Details

Tangail saree is originated in Tangail, a district in Bangladesh. West Bengal also has Tangail weaving centers in Shantipur, Dhaniakhali, Bagampur, Farasdanga. In earlier times this saree was called Begum Bahar interlaced with a silk warp and cotton weft. Subsequently, both cotton warp and weft became a trend. The heritage of over thousand-year-old culture of the handloom weaving industry in Tangail district is cited by the well-known voyager Ibn Battuta and Huen Sam’s travel history. Extremely fine yarn is used which makes it soft and comfortable. Every portion of a tangail saree is weaved and designed by hand. One of the exceptional features of these sarees is par (edge) made from zari or silk yarn to obtain more shine and luster. It takes around 5 to 7 days to weave a well-designed tangail saree. Though, weavers from West Bengal have revived it without strictly adhering to the traditional pattern. Many weavers have also revived the silk tangail sarees. The laying of extra weft for figured tangail sarees while weaving on the loom is almost identical to jamdani sarees. They have extra-weft butis, small repeated motifs, interlaced on the ground of the saree. The main characteristics of tangail sarees are loom finishing which is done by rolling on starch on the surface of the already weaved fabric while weaving the tangail saree. Also, pre-sized warp yarns are used and hence no hairiness reflects on the surface and each yarn is equally distributed and there exists no pair of yarns. Traditionally tangail sarees have jacquard designs both in border and pallu. The surface texture of tangail sarees gets a paper finish appearance and is considered as its forte. The jacquard designs of tangail sarees are dhup chaya, belpata, pata bahar, mayur pekham, megho dombur, megho mala, hira mon, agun path, mayur konthi, kalo path, sanja phool, ashman tara, pahar surya, yatra siddhi, ganga jal, khunja, jhomkolata, padma. The tangail sarees have the following shafts designs namely borfi, beki, taaj, bhomra, gajo moti, danth (teeth), aash par, and terchi. The traditional tangail sarees are named as nilambari, pacha paar, begam bahar, khorke dure, chou khupi, ayna khupi, araa dure, anarkoli, jal dure, and ganga-jamuna. Weavers toil for most of their waking hours to weave the rich fabric that delights consumers across the world.