#ELLEWeaves: The Timeless Art Of Zari Making At Shanti Banaras

In the weaving rooms of Varanasi, where silence is often broken only by the rhythmic pull of thread and the clink of looms, the making of a real zari saree still follows a process that feels almost ceremonial. At Shanti Banaras, one of the few ateliers committed to producing real zari from scratch, the story doesn’t begin with silk or colour palettes; it starts with silver.

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The process opens with sourcing raw silver, typically in the form of 99% pure ingots or bars. These are refined in local bhattis—small traditional furnaces where the silver is melted down and impurities removed. Once cooled, the silver solidifies into slim, flat bars known as pattas, which serve as the starting point for what will eventually become a zari thread.

The pattas are first hammered and passed through rollers to reduce their thickness. This is followed by wire-drawing, where the silver strips are pulled through a series of progressively smaller dies using a tool called a taan. Each pass thins the silver further, until it becomes an ultra-fine, continuous filament—the base of all real zari work. For gold zari, this silver thread then undergoes electroplating, where it is coated with a whisper-thin layer of pure gold using an electric current in a chemical bath. The process gives it its signature glow while preserving the silver core.

What results is a fine, real metallic thread—ready, but not yet complete.

This filament is then flattened into a delicate ribbon using a patta machine, and the resulting strip is sliced into micro-thin lengths to form what is called badla. But badla alone cannot be woven. To make it viable for textile work, it must be converted into thread by wrapping the metallic strip around a base yarn, usually silk (resham), cotton, or mulberry silk. The wrapping process, sometimes done manually and sometimes by spindle machines, ensures the metal hugs the core thread evenly, without gaps or overlaps. The finished thread, known as kasab, is flexible enough for weaving, yet retains its metallic sheen and structural integrity.

Before this kasab thread can be used on the loom, it undergoes a final round of finishing. It is polished using rice starch, natural gum, or, in some cases, dipped in a resin bath. Once dried, the threads are brushed and rolled to enhance their shine and make them smoother to handle during weaving. Only then is the zari thread ready to enter the design phase.

Every saree begins with a naksha, a hand-drawn design chart that maps out the placement of motifs and the overall pattern. This is converted into a graph or punch card, depending on the type of loom being used. Meanwhile, the loom is prepped with warp threads—usually cotton or silk—and the zari is introduced as weft or extra-weft, depending on the desired weaving technique.

Shanti Banaras works with several intricate weaving styles, most notably Kadwa and Jamdani. In Kadwa, each motif is individually woven into the fabric using zari and resham threads. There are no floating threads on the reverse side; each element is fully integrated, making the weave both clean and strong. Jamdani, on the other hand, uses small spindles, or tillies, to insert supplementary zari threads by hand. This gives the motifs a floating, ethereal quality, but requires enormous patience and skill—each motif is built thread by thread.

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After the weaving is complete, the saree undergoes a final set of finishing rituals. It is carefully washed, starched with natural ingredients, and pressed. Then, it’s polished with agate stones to enhance the metallic shine without dulling the silk’s softness. Tassels are tied by hand, borders are reviewed for consistency, and the piece is folded, ready to be worn or preserved.

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A single real zari saree can take anywhere between 30 to 90 days to complete, depending on the intricacy of the design and technique. From the heat of the furnace to the quiet focus of the loom, every step is done by hand, measured, repeated, and perfected. At Shanti Banaras, the process isn’t just about preserving tradition; it’s about anchoring craft in material integrity and treating each stage with the same attention as the final textile. There are no shortcuts here—only metal, thread, and time.

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