In the folds of India’s profound textile history lies a version of the famed Jamdani—a quiet expression of handloom brilliance, carrying a distinct story of inventive craftsmanship, unparalleled finesse, and a royal patronage.
Woven using the extra-weft technique, where motifs are inlaid directly onto the loom, Jamdani has long been held in high regard—a fabric of patience and poetry. Its name, believed to be of Persian origin (jama, meaning garment, anddan, meaning container or body), hints at its value and elegance.
So light and fine were these fabrics that in their earliest mentions, they were often described as “woven air.” Megasthenes, the Greek ambassador to Chandragupta Maurya’s court, wrote of “flowered garments of the finest muslin” worn by Indian courtiers as early as 300 BCE. Muslin from the Bengal region is also mentioned in the ancient Sanskrit treatise Arthashastra, written by Chanakya in the third century BCE, and the first-century CE Greco-Roman manuscript Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, which refers to a ‘Gangetic cotton’. During the Mughal era, these muslins found a home in royal wardrobes—particularly in Dhaka, which became the nerve centre of Jamdani weaving. Woven with staggering thread counts—sometimes between 800 and 1200 threads per square inch—these textiles were as fine as air itself. By contrast, most of today’s Jamdanis have thread counts under 100. Beyond Bengal, another interpretation of Jamdani quietly emerged in the town of Tanda and the old city of Varanasi, in Uttar Pradesh. It took shape during the reign of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah of Awadh (1847–1856), adapting the technique for a different kind of expression—one marked by the aesthetics of Awadh: romantic, restrained, and steeped in luxury.
The use of jacquard looms gave Awadhi Jamdani a distinct fluidity. While Bengal’s weavers relied on paper guides or hand-picked designs, Tanda’s weavers began to explore the potential of jacquard cards, allowing them to produce repeating motifs with precision—yet still retain a handwoven soul.
At Tilfi, we return to this lineage of understated grandeur with a collection that finds its soul in the enduring artistry of Awadhi Jamdani. Rooted in the language of purity and shadowplay, the sarees in the‘Awadh’ collection are woven in a pristine palette of whites—each drape lightenough to catch a breeze, delicate enough to hold light itself.
While gossammer air-like sarees form the collection’s centrepiece, the spirit of Awadhi Jamdani—its sensitivity to form and thoughtful placement of motif—extends into a capsule of apparel. A graceful lehenga, an anarkali set, and a fluid kaftan, all draw from archival designs. Their patterns are engineered directly on the loom, with each motif placed intentionally, honouring a tradition of precision and minimal waste. In the ateliers of Tanda and Varanasi, master weavers shaped the garment as they wove—placing each motif with mathematical precision to suit the contours of the envisioned piece.
Awadhi Jamdani is more than a regional variation of a well-known textile. It represents an entirely different philosophy of cloth—not as a flat surface for decoration, but as a three-dimensional form that converses with the body. It reminds us of a time when textiles were created not just with technical virtuosity, but with profound intent—woven with the final form in mind, and shaped by the maker’s understanding of how cloth moves, drapes, and transforms when worn.
In many ways, it remains one of the most intelligent expressions of handloom design in India—quiet, refined, and rooted in both function and beauty.
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