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Gara embroidery sarees, originally considered to be
Parsi family heirlooms, became rare collector’s items because of
their intricate work and exorbitant prices. Today, designer Naju
Daver has revived this ancient Chinese art from to make exquisite
sarees, which have become prized possessions of women all over India.
The most striking and
beautiful examples of ancient Chinese embroidery can be discovered
on the gara,the famous Pari sari of the last century. The
Chinese gara a six-yard long sari worn earlier by Parsi women had a
shaky future in modern times till Naju Daver decided to revieve it in
1986. Since then the gara has reached dizzying heights on the
fashion carts making it one of the most coveted items in a woman’s
wardrobe.
At her first exhibition
in January 1986 there were just two pieces of garas amongst her many
sequined embroidered saris, but the response was overwhelming from
the public. A gara is an item which is expensive. Therefore, people
think hard before they buy one but once it is bought it becomes a
collector’s piece which will go down generations.
The gara’s history
is as colourful as the garment is to behold. The gara was probably
introduced in India by Parsi traders in the 19th century
who used to travel to China to trade. Originally, it was an item
that was normally a labour of love created by the Chinese.
Patronized by the Parsi and worn for weddings and Navjote (a ceremony
for young Parsi boys and girls in the Zoroastrian faith) ceremonies
it is treasured and worn by girls of all ages and is today considered
a rare fashion item worth possessing, informs Naju.
Naju’s love for the
revival of the gara was kindled when she tried to salvage a sari for
a friend. At that time Naju, an expert embroiderer, seriously
considered devoting her efforts to resusciate the dying art. The
original Chinese garas were considered quite buky to wear as saris
since they had embroidered borders on all four sides. The most
favoured colour was purple or violet. Several years after the
introduction of the gara in India, craftsmen in Surat in Gujrat
managed to duplicate the embroidery. But the Surat gara is identified
by its net and French knots which the Chinese ones did not have.
Besides violet, the colours popular were wine red, navy blue, white
or off white with white embroidery in twisted cotton thread. At
times, gold threads were also used. Unfortunately, colour fastness
of fabric and threads was dubious thereby spoiling the garment. Here
Naju has rectified it and changed the fabric to synthetic silk, which
is easier to maintain.
Because of the visual
beauty of the rich and intricate work, always hand done, it could
take up to nine months to complete each gara. Decades ago a gara was
a must in a bride’s trousseau. Today a gara may cost a large
sum starting with Rs.2,500 because of the lack of craftsmen. Since
the embroidery is specialized and intricate every few days, the
craftsmen have to be given a simpler sari to break the monotony of
the hard work so that they can return refreshed to the complicated
motifs. A craftsman specializes in a particular motif-like flower,
tree, house, figure etc. so that there is uniformity in the
workmanship, adds Naju. Most of the craftsmen are from all over India
specializing in their particular motif. It is believed that if a
Chinese craftsman embroidered birds he would do so all his life. This
concept is also carried on in India.
A gara is not an easy
piece to purchase. In fact it is well-night impossible because
nobody makes such saris any more in China. During the Mao regime it
was a banned craft since they preferred manual labour to artistic
talents. For the last 50 years no garas have been produced in China
and Parsis who owned a few family heirlooms have either sold them or
cut them up due to disintegration, adds Naju.
Naju born into a family
of expert embroiderers- her mother was an expert and her grandma and
grandpa sat together and embroidered grandma’s engagement and
wedding saris-was initially not fond of embroidery because it was
made into an alternative by ,my mother to either do housework or
embroider and I always chose the latter and even then would
experiment with big stitches to fill up the fabric faster. Though
when she saw her first gara she was so dumbstruck by its beauty that
she ended up making one for her daughter’s Navjote all by
herself.
Although the motifs are
hand embroidered, the finish is superb on the right side as well as
the wrong. Each gara has its own story in the form of pictures
embroidered across the length of the sari. The popular motifs are
trees, flowers leaves, birds, figures, houses, bridges, each coming
alive with the help of vivid colours and stitches. There are
distinct scenes of Chinese life-pagodas, shrines, boatment, river
banks, soldiers and cranes. The embroidery is very close to each
other and the more intericate the design the more expensive the gara
becomes. There also are several types of garas with quaint names
like kanda and papeta gaga which literally means onions and potatoes
that resembled large pink and yellow polka dots, where the pink
denotes onions and yellow the potatoes. The karolia or spider design
is actually a flower. The chakla/chakli motif (male/female sparrow)
and the more(peacock) are some of the other variations. There are
still some Parsis who do not wear a peacock design as they consider
it inauspicious, informs Naju.
Surprisingly, the
interest in the gara is not just restricted to the women but even men
are ardent admirers. One of Naju’s male clients who had searched
the whole of China for a gara for his wife was very happy to know
that he could buy one right here in Bombay!
A gara could either be
fully embroidered or have a border with embroidery sprinkled all over
or just partially embroidered. The popular stitches are the crewel,
stem and long and short stitch and the French knot. The popular
choice of thread is off-white. Pastels are also favoured. As many
as 20-30 different shades of a colour are used in one design, with
perfect blending to give it the effect of a painting. The texture of
the thread could be either cotton or silk although the latter is more
effective. The border of a gara is the cynosure of all eyes in most
cases. It expands into the pallav of the sari which is draped in
front when worn in the Parsi style.
Naju who tries to
recreate the original designs from small pieces of embroidery in her
collection has also modified some. She is also experimenting with
other forms of garments with embroidery similar to the gara.
Materials too have changed to synthetic as well as crepe silk and
chamois satins. The background colours in vogue are navy blue,
black, red and white. At any given time, Naju has nearly 40 designs
on display and each is exclusive.
The start of a gara means
a drawing of a design of paper. After that a small sample in the
actual colours is prepared. This is then given to the craftsmen to
study. The design is then traced onto the sari. A single design is
repeated several times on a sari but is adjusted perfectly to blend
into each other. Each sari is put on a loom at which 4-6 artisans
work. The embroidery is done on an assembly line system-one worker
does one particular motif only. Today’s gara can be hand washed
at home in normal detergent and ironed unlike the originals. The
longevity of the present saris is better than their predecessors
because of better fabrics and thread.
Originally considered a
Parsi family heirloom, today with the help of Naju’s revival of
the garment the gara has become the prized possession of woman all
over India. The original Chinese garas are considered priceless
works of craftsmanship but the biggest compliment paid to Naju
Daver’s efforts was the comment after hours of careful
examination that it must be an original from China!
Because of the beauty and
grandeur of the gara jewellery is never worn with it and definitely
not gold but if one must dress it further than it should be with
pearls only advises Naju.
Naju Daver, has shot to
fame with her dedicated revival of an art form that would have died
had it not been for her intense love for beauty and tradition that
prompted her to work tirelessly in the promotion of the gara. “I
treat it more as my hobby and not a business and very often I don’t
ever like to part with the saris because they have become a part of
my life as I have watched them being created.”
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