Cotton Jamdani Venkatagiri Weaving of Andhra Pradesh

Venkatagiri saris are woven with locally made jalas and are among the best examples of the jacquard weave. The weaving is fine and the body of the sari is in sheer cotton, ornamented with gold motifs like dots, coins, leaves, parrots, or simple geometric designs.

This saree is woven in the small town  Venkatagiri, situated about 60 km away from Nellore in Andhra Pradesh. It is woven with fine 100’s cotton yarns in both the warp and weft. Zari is used for the pallu and border. Jacquards are used to weave the extra weft designs.  Generally, soft and pastel colours are used in the sarees. They are woven on a traditional fly shuttle pit looms. Their speciality lies in the sizing of the warp and weft yarns.

Earlier patronized by the Nizam’s, the erstwhile rulers of Hyderabad and the royalty and landed gentry of the surrounding areas  the weavers produced the valued muthupatachirestyle with its pale white body and solid kaddizarianchu/ gold borders in fine counts of 200. While carrying on the tradition the Venkatgiri weave has moved to color borders with or without gold.

Woven on a pit-loom the chelnetha/ muvvaninetha or the closed-shed  technique that can achieve an equal number of ends and picks in the ground resulting in soft and durable weave is used. Today, in competition with Uppada saris, Venkatgiri has also introduced weft patterning in the body and end-pieces to gain an edge in the market. These supper fine cotton saris continue to be embellished with gold thread with a narrow or wide border in gold.