chennai it was while visiting villages in north karnataka that hemalatha jain first heard of the patteda anchu sari traditionally used by the lingayat community the weave was slowly dying out as there were no takersthe sari used to be gifted to the bride after it was offered to the temple goddess but as people moved to urban areas they stopped wearing it as it is short in length says jain who got remnants of the original weave from a devadasi and with some money given by dastkari haat samiti began reviving it we started with two weavers today we have 16 looms in gajendragargh says jain who is doing her phd on the traditional textile at national institute of fashion technology new delhi while the basic pattern of the sari has been retained fine checks with broad borders the colour palette has moved beyond the original red and mustard it has two pallus on both sides and can be draped both ways she saysjain will be sharing her experiences on august 7 as part of celebrating handlooms a discussion on sari revival organised by the crafts council of india at kamala crafts shop in egmore on the occasion textile expert sabita radhakrishna will also talk about the revival of the kodali karuppur sari of tamil nadu while rohit r phalgaonkar will speak about the goa adivasi sari christian gauda sarithe kodali karuppur saris were produced in the village of the same name near kumbakonam in thanjavur the karuppur cloth was worn only by the thanjavur nobility and the saris were made exclusively for the ranis of thanjavur till the 19th century in baroda kohlapur and satara the sari was an essential part of the brides trousseau as was the karuppur turban for the groom the craft died out with the end of royalty in the country it is rare and expensive because of the highly skilled labour involved says radhakrishna who worked to revive it with the help of kalakshetra foundation as craft education and research centre cerc which has the necessary infrastructure roping in the expertise of the weavers service centre dakshinamurthy an expert in natural dyes and a printer did the initial layout while bhanumurthi master weaver at cerc created the cloth using 100 cotton says radhakrishna adding that prabhakar an expert in kalamkari painting and his team handpainted the entire sari the offwhite cotton sari interspersed with gold buttis with a sheath of gold on the pallu is now exhibited at kalakshetra i suggested that the karuppur blocks be used to print saris so that they are affordable without the original technique and yet contribute to the feel of the karuppur sari says radhakrishnagoabased historian rohit r phalgaonkar on the other hand has been working to bring back the red and white checked christian gauda sari i spent about 12 years collecting samples of the saris which were originally worn by tribals says phalgaonkar who has chosen four models from the samplesi was able