Story of Banarasi Silk and Weavers| कथा बनारसी रेशम और बुनकरों की

Banaras, officially known as Varanasi is an ancient and sacred city, which has been a centre of Hindu learning for ages. This city is associated with promotion of Hindi Literature, Classical Music, Dance, Spiritualism and so many other cultural activities.
In addition to all these things, Banaras is also known for its finest silks clothes, especially Sarees. Banarasi brocades are one of the finest fabrics produced in India. It is a specialty of Varanasi.
Silk finds its traces in Vedic scriptures with the mention of Hiranya vastra (Golden Cloth). It is believed that the description of Hiranya vastra correspond to the Gold and Silver Brocade of Banaras.
Banaras has been a major trade and commercial centre, since time immemorial. In the ancient time, Banaras was famous for the weaving of cotton sarees, and slowly switched over to silk weaving. It touched its peak at the time of mogul period because of the patronage from Akbar.
In its good times, weaving was considered as scrumptious profession. Those artisans used to have great respect in royal families.
Unfortunately, producing fabric on a handloom is a dying skill now. Power-looms are replacing the hand looms, because of their faster production and cheaper rates.
Process has been changed with advancements in technology, but the level of intricacy and sharpness of design by handloom cannot be matched in a power loom.
There are many weavers’ colonies within the city of Varanasi and also there are several villages of weavers, where the famous Banarasi Silk Sarees are produced by the talented weaving community. One such village is Sarai Mohana.
Situated on the banks of Varuna River in Varanasi district, Sarai Mohana is known for the weaving community. This is a Nishad majority village, whose ancestral profession used to be of fishery and boat sailing. With the demand of the time they changed their profession to Silk weaving. Around 25-30 years ago, most of the houses in the village had their own handloom mill.
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