Banarasi sariWomen
Silk brocade in katan, organza, georgette or shattir, worked with zari in jangla, tanchoi, cutwork, tissue and butidar patterns. The wedding sari of northern India, and increasingly of the south too.
Worn for: Weddings and formal
Bhojpur & Purvanchal · Middle & Lower Gangetic Plain
Dress and textiles
The region weaves what the rest of India gets married in. Banarasi brocade — silk with gold and silver thread — is the standard north Indian wedding textile, woven overwhelmingly by Muslim weaving families in Varanasi, Mubarakpur and Mau and sold overwhelmingly through Hindu trading houses, an arrangement that has held for centuries and remains the region's most consequential economic fact.
What is worn
Dhoti, kurta and gamchhaMen
White or checked cotton with a gamchha over the shoulder. In Bhojpur the gamchha is close to an identity marker and travels everywhere its wearer does.
Worn for: Everyday and ritual
Sari with a red borderWomen
Cotton for daily wear, drawn over the head, with silk for weddings and Chhath.
Worn for: Everyday
Kurta-pyjama and topiMen, in the weaving mohallas
The dress of Varanasi's Ansari weaving quarters — Madanpura, Alaipura and Lallapura — where much of the brocade is actually made.
Worn for: Everyday and Friday
Weaves and textiles
Banaras brocades and sareesGI tagVaranasi, Mau, Azamgarh (Mubarakpur), Chandauli
Silk brocade woven with zari on pit and jacquard looms, with the kadhua technique working each motif separately so nothing floats behind the cloth. A registered geographical indication covering the sari, the brocade, and several allied products.
Bhadohi handmade carpetGI tagBhadohi, Mirzapur
Hand-knotted wool carpets from a belt that is India's largest carpet cluster and a major exporter. A registered geographical indication.
Nizamabad black potteryGI tagAzamgarh (Nizamabad)
Not a textile but the region's other distinctive product — clay fired in a smothered kiln to a deep black and inlaid with silvery zinc-and-mercury patterns. A registered geographical indication.
Kalamkari-style Mirzapur dhurrieMirzapur
Flat-woven cotton and wool dhurries in geometric patterns, made alongside the knotted carpet trade.
Jewellery
Gulabi meenakari from Varanasi — pink enamel on silver and goldSilver hansuli and payalNose ring and jhumkaLac and glass banglesRudraksha and stone malas, sold in every ghat lane
Traditional dress of Bhojpur & Purvanchal — garments, handloom weaves, GI-tagged textiles and jewellery. (8)