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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