Kalaswaraj Foundation

Maheshwar

... Neem Reshmi ...

Maheshwar, situated on the banks of the holy Narmada River in Western Madhya Pradesh, is only 100 km from the city of Indore. It is renowned for its sheer textiles known as Neem Reshmi. The name is derived from the word Nimad, which is the name of the region where Maheshwar is located. The region experiences a shorter, cooler weather season with a very hot summer. People are protected from the heat by the abundant Neem trees grown in the region, and it is speculated that the name Nimad is derived from Neem with Aad (shade). The leaves of these trees provide a serene breeze, and thus, the textile resembles the Neem tree, with "Reshmi" referring to silk.

The textile from Maheshwar is commonly referred to as Maheshwari and has a history of continuous evolution and growth. The credit for establishing the handloom industry in Maheshwar goes to Martha Queen Ahilya Bai Holkar of the Indore Estate, further nurtured by her descendants. Initially, pure cotton sarees were woven, recognized as the nine-yard Nawari Indoori saree. Subsequently, degummed mulberry silk was introduced, intricately woven with cotton on both warp and weft, gaining popularity under the name Garbh Reshmi Saree.

In the 19th century, a shift occurred as single-ply mulberry silk (also locally known as Taani) in the warp and 80s non-mercerized cotton on the weft gained popularity. This transition gave rise to the Neem Reshmi saree.

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Throughout this transition, the border with beautiful motifs inspired by the fort of Maheshwar, woven using Dobby and 80s count non-mercerized cotton, remained unchanged until the beginning of the 20th century when gradually, weavers started using 2/120s mercerized cotton in the weft to replace the 80s cotton.

The 80s cotton tended to break a lot during preparing bobbins for the weft and took a longer time to weave. However, this new development sped up the weaving process due to thicker and stronger yarn, but it disrupted the perfect balance of one-ply silk and the fine 80s cotton discovered at the beginning of Neem Reshmi.

The handloom weaving industry in Maheshwar has flourished, growing from fewer than 200 weavers in the late 1960s to over 4,000 artisans by 2020. Maheshwari sarees gained popularity and, to meet rising demand, attracted migrant weavers from the Nagpur region, Barabanki, Uttar Pradesh, etc., alongside the increase in the number of weavers in the traditional weaving community of Maheshwar, including Maroo’s and Ansari’s.

The Kala Swaraj Foundation initiated the project in 2018 with the objective of showcasing the weaving of original Neem Reshmi textiles. This involves using a finer non-mercerized cotton yarn blended with one-ply mulberry silk to create sheer textiles with a perfect balance between warp and weft. The project also focuses on exploring the untapped potential of the Dobby technique, combined with the Jalla technique of inserting the extra weft, opening up a reference for the weaving community to take the technique to the next level.

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