Tradition · silk weaving tradition · India
Paithan (Paithani)
/'pəɪ.ʈʰəɳ/
The 2,000-year-old Paithani silk-weaving tradition at Paithan in Aurangabad district, Maharashtra — the ancient Pratishthana of the Satavahanas (2nd century BCE to 2nd century CE), a Dakshinapatha trade terminus named by Ptolemy and the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea. The Paithani sari is a hand-woven silk-and-zari sari with a distinctive border featuring the morbangdi (peacock), parrots or dancing figures. The modern Paithani sari traces to the 17-century Peshwa court patronage, when the Peshwa queen Yesubai relocated master weavers from Varanasi to Paithan. A single Paithani sari takes 18-24 months to weave and costs ₹25,000-5 lakh. Received GI tag in 2010. The Paithani sari is the traditional bridal wear of Marathi weddings. The tradition is maintained by about 200 weaver families at Paithan.
- Function
- Trade & production
- Patron dynasty
- Satavahana
- Confidence
- Not assessed
- Location
- 19.480, 75.380
Connections (3)
- Craft tradition ofSualkuchi silk, Kamrup
Sualkuchi weaves muga, a wild silk produced nowhere on earth but Assam, which is naturally golden and grows glossier with washing; Paithan weaves mulberry silk with tapestry borders in a Godāvari town that was a Sātavāhana capital. Both concentrated where a court paid — the Ahoms at one, the Peshwas at the other — and both are now worked mainly by women in household workshops.
- Trade routeNāneghāṭ
Naneghat was cut to carry goods from the Konkan harbours up to Junnar and on to Paithan, the Satavahana capital at the southern end of the Dakshinapatha. The rock-cut jar at the pass head collected the toll. Every Ghat pass on this coast has a monastery or an inscription at its head for the same reason: the traffic paid for both, and the state took its share at the top of the climb.
- Trade routeUttarapatha–Dakshinapatha junction
Ujjain and Paithan are the northern and southern ends of the Dakshinapatha, the road that took Gangetic and Malwa goods down to the Godavari and on to the Konkan ports. The Satavahanas ruled from Paithan and the Kshatrapas from Ujjain, and they fought over the route for two centuries. Paithan still weaves; Ujjain kept the pilgrimage and lost the customs.
On these journeys
- Overland corridors
- Craft and industry — where things are made and why there
- Satavahana Deccan & the rock-cut trade route
Sources
GI registry; Satavahana records
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