City Of Varanasi

Call it banaras, Varanasi or call it Kashi, "the city is older than history, older than tradition, older than legend and looks as twice as old as all of them put together". It is amazing that the city of deaths and salvations is also a city of vibrant lives, vivid colors and opulence. The holiest city of india is also home to the most luxurious textiles in the world.

Varanasi or the point where the two tributaries of the ganga- the Varana and the asi meet. Varanasi thrived because it was at the crossroads but it’s success also lead to its down fall. The constant process of rejuvenation added layers to it. You will find little evidences of the phases of Banaras’s rich history outside the ghats. It is a complex of over crowded bustling streets, but there is one place where all the great history of the city come alive and that is in the looms. Here the many layers of influence that make Banaras shine through. As different threads of influence, motifs of culture and colours of faith woven together to create the most stunning creations.  Over the years a number of skilled handloom weavers has reduced drastically and small looms are shutting down rapidly. The generations of skilled weavers are dyeing out. Even if the demands of banarsi continues to the soar, the lives of people involved in creating these fabrics hasn't improved. The history of Banaras can be seen in its fabrics and thats more of a reason to keep it alive. There is so little to show the actual history of this timeless city and spiritual center, when you travel through it. We can not  afford to lose this canvas to its past and its fabulous textiles. Of course power loom has its own advantages but the essence of handloom lies in creating innovative designs that cannot be replicated on power looms.