Chanderi Silk Cotton Handloom Ashoknagar Madhya Pradesh

Chanderi is a GI-certified handloom fabric town in Ashoknagar district of Madhya Pradesh, producing lightweight silk-cotton blend sarees and dress material with a characteristic translucent quality (kora texture) and delicate gold or silver zari butis (small woven figures) scattered on the transparent body, produced by Koshthi and Ansari weaver communities using fly-shuttle pit looms. The Chanderi weaving tradition is approximately 600 years old, developed under the patronage of the Malwa Sultanate at the strategic trade route junction between the Vindhya plateau and the Gangetic plains. The characteristic Chanderi fabric is made from pure silk warp, cotton weft, and zari supplementary weft for the butis, creating a lightweight cloth of 50 to 90 grams per saree that is prized for summer wear in North India. Pattern types include the jamdani (all-over buti), the dandelion buta (large medallion), the panna hazara (thousand pearls), and geometric border forms called jhalar. The zari is typically real silver or gold-plated silver wire imported from Surat. Approximately 6,000 weaver families in Chanderi town practice handloom production. The state government runs a Chanderi silk yarn supply scheme and the National Handloom Development Corporation manages export through its Chanderi depot. Contemporary fashion designers including Ritu Kumar and Sabyasachi have used Chanderi extensively, making it one of the most fashion-recognized regional fabrics in India.