Sungudi Saree
Sungudi sarees are famously made in Madurai, Tamil Nadu. Madurai is famous for Meenakshi temple, "Malli" (Jasmine), and Madurai Sungudi Sarees.
It is traditionally made by the Saurashtrians who migrated from Gujarat in the 11th century. From 8th to 11th century, Saurashtrians from present day Gujarat migrated to South India due to frequent Muslim invasions where the local king of Nayak dynasty welcomed them. Some of them settled in Madurai. They are known as “Pattunulkarars” (silk yarn weavers). Sungudi is traditionally made by them.
Sungudi is 100% pure cotton saree using warp and weft of 80 & 100 count respectively combed/ carded cotton yarn.
Feb 8th is celebrated as Sungudi day to honor this magnificent craft from Madurai
“Kaikattu” (Hand knotted) Sungudi
History
The story goes that in the olden days, people gathered in the evening for play. The women would tie up their hair into a circular bun which inspired the iconic ringed dots pattern in Sungudi sarees. Later as they rested under the sky, they would challenge themselves to create various patterns inspired by stars. Some also say they are inspired by the dotted kolams (Rangolis). Initially, the knots were tied with small stones, then someone experimented with tying the knot with mustard seed to reduce the size of the dot till they finally arrived with just tying the knot by pinching a small piece of the fabric with their fingers.
Sungudi related to the Sanskrit word "sunnam" meaning round, representing the circular dots / ringed dots that are formed on the fabrics as a prominent and special motif.
Process
The original “Kaikattu” Sungudi sarees are made by a tie dye process. In a single saree, more than 20,000 knots are tied. It takes 10 to 15 days to make a traditional Sungudi saree from start to finish.
- First, knots are tied by hand, uniformly spaced all over the saree creating beautiful patterns.
- Then the saree is dyed.
- After dyeing, the knots come off to reveal the pattern.
- And the saree is washed in the Vaigai River. It is said to add a special sheen to the fabric.
Continuing the tradition
This art is kept alive by less than 300 artisans of the Saurashtrian family today. A.K. Ramesh is a fifth generation Sungudi manufacturer. Secretary, Federation of the and dye Associations. Vasumathi is Ramesh’s wife and has been doing the Kai Kattu knots since childhood. You can do about 300 knots a day without breaking your back. The couple has managed to keep the traditional Kai kattu Sungudi alive and have taught it to 2500 women. Usually women tie the knots and dyeing is outsourced.
Modern Day
The modern day Sungudi comes in an array of vibrant colors and patterns with contrast borders and Pallu. Exquisite zari motifs with complementary warp threads are often used in the borders and Pallu. They are wax printed with dotted patterns and also come in a variety of non-dotted patterns such as flowers and peacocks, and thus bear little resemblance to the authentic Sungudi sarees which have dotted kolam (rangoli) and constellation patterns.
Wax printed Sungudi.
Like the story of most hand made textile crafts, initially only natural dyes were used but then they were slowly replaced by chemical dyes. Likewise, Power loom replaced Handloom and Kai kattu was replaced by wax printing.
Wax printing is also a traditional technique used to create distinctive patterns on Sungudi sarees but this requires less time than Kaikattu Sungudi sarees. Each worker can print up to 50 sarees per day.
Wax printed Sungudi sarees come in an array of vibrant colors with contrast border and pallu and exquisite zari motifs. They also come in multi colors; i.e. the body of the saree in one color and the dots in another color. This is usually hard to find in Kaikattu Sungudi sarees as it requires the saree to be dyed multiple times.
Process
- In this method, Sarees are first dyed in one color, dried and then spread over a wooden slab coated with fine sand.
- Wooden hand blocks with intricate designs are dipped into molten wax and stamped across the sarees to form different designs, hence the hot wax is applied onto the fabric in specific areas only. Separate hand blocks are used for the body and border part of the saree. The wax acts as a resist, preventing dye from penetrating those portions.
- Once the wax sets, the fabric is dyed in a second color. The areas covered with wax retain their original color, while the rest of the fabric absorbs the new dye.
- After dyeing, the wax is removed - revealing beautiful patterns. Wax printing can make ringed dots like tie dye (Kaikattu) as well as a variety of other (non dotted) patterns as well.
How to spot the difference between a Kaikattu ( Hand knotted) and Wax printed Sungudi Saree:
- Kaikattu Sungudi forms a ringed dot pattern. The body color seeps into the ringed dot and the color pattern in each dot looks unique. Wax printed Sungudi can also be a ringed dot or solid dot or other patterns. The body color seeps into the dot but mostly as cracks from the cracking on the wax during dyeing.
- In Kaikattu, all the ringed dots look different, the size, shape etc. looks different for each of the dots. In wax print, all the dots are the same size and shape. Some of them can be ringed dots and others can be solid dots due to the excess wax covering up the hole inside the ring.
- In Kaikattu, ringed dots are not too many. They are usually spaced out and not clustered together. In Wax print, there can be a profusion of dots and clusters of them.
- In Kaikattu, ringed dots are evenly spaced out but not perfectly. Usually there are some irregularities in the pattern as it's drawn by hand and the points are marked for tying. In Wax print, the patterns are very precise. Uniform looking dots and perfectly spaced out.
Instagram Reel: Differences between Kaikattu and Wax printed Sungudi