The Kanchipuram sarees are world renowned sarees. These sarees are famous for their rich color and look. The Kanchipuram sarees have got its name from the name of the town. The Kanchipuram is a small town with 75 kms away from Chennai. The Kanchipuram town is located on the river Pallar. Earlier it was the capital of Pallava kings. In the 6th to 7th century the pallava kings ruled after that Cholas, Vijayanagar kings, Muslims, Britishers. Kanchipuram also famous for its temples, it is the town of thousand temples.
For weaving a Kanchipuram sarees three threads are twisted. The weaver works on the left side while his aide works on the right side. The silk thread is obtained from mulberry silk for weaving the Kanchipuram sarees. Although the Kanchipuram do not produce silk saree but still the world’s second largest producer of silk sarees. The silk thread is dipped in silver solution and then glided with gold to make the zari. To make zari 57% of the silver is used while 0.6% of gold is used. No raw material is produced in the town, Zari and gold is imported from Surat while Silk is imported from Karnataka. One Kg of silk is used to wave three sarees. Weavers take 14 to 15 days to weave a saree.
Two communities of weavers came to Kanchipuram named Devangas and Saligars from Andhra Pradesh and their weaving skills flourished under the king Krishna Deva Ray. Earlier silk weaving is a culture in temple; Kamachi is the first temple from where silk weaving has been started. There are three parts of Kanchipuram sarees border, pallu and body. The body and pallu are woven separately and are joined so smoothly that it do not look that they are woven separately.
No functions or ceremony in south India can be completed without Kanchipuram saree. The Trousseau of South Indian woman do not complete without Kanchipuram sarees. Different kinds of motifs are crafted on the Kanchipuram sarees such as sun, moon, chariot, leaves, swan, mango etc. The Kanchipuram sarees are embellished with embroidered stones. The technique of designing the saree has now has change firstly the designs are created using Computers and then weaved.
The Industry is facing serious labor crunch. The reason is the cost of silk and raw material is increasing and the wages of the labor do not increases. One Kg of silk cost 1400 Rs which has increased up to 2700 Rs per Kg. Earlier there were 50000 looms in the town which has decreased to 20000 looms.
The Dhoti is the most sacred garment. The dhoti is a kind of cloth which is wrapped around the waist on the lower part of the body. The dhoti has different names at different places in Andhra Pradesh it is called Pancha, in Northern India it is called dhoti, Laacha in Punjabi, Mundu in Malayalam, Veshti in Tamil, Dhotar in Marathi, and Paanche in Kannada.
The Dhoti is worn with different clothes such as angavastaram in TamilNadu, with shirt in Andhra Pradesh. Dhoti is difficult to wear but most comfortable garment. The dhoti provides the relaxation effect to the musles. The Dhoti is originated from Sanatan Dharm.