Jasreen Mayal Khanna
Kerala’s traditional kasavu saris stand out for their elegance and visual restraint in a country that boasts of rich colours, decadent embroideries and surface embellishments. But beneath its simple appearance lies a cultural legacy and unique aesthetic. Worn by the Malayali community to temples, weddings and funerals alike, today, this age-old woven craft is in need of a design intervention. Vogue spoke to Sreejith Jeevan, founder and designer of clothing label ROUKA, to understand the intricacies of the kasavu weaves.
The origins of kasavu
The term kasavu actually refers to the zari used in the border of the Kerala sari and not the sari itself. It is the name of a material used in the manufacturing process. Thus, when kasavu becomes a part of the mundu (dhoti), it’s called a kasavu mundu.
In Kerala, traditional attire like saris, mundus (which are sarongs worn by men) and settu mundus (a two-piece sarong sari) are generally called kaithari, translating to handloom. The identity of the sari generally comes from the cluster they are associated with. Kerala has three clusters that have been given a Geographical Indication (GI) tag by the Indian government, and all of them make what are widely known as kasavu saris, as well as the white Kerala saris that swap the kasavu border with a coloured iteration (called kara). These three famous clusters are Balaramapuram, Chendamangalam and Kuthampully.
The Balaramapuram cluster is based near Trivandrum and the artisans here are from the Shaliar clan. They were originally from Tamil Nadu and were brought down to Kerala by the Travancore royal family. Balaramapuram is famous for its use of pure zari (silver thread plated in gold), and very fine thread counts like 120s. The second cluster called Chendamangalam is famous for saris and mundus that are normally woven using half-fine zari and 80s-100s thread counts, but without too many motifs. They had the patronage of an aristocratic family called Paliam. Finally, the Kuthampully cluster also makes white saris with zari, but includes patterned and jacquard borders featuring human figure motifs. The artisan community here is called Devanga, and they were brought down by the king of Kochi.
The beginner’s de-brief on Kerala cotton
Traditionally, there was actually no concept of a sari at all in Kerala. Instead, there was the mundu. Everyone wore a mundu from the waist downwards, and there was no upper garment for men or women, neither was required to cover their upper body. On the contrary, in a lot of places, women were not allowed to cover their upper bodies, and had to pay a tax to do so.
However, post-colonisation, women started wearing an angavastra (similar to a shawl) on their upper body and thus the mundu transformed into the two-piece settu mundu. People wear one mundu at the waist, and the other one as a sort of half-sari. The single-piece sari evolved much later, which then led to the popularity of a blouse. This was the first stitched garment they wore.
The crafting process
The production time totally depends on the count. A plain sari with just a border and stripe on the end piece will take three to five days. But if it features motifs, it’ll take much more than that. When there are extremely elaborate motifs (such as those on a wedding sari), it can take up to a month because it is all done by hand weft. The pricing also varies accordingly. If you purchase from a cluster, you can get a basic cotton sari for 3,000 rupees (which, in my opinion, is very underpriced), but with the zari it can go up to 1.5 lakhs—depending on how much gold and labour has gone into it.
The yarn must have been hand-spun traditionally, but these days they use mill-made yarn (hand-spun is both expensive and difficult to mass produce). They put this yarn through a long pre-weaving process, and especially at Chendamangalam, it is this process that got them the GI tag. Once they get the yarn, it is soaked in water for seven or eight days, and stamped on every day (the artisans do this with their feet) while it’s soaking, to get the dirt and starch out and make sure it is completely soft.