambalpuri sarees without blouses and with the saree-lengths just above or touching their knees. A Sambalpuri woman wearing a Sambalpuri saree in the traditional way, with red palash flowers adorning her jet-black hair has been the subject of powerful erotica in the area. Added to that is the Sambalpuri folk dance- a  popular form of dance in the region comprising of a bunch of women dancing, with hands around each other waists, in a chain like formation. The dance involves rigorous beats and a lot of bouncing. In the age and day of no blouses, bunch of women clinging and bouncing together in sweaty short sarees to the heady tunes of drums and local liquor must have been the very image of unparalleled orgy. For women who are complete novices into the art of saree-wearing, the good news is that you can wear a Sambalpuri silk saree in the worst way possible and still manage to turn heads. Unlike the care and skill required for draping cotton sarees, Sambalpuri silk requires no effort to look hot.

 The best part is that Sambalpuri sarees has not been exploited at all in the fashion world. So you get brownie points for being completely creative for whatever form of Sambalpuri you want to introduce in your wardrobe. Case in point is Pritam Panda, a fashion designer from Odisha who has earned a lot of accolades for using Sambalpuri in his work. Word is out that his collection at Harrods, U.K have sold like hot cakes.

MISCONCEPTION

THERE ARE A LOT OF MISCONCEPTIONS REGARDING THE NAME OF SAMBALPURI SAREE. MANY WEBSITES AND BLOGS REFER THESE BEAUTIFUL SAREES AS ORISSAN SILK/SAREE OR KATKI SAREE. LET ME CLEAR THIS THING FOR ONCE AND ALL THAT SAMBALPURI SAREE ARE KNOWN AS SAMBALPURI SAREE ONLY NOT BY ANY OTHER NAME. 

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