Mumbai witnesses Paithani art weaved by Yeola artist

With an aim to flaunt the arduous hours and attention to detail that goes into weaving a Paithani saree, artists from Yeola will give live demonstrations. An exhibition will follow the demonstration where over 250 sarees willbe exhibited at the 27th edition of the New Wave Paithani Festival in Shivaji Park, Dadar.

According to the third generation Yeola-based artist Vinayak Thakkur, the demand for handloom paithani sarees has seen a decline in the last few years due to availability of duplicate and power loom made sarees. Since Yeola is famed for its paithani sarees, speaking about the demands from the customers, Vinayak (45), said, "Earlier there was no particular season for the demand of our sarees, but for the last five to six years, we have good sales only during festive seasons. The major damage in demand is caused by the duplicate sarees available in the market, which are less costly. Even the power loom paithani sarees have taken away majority of our customers."

The cost of the sarees range between 8,000 and 2.5 lakhs. For the artist, weaving even a simple saree takes up at least two months, while the one with complicated designs take at least one and half years.

"Due to less education and poverty, I followed the family tradition of working in the paithani saree industry. It takes a lot of hard work to sit for around eight hours on a saree which will take more than a month to complete," said Shyam Kaleke (26), who has been working at a handloom paithani factory for 10 years.

According to the Yeola artists, the number of artists are decreasing, who are either looking out for full-time alternatives or are taking up part-time jobs for increased income. While paithani is said to be the costliest traditional saree, every design has a symbolic meaning. Talking about the symbols, Vinayak said, "A Paithani is incomplete without a peacock on it. The variations are vis-avis the designs, such as, a peacock in a park, or flying parrots etc.

New comers are given at least six months of training."

Speaking about the festival, Sannidha Bhide, festival director, said: "The aim is to make people realise the hard work put in by the artists to weave the silk thread. It is a major source of livelihood. We should value their hard work. Due to high prices we prefer buying power loom sarees, although the original, traditional weaves are only available with these artists."