Kota Sarees of Rajasthan

Kota in Rajasthan, India is the home of the famous Kota Doria sarees made in small villages around the Kota city. These sarees are ideal for Indian summers. The fabric derives its name from the city of the same name. The sarees are made in and around the city of Kota.

Kota Sarees were also known as Masuria Malmal. These saris were called Masuria as they originated from Mysore. Rao Kishore Singh, the then Mughal Army General brought these weavers to Kota from Mysore. The weavers were brought in the late 17th and early 18th centuries and from then the saris came to be known as ‘Kota-Masuria’. Kota saris are popularly known as Kota Doria outside the state and ‘Masuria’ in Kota. The word ‘Doria’ means thread.

Fabric in Kota Sarees: Kota sarees are woven in cotton and silk fabric. The fabric is transparent and yet cotton-silk weave. The silk provides the required transparency while the cotton provides the necessary strength. The absence of uniformity in the weave forms the graph-like pattern. These fabrics are woven in a way that the graph-like pattern formed from the different thicknesses of fiber is prominently visible. These checked patterns itself within the weave are known as Khat. Other elaborate patterns are also used for weaving these sarees. These saris are mostly worn during the summer months to get relief from the extreme summer heat.

Handloomed Kota Doria sarees in pure cotton very rare nowadays but Kota sarees in polyester fabric is gaining more and more ground. There are also many varieties of machine loomed Kota fabric, which is also soft cloth with an airy feel that picks up the slightest breeze.

Design: Kota sari have a special style which uses a combination of cotton and silk threads to create an almost graph like pattern called khats (squares formed between the different thicknesses of fibers) where cotton lends firmness and silk gives airy soft feel. This is called "Kota Doria" weave or the chequered weave.

The chequered weave of a Kota sari is its unique characteristic. Besides the chequered pattern, there are other weaves in complicated designs in a combination of silk and cotton. Some of the weaves also have a narrow border edged with Zari.

In the case of sarees with designs, the threads are dyed prior to weaving. The sarees have designs that vary from the traditional jal, checks, jacquard and jamawar pallus to a Chantilly lace-effect and intricate borders of gold and silver thread work.

Topic
Arts & Crafts