Maheshwar, a famed centre for handloom weaving, has been popularised since the early 5th Century. It attained even more attention after the introduction of its namesake, Maheshwari silk. Especially during the rule of the influential Maratha Queen, Rani Ahilyabai Holkar, or Ma Saab, who declared it as her capital.

Legend has it that the queen herself designed the first Maheshwari silk saree since she had trained to become a designer. In the 1700s, with the intention of improving the income of weavers, she invited several communities of weavers to Maheshwar. Originally from states like Surat, Hyderabad, and Mandu, the weavers settled in Maheshwar to teach her the art of weaving. They were also tasked with preparing a fabric for turbans and sarees to be worn by the women of the royal Malwa court. 

Under Rani Ahilyabai’s creative discretion, weavers opted to work on a sheer and lightweight fabric. Motifs on the fabric were further inspired by carvings on the Maheshwar Fort that were used as a ‘design directory’ at the time. She encouraged the tradition of handloom weaving by gifting the royal court’s visitors the gorgeous textile as welcome presents.  

In the later years, after the rise of industrialisation, the ancient tradition of Maheshwari silk weaving declined. However, it was revived in 1979 by Richard Holkar and Sally Holkar, who were the son and daughter-in-law of Maharaja Yeshwant Rao Holkar II. The royal couple accomplished this by forming a non-profit organisation called Rehwa Society dedicated to providing employment opportunities for women. Along with that, they aimed to bring back the tradition of handwoven textiles. Rehwa Society still exists today and is a success with more than 200 weavers and 1500 looms. 

Despite its minimalistic look and feel, weaving Maheshwari silk is a long and complicated process. There are a total of seven steps followed in order to produce the fabric — designing, procuring raw material, dyeing, preparing the yarn, warping, weaving, and adding finishing touches to it.

In the first step, the motifs that will be featured on the fabric are designed. The sarees are then classified by their borders — zari patti, phool kinar, kahar kinar, bugdi kinar, rui phool kinar, bajuband kinar, and chatai kinar. Designs are also contingent on order guidelines if one was placed and consumers’ demand. 

Next, raw material like cotton, silk, wool and zari thread is sourced from Bangalore, Coimbatore, and Surat. Once procured, they are processed by craftsmen so that they can be used. The third step in the process is dyeing, typically done by weavers or skilled dyeing technicians. Silk and cotton both need to be dyed before being used, making this an essential part. To dye cotton threads, a combination of wet dye, naphthol, and procion dye is used.

The dyeing process starts with the threads soaked in a TR solution made with Turkish oil and bleach for four hours. Subsequently, the dyes are prepared by mixing them into metal tubs filled with warm water, and the threads are dipped into them. To stabilise the colours, threads are submersed into naphthol and then washed with plain water, detergent, and soda. After being washed once more, the threads are hung out to dry, and bundles of yarn are sent to the weavers to continue the process.

Weavers move forward by untangling the yarn and stretching it so that it becomes tighter. A charkha (spinning wheel) is used to ease this step and make it less time-consuming. As soon as the yarn is untangled, the master weaver begins making the warp, where a different machine is used for the silk. A silk warp machine transforms the raw threads of silk into a single/double fibre warp. This is dependent on the loom’s requirement, so once transformed, bundles of the ‘taana’ (warped) threads are brought to the loom. 

Using the movement of the pedal on their loom, weavers set the weft yarn along the warp threads. Zari or colourful threads and embellishments are brought into play across the warp to accomplish the desired designs. A basic Maheshwari saree would take around 3-10 days to finish as the pallu requires detailed handiwork. Finally, after being woven, the fabric is taken off the loom and sent to be cut, sewn, and packaged as per the requirements.