Motifs Used in Jamdani Weaving

The Jamdani weaving technique is the traditional weaving technique of Bengal. It is one of the most labor-intensive and skill-oriented crafts that requires a weaver to precisely, delicately, and patiently use a number of discontinuous weft threads to add rich and intricate motifs onto the fabric by hand. A single Jamdani saree requires an artisan to use 100 to 300 non-structural and thicker weft threads to manually add to the design. This makes it so that even if a pair of weavers work for around 10 hours each day, it would still take them a lot of time, ranging from 3 months to 3 years, to finish the task.

The complicacy of the task, therefore, is easily imaginable. But it also results in a number of distinct, elegant, and colorful motifs by which the Jamdani sarees are identified. 

Motifs

The motifs on Jamdani sarees are mostly floral and geometrical in nature. Their geometric shape comes from them being added initially later by hand. As for the floral motifs,

1. 1. If the floral motifs are in the form of small flowers spread across the surface, the saree will be called Butidar saree.
2. 2. If the same design is diagonal and inclined, it shall be called Tercha Jamdani.
3. 3. If the floral motifs also include leaves and peacocks and are dotted across the surface of the saree, it shall be referred to as Jhalar or Jsalar Naksha.
4. 4. If the motifs resemble polka dots and are spread across the field of the saree, it will be called Duria Jamdani.
5. 5. If the saree has rows of flowers, on the other hand, it shall be called Phulwar Jamdani.
6. 6. If the same floral motifs used in Phulwar Jamdani are bigger in size, the design shall then be called Toradar.
7. 7. If the saree has a vibrant golden border running across the field, it shall be called Belwari Jamdani then.

In some cases, paper Jamdani was also used, where any creative and artistic design was drawn onto a paper by a skilled artist. The weaver then replicates the same design pattern by keeping it under the wrap. This innovation has given the weaver more room for experimentation as well.