Kosa Silk Weaving
The dull-gold wild silk of the Chhattisgarh forests, woven with tribal and temple motifs.
Kosa is the Chhattisgarhi name for tussar (tasar) silk — a wild silk with a natural dull-gold to fawn colour and a dry, textured handle — reeled and woven across the state, with Champa in Janjgir district a leading centre. It is made into sarees, dupattas, suit lengths, stoles and furnishing, often with woven butis, temple borders and tribal-inspired motifs, and sometimes combined with cotton or mulberry silk.
Craft at a Glance
Origin
Champa, Chhattisgarh
Also Known As
Kosa silk, Chhattisgarhi tussar, Champa kosa
Craft Type
Tussar (kosa) silk handloom weaving
Practising Community
Devangan and Koshti weaver communities and tribal reelers and spinners, organised through cooperatives and the state silk board
Materials
Wild tussar (kosa) cocoons and yarn; cotton or mulberry silk for blends; and acid, metal-complex and natural dyes.
Known For
Kosa silk sarees, suit lengths and furnishing with a natural gold sheen and woven bootis and borders
Where It's Made
Champa, Janjgir, Korba and Raigarh in Chhattisgarh; Bastar for tribal kosa; cocoons from the state's sal and saja forests
Time to Create
Four to eight days per saree
GI Status
Champa Kosa Silk (Chhattisgarh) is a registered GI
Process Steps
Collecting the cocoons
Wild tussar cocoons are gathered from sal and saja forests, or from semi-managed rearings on host trees.
Cooking and reeling
Cocoons are boiled to loosen the gum, and the filament is reeled off; pierced cocoons are spun into ghicha and katia yarn.
Degumming and dyeing
The yarn is boiled to remove remaining sericin and dyed in earthy and jewel colours.
Warping
The dyed warp is laid for several sarees, with border colours placed at the selvedges.
Sizing and beaming
The warp is sized for strength and wound onto the loom beam.
Weaving
The body is woven on a pit or frame loom, with butis added by hand or dobby and contrasting borders and pallus.
Finishing
Woven cloth is checked and cut; some pieces then go for block printing or embroidery as a value-added finish.
Technique Glossary
Kosa / tussar
A coarse, naturally golden wild silk reeled from cocoons of forest-feeding silkmoths.
Ghicha and katia
Yarns spun from pierced or waste tussar cocoons, giving a slubby, textured thread.
Degumming
Boiling silk to remove the sericin gum, leaving soft, lustrous fibre ready to dye and weave.
Buti
A small isolated woven motif repeated across the body of the saree.
Kumbha border
A temple-tower border pattern used on kosa and other central and eastern Indian sarees.
Bastar kosa
The coarser tribal kosa of the Bastar region, with its own motifs and character.
Reeling
Unwinding the continuous silk filament from a softened cocoon onto a reel.
A Craft Through Time
Pre-modern
Forest silk
Weaver and tribal communities in Chhattisgarh reel and weave wild tussar from the state's forests.
19th–20th century
Champa's reputation
Champa becomes known for fine kosa weaving, with a concentration of looms.
20th century
Silk board and cooperatives
The state silk board and weaver cooperatives expand rearing, reeling and weaving.
Late 20th century
Design and markets
Design agencies and emporia widen the market for kosa sarees and furnishing beyond the region.
2010s
Geographical Indication
Champa Kosa Silk is registered as a GI of Chhattisgarh.
Present
A state signature textile
Kosa silk is Chhattisgarh's best-known handloom, supplying sarees and fabric across India.
Did You Know?
Kosa silk is coloured before it is ever dyed — the wild silkworms feed on forest trees such as sal, saja and arjun, and their diet gives the raw silk its natural honey-to-fawn gold.
Every craft has a story. Every story begins with tradition.