Baluchari Silk Weaving
Bishnupur, West Bengal
Baluchari is a silk saree from Bishnupur in Bengal whose deep-toned body is framed by an elaborately figured border and, above all, a pallu filled with pictorial panels — scenes from the Ramayana and Mahabharata, nawabi durbars, women in palanquins, horse riders, hunts and hookah smokers — rendered in one or two contrasting silk colours. A version woven with gold-coloured zari instead of coloured silk is called Swarnachari. The saree reads almost like a comic strip, each rectangular panel a separate scene, with smaller vignettes repeating in the borders.