‏ Patola (Vohra Gaji Bhat) Sari

Patola saris are renowned for their colorful diversity, symbolic motifs and geometrical designs. Rendered in green, brown, red, orange, yellow, black and white, this sari is a prime example of one of the traditional Patan patola designs, the ‘Vohra Gaji’ — that received its moniker from being particularly patronised by the Bohra Muslim community. Patola (plural, singular patolu) are double ikat woven fine-silk saris. Patan in north Gujarat is the most famous centre for patola-weaving in India, where they are traditionally woven by the Salvi community. Alongside requiring much skill, producing patola is also a time consuming affair — taking anywhere from six months to a year to make one sari. An extremely difficult techical process in which both the warp and the weft are resist-dyed prior to weaving, patola are very expensive — and were historically therefore worn only by royalty, the aristocracy, the elite Brahmin castes, and Jain and Bohra merchants.

Detail, showcasing the geomtric design of the sari. It is believed that this design is loosely based on the hindu birth chart or horoscope known as ‘janam kundali’ — and the sylised leaves, stars and other
motifs may then be geometrically perceived as a repeating set of converging rhombus-shaped and
triangular sections.