Burhanpur Handloom Weaving
A Mughal riverside town's silk-and-cotton weaving, once famed across the empire for its bafta.
Burhanpur, on the Tapti in southern Madhya Pradesh, is a historic weaving town whose looms produce cotton and silk sarees, dupattas and dress fabric, often with contrasting silk or zari borders and pallus. It was once celebrated across the Mughal world for its fine bafta cottons, muslins and gold-worked cloth, used for robes of honour and export, and although the trade contracted long ago, weaving and metal-thread work remain part of the town's economy.
Craft at a Glance
Origin
Burhanpur, Madhya Pradesh
Also Known As
Burhanpuri cloth, Burhanpur bafta, Tapti-belt handloom
Craft Type
Silk and cotton handloom weaving
Practising Community
Momin (Ansari) and other weaver communities, with a separate community of zari and tilla workers
Materials
Cotton and mulberry silk yarn; real and tested zari and tilla wire; and dyes ranging from natural colours to modern reactive dyes.
Known For
Silk-bordered cotton sarees and dress fabric, and historic gold-thread cloth
Where It's Made
Burhanpur city on the Tapti river, southern Madhya Pradesh; allied zari and tilla work in the old quarters
Time to Create
Three to six days per saree
GI Status
Not GI-registered
Process Steps
Preparing the yarn
Cotton and silk are wound onto bobbins, dyed in the required colours, and the warp is measured out.
Sizing and beaming
The warp is sized with starch for strength, dried, and wound onto the loom's back beam.
Loom setting
Warp ends are drawn through healds and reed, and a jacquard or dobby is rigged for border and buti patterns.
Weaving the body
The plain or checked body is woven with the main-colour weft on a fly-shuttle pit loom.
Weaving borders and pallu
Contrasting silk or zari borders and the pallu are woven on separate threads so they stand out from the body.
Zari and tilla finishing
Selected pieces are passed to metal-thread workers who add couched zari borders and embroidered motifs by hand.
Checking and folding
Finished cloth is inspected for weaving and finishing faults, cut to length and folded.
Technique Glossary
Bafta
A fine plain cotton, sometimes silk-mixed, for which Burhanpur was historically known.
Tilla
Flattened metal-thread work applied as borders and embroidery on finished cloth.
Khana / khadi border
A woven contrast border carried on its own set of threads alongside the body warp.
Momin (Ansari)
The Muslim weaving community that forms the backbone of the Burhanpur trade.
Jacquard
A punched-card attachment above the loom that lifts individual warp threads to weave figured borders.
Robe of honour (khil'at)
A ceremonial garment given by a ruler; Burhanpur's gold cloth was used for these in Mughal times.
Buti
A small isolated woven motif repeated across the body of the cloth.
A Craft Through Time
16th–17th century
Mughal entrepôt
Burhanpur is a key trade and textile centre on the Deccan road, exporting fine cloth from Persia to the Spice Islands.
17th century
A luxury brand
'Burhanpuri' bafta and gold cloth are recorded as prestige textiles in Mughal account books.
18th century
Decline
Shifting trade routes and political upheaval reduce the town's commercial importance.
19th–20th century
Regional weaving
Looms continue for a local and regional market, with silk-bordered cottons the mainstay.
Late 20th century
Handloom schemes
Government support and cooperative organisation help sustain the surviving weavers and zari workers.
Present
A persistent craft
Weaving and zari work remain live trades in Burhanpur, a shadow of the Mughal-era industry but continuous with it.
Did You Know?
In the seventeenth century, 'Burhanpuri' cloth was a recognised luxury grade in Mughal account books, listed alongside the muslins of Dhaka and the brocades of Banaras.
Every craft has a story. Every story begins with tradition.