Balaramapuram Handloom Weaving
The unbleached white-and-gold cloth Kerala wears to every festival.
Balaramapuram, near Thiruvananthapuram, is the traditional source of Kerala's kasavu cloth — fine unbleached cotton woven with a plain body and a border and pallu of gold zari. The signature products are the two-piece set-mundu worn by women, the single mundu worn by men, and the kasavu saree, all worn at Onam, weddings and temple visits. The cluster is known for very fine, even weaving, neat selvedges and, in the best pieces, real gold- or silver-gilt zari that gives the border its weight and glow.
Craft at a Glance
Origin
Balaramapuram, Kerala
Also Known As
Balaramapuram sari, kasavu weaving, Thiruvananthapuram handloom
Craft Type
Fine handloom cotton weaving
Practising Community
Shaliyar (Saliyar) weaver families brought from Tamil Nadu by the Travancore court, organised through cooperative societies
Materials
Fine unbleached cotton yarn; kasavu zari — gold- or silver-gilt metallic thread, or tested and imitation zari; rice starch for sizing.
Known For
White cotton set-mundu and kasavu sarees with gold zari borders
Where It's Made
Balaramapuram town in Thiruvananthapuram district, Kerala
Time to Create
Two to four days per set-mundu; longer for a heavily bordered saree
GI Status
Balaramapuram Sarees and Fine Cotton Fabrics is a registered GI of Kerala
Process Steps
Winding the yarn
High-count cotton is wound from hanks onto bobbins for the warp and pirns for the weft.
Sizing the warp
The warp threads are coated with rice starch and stretched out to dry on the street so they withstand the friction of weaving.
Warping and beaming
The long warp is laid, its sections are combined, and it is wound evenly onto the loom's back beam with the border threads placed at the edges.
Drafting and reeding
Each warp end is drawn through a heald eye and a dent of the reed to set the weave structure and width.
Weaving the body
The plain off-white body is woven in fine plain weave on a pit or frame loom, the weaver keeping the beat and selvedge even.
Weaving the kasavu border
A supplementary metallic weft is worked into the selvedges and the pallu to form the gold border and end panel, often with a temple line.
Finishing
The woven set or saree is cut off, checked for faults, lightly starched and folded.
Technique Glossary
Kasavu
The gold zari border-and-pallu work that defines Kerala's ceremonial white cloth.
Set-mundu
A matched two-piece garment — lower mundu and upper cloth — worn by Malayali women on formal occasions.
Kumbham
A repeated temple-tower motif woven into the border line.
Tested zari
Metallic thread with a silver rather than gold content, or a copper core, used in mid-priced cloth.
Pit loom
A floor loom whose treadles sit in a pit so the weaver works at ground level, common across South India.
Supplementary weft
An extra weft thread, here metallic, added only in the border and pallu to form the gold pattern.
Count (80s, 100s)
A measure of yarn fineness; the higher the number, the finer the thread and the sheerer the cloth.
A Craft Through Time
c. 1800
Royal settlement
Balarama Varma of Travancore settles Shaliyar weavers near his capital to clothe the palace, and the town is named for him.
19th century
Cloth of Travancore
The weavers supply the court and the growing middle class with fine white cotton.
20th century
Cooperatives and identity
Weavers organise into societies, and white-and-gold kasavu becomes the standard festival and ritual dress of Kerala.
Late 20th century
Power-loom competition
Machine-made imitations with cheap zari undercut the handloom weavers.
2009
Geographical Indication
Balaramapuram Sarees and Fine Cotton Fabrics receive a GI tag.
Present
A protected handloom
The cluster weaves for the festival and wedding market, its GI cloth carrying an authenticity label.
Did You Know?
The town takes its name from King Balarama Varma of Travancore, who settled the founding weaver families there around 1800 to supply the palace.
Every craft has a story. Every story begins with tradition.