Nothing identifies a woman as being Indian so strongly as the sari; it is the quintessential Indian Female Garment. The sari is known not only by different names in various parts of the country, but it is also conceived differently in form and structure, in usage and custom. It is a stretch of fabric that becomes long or short, wide or narrow according to who wears it and the way in which it is worn. There is in-fact no one type of sari.

The sari is a length of cloth measuring from about 4 to 8 meters by about 120 centimeters (13 to 26 feet by about 4 feet), which is draped around the entire body. Most of this fabric is pleated at the waist and then wound round to make a skirt or pair of trousers, with the remaining few yards swept across the upper half of the body, covering at least one shoulder and sometimes veiling the head.

The fringe edges referred to as PUNCHRA are never stitched down, They remain either free, as thread ends or they are knotted in bunches though sometimes they are braided, knotted or beaded which are called GUNTHA PUNCHRA then.

The chir is the inch or so which is left without any weft threads, for it is part of the finish given to the two ends of the sari. It is a technical device for stretching and adjusting, the warp and acts as a measure of the 'complete' sari.

The inner end-piece or kanihai patti is the most essential part of the sari with which the winding starts. It is the first anchor on the body, tild either with a knot around the waist as was the original manner or tucked into the underskirt as is common now.

There is the outer end-piece known as the Pallav or Aanchra on which the drape ends in sequential winding, which is used to great advantage by the lengthening or shortening of it. The Pallav is a woman's veil of modesty or flirtation as need be.

The kinar or borders delineate the outer edges and are thereby crucial to the design, drape and function of the Sari. The borders mark the contours a Sari's river-like flow, over and around the body, through the pleats and along the curves, till it climbs the shoulder and falls beyond.

The Deh or body of the sari is the mass that sculpts itself into a definite form without breaking the link between one voluminous space and the next, according to the local wearing style.

The Dhadi is the measure of the fold by which the sari is most efficiently packed and stored. As the first fold comes most, often at the end of the outer end-piece, the sari's length can easily be measured by the counting of the folds without unfolding it.

The actual length and width of the sari varies by region and by quality. Traditional sari dimensions are also influenced by regional and community draping styles.

The Sari's origins are obscure, in part because there are so few historical records in India compared to most other major civilizations.

1. One of the earliest depictions of a Sari-like drape covering the entire body dates back to about 100 B.C. A north Indian terracota (Shunga period 200 - 50 B.C.) depicts a woman wearing a sari wound tightly around her entire body in the kachcha style.

2. Sari's draping the entire body may have also been worn by various regional and ethnic groups at the turn of the first millennium ( ) A.D. Many sculptures of the Graeco - Indian Gandharan civilization (50 B.C. - A.D. 300) show a variety of different sari draping styles.

3. Among the many gods, demi-gods and mortals depicted in the murals of the Ajanta caves (late Fifth century A.D.) in western Maharastra are two representations of women wearing saris covering the entire body.

4. "Dhanpala describes in 927 A.D., the dress of a lady of some position as a silk sari obtained from the heavenly tree, kalpapdu pausuk."

5. A Portuguese traveler in the early 1500's! The women wear white garments of very thin cotton or silk of bright color, fire yards long, one part of which is girt round their below and the other part on their shoulder across their breasts in such a way that the arm and shoulder remains uncovered.

6. It is commonly believed in India that today's ubiquitous petticoat, worn under the sari, came with the Muslims in the form of the ghaghra, and the tailored choli with the British, despite the fact that blouses were often mentioned in classical Sanskrit poetry.

The sari is woven in three to four standard sizes in a given area, wherever a traditional market still survives. These lengths and widths are woven for specific age groups of girls and women.

The shortest sari has a width of 18 inches (45.72 cm) and a length of 72 inches (1.83 mts.). The longest sari has a width of 54 inches (1.37 mts) and a length of 288-360 inches (7.31 mts - 9.14 mts)

Gadwal Sarees show strong design links to the silk border - Cotton body Sarees of the eastern Central Deccan. Gadwal, a small town; around 150 k.m. away from Hyderabad, the capital of Andhra Pradesh makes many sari's for the main stream south Indian market.

Gadwal Sarees were traditionally woven in the interlocked-weft technique (called Kupadam or tippadamu here), often with kumbam (also called kotakomma) in the borders, and were known as a kupadam or kumbam sari. The silk border was either tassar or mulberry, and the body was often of unbleached cotton, although it may have also contained colored cotton or silk checks. A pure silk version of this sari also existed, usually woven in bright contrasting colors such as canary yellow or lime green.

Most Gadwal Sarees are woven with interlocked - weft borders of contrasting colours. It is believed that the brocading abilities of many of the weavers in Gadwal originate from Banaras, where a local Maharaja sent their ancestors to learn brocade weaving skills. The designs, however, do not show any Banaras influences but are strongly south-east Indian in structure and aesthetic quality. They are often regarded as 'Puja ' Sarees by local women who wear them for religious and festive occasions.

The recent development in Gadwal Sarees has brought some interesting and new designs. The Sico Sari (50% cotton and 50 % silk) is of recent origin which is of great demand these days. For the Gadwal weavers, source of silk and cotton is Bangalore and they depend on Surat for pure zari.

Kanchipuram a famous historical and mythological village 60 km from Madras, the capital of Tamilnadu is well-known for it's rich and traditional cotton and silk sarees.

Kanchipuram has only been weaving Silk sarees for the past 150 years and specializes in a heavy silk sari woven with tightly twisted three-ply, high-denier threads using thick zari threads for supplementary - wrap and -- weft patterning. Interlocked-weft borders are common. Along with silk sarees, Kanchipuram also specializes in cotton and silk-polyester blended sarees with the demand of the current market.

Many of today's established Kanchipuram Silk weavers trained in the cultural centre of "Kalakshetra" during the 1970's producing sarees with designs that are some what 'heavy' in both style and fabric weight, with very wide borders. Traditional motifs such as, mango, elephant, peacock, diamond, lotus, pot, creeper, flower, parrot, hen, and depiction of stories from mythology are very common in Kanchipuram sarees. Cotton sarees are ornamented with threads and some silk sarees are also woven with thread instead of pure zari.

Silk and cotton is sourced from Bangalore and Surat is the only place where zari is brought. The recent development in the designing field shows the introduction of computerized Jacquard borders in Kanchipuram silk sarees. Though the techniques and the materials are changing with the market demand; the motifs are still conventional and traditional in order to hold the custom and tradition of a Kanchipuram saree.

Kanchipuram sarees are very heavy and gorgeous sarees and are used specially for weddings in South Indian region as their traditional wedding saree.

There are at least 40 village's within a 70 k.m. radius of Hyderabad, the capital of Andhra Pradesh, including Pochampalli, Koyalagudam, Puttapakka, Elanki and Chautupal where ikat textiles are woven. Here ikat weaving has become a way of life -- from child to grandparent, every family member is involved at one stage or another.

The term ikat stems from the Malay - Indonesian expression 'Mangikat' meaning to bind, knot or wind around. In principle, ikat or resist dyeing, involves the sequence of tying (or wrapping) and dyeing sections of bundled yarn to a predetermined color scheme prior to weaving. Thus the dye penetrates into the exposes section, while the tied section remain un-dyed. The patterns formed by this process on the yarn are then woven into fabric. The three basic forms being single ikat, where either wrap or weft threads are tied and dyed prior to weaving is combined ikat, where wrap and weft ikat may co-exist in different parts of a fabric occasionally overlapping and double ikat which is by far the most complex form. Here both wrap and weft threads are tied and dyed with such precision, that when woven threads form both axis, mesh exactly at certain points to form a complete motif or pattern.

No written document is available to as certain the origin or evolution of the ikat technique in this region. It is widely believed to have developed around the turn of this century. The oldest centre 'Chirala', situated on the rail route between Vijayawada and Madras, was once known to produce the famous cotton 'Telia Rumals' or 'Chowkas' woven in pairs admeasuring 55 to 75 c.ms. square. Characterized by their bold, geometrical motifs, in red, black and white, offset by wide single colored borders, they were used in Indian by Fisher Folk and cowherds as loincloths, lungis or turbans. In the 1930's they were exported in large numbers to Burma, the middle east and East Africa where they were known as Asia Rumals.

In the 60's the all India handicrafts board assisted the weavers of Pochampalli to start weaving sarees. Silk weaving was also introduced by training two weavers in Banaras. Pochampalli, a small village, slowly captured the market for, ikat sarees and today the whole of Nalgonda district works on ikat weavers which can compare with the very best in single ikat wrap weaving.

Silk is brought from Bangalore and Surat is the place from where pure zari is sourced. In pochampalli most of the weavers work for the Pochampalli co-operative society and the materials are provided to them through the society itself.

Pochampalli weavers are experimenting these days with Jacquard and dobby techniques to combine it with ikat with the help of the weavers service centre, Hyderabad.

Along with the traditional parrot, elephant, diamond and flower motifs, the ikat saree designers these days are developing new and modern designs to go with the current trends of the market.