The gold in a Banarasi saree is not just decoration — it is five centuries of history. Here is how Mughal patronage transformed Varanasi's ancient weaving tradition into the world's most celebrated silk.
Varanasi — called Kashi in Sanskrit, Banaras in common usage — has been a centre of textile production for at least 2,000 years. Ancient texts mention fine silks and muslins from the region; Buddhist monks wore Varanasi cloth; the city's position on the Ganga made it a natural trading hub for silk from Bengal and China.
But the Banarasi silk saree as we know it — with its Mughal floral motifs, its heavy gold and silver zari, its characteristic jaal and butidar patterns — did not exist before the 16th century. It was the Mughals who gave Varanasi's weaving tradition its defining aesthetic.
Under Emperor Akbar (r. 1556–1605), the Mughal court became the most sophisticated patron of textiles in the world. Akbar brought Persian master weavers to India, established karkhanas (royal workshops) in Agra, Fatehpur Sikri, and Lahore, and set standards of quality and design that transformed Indian weaving.
Varanasi's weavers absorbed the Persian vocabulary: the jaal (a net of interlocking flowers and leaves), the butidar (scattered flower-bud motifs), the hashia (ornamental border), and the shikargah (hunting scene). These motifs — originally Persian court imagery — were reinterpreted through an Indian lens and woven into silk with gold and silver zari on handlooms that the weavers had developed over centuries.
By the reign of Jahangir (r. 1605–1627) and Shah Jahan (r. 1628–1658), the Mughal appetite for luxury textiles had reached its peak. Kinkhab — cloth of gold — was the supreme expression of this era. The word itself comes from the Persian kinkwab, meaning 'dream of gold.'
Varanasi's weavers developed kinkhab to its highest level under Mughal patronage: equal proportions of silk and real gold thread, woven on pit looms by teams of two or three specialists. Kinkhab was worn by emperors, gifted to ambassadors, and used to drape the sanctums of imperial mosques. The technique survived the decline of the Mughal empire because the weavers passed it from father to son through apprenticeship, not documentation.
The arrival of British power and the imposition of import duties on raw silk damaged Varanasi's weaving economy severely during the 18th and 19th centuries. The dissolution of Mughal court patronage removed the primary buyer of the most expensive weaves. Many kinkhab and shikargah specialists disappeared during this period.
The British industrial era brought power-loom competition. Cheaper machine-made textiles began replacing handloom output in the domestic market. By 1900, Varanasi's weaving community — which had numbered in the tens of thousands — had contracted significantly.
Post-independence India brought renewed interest in handloom textiles as cultural heritage and economic livelihood. Government programmes supported weavers; the National Handloom Development Programme provided training and market access. But the real turning point was the GI tag granted to Banarasi silk in 2009 under the Geographical Indications of Goods Act.
The GI tag legally protected the name 'Banarasi silk' for handwoven textiles from Varanasi and its surrounding districts. It gave weavers legal recourse against copies, created a quality standard, and brought media attention that generated significant domestic and international consumer interest.
Today, Varanasi's weaving community — concentrated in neighbourhoods like Madanpura, Peeli Kothi, Reori Talab, and Badi Bazaar — comprises an estimated 1.2 lakh weavers and allied workers. The vast majority weave on pit looms inherited from their parents; the most skilled among them produce katan silk and kinkhab that would have been recognisable to a Mughal court.
At Mulyakara, we work directly with master weavers in these neighbourhoods — documenting their names, their localities, and their weave times, and paying fair wages that reflect the true value of their craft. Every Banarasi saree we sell carries that history in its threads.
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