Banaras Brocade Sarees are made of finely woven silk and decorated with intricate designs using zari; this ornamentation is what makes the sarees heavy. Their special characteristics are Mughal-inspired designs/elements such as intricate floral and foliate motifs, such as kalga and bel. Other features are gold work, compact weaving, figures with small details, metallic visual effects, “jali” (a net-like pattern) and “meena” work. These are woven on the conventional Banaras handloom jacquard, sometimes with “jala”, “pagia” and “naka” attachments for the creation of motifs.
