
A Bawan Buti Saree with Lotus Motif (Image credit-Weave Hand)
Named after the fifty-two motifs, or bawan buti, that run through their main body, the bawan buti sarees are among the lesser known crafts of Bihar. They are woven with silk and cotton as foundation materials, with the motifs added to the body using extra weft. Bawan Buti saris have traditionally been weaved in south-central Bihar’s Nalanda and Gaya district.
Origin of the Bawan Buti:
The saris originate in Bihar’s Nalanda region, which has been a major Buddhist center since the fifth century. Bawan Buti Sari is believed to have originated around three to four centuries ago. However, even the weavers are unaware of any connotation behind the sari’s 52 designs, and there is no documentation on the subject.
Journey of the Craft:
The women in royal and zamindar families wore Bavaan Buti saris. Often, there would be a mob of people from royal and zamindar households in front of master weavers’ homes, carrying orders or samples of a motif or a specific color of a motif to recreate on a Bawan Buti saree.
After the 1980s, the loss of patronage, government apathy, the ravages of time, and the 2001 dissolution of the Bihar State Handloom Corporation, which had provided significant support to the weavers, all had a negative impact on the weavers. This eventually pushed this magnificent skill into the archives, and weavers relocated to other vocations and states in search of work.
For years, the artisans who engaged in this art never received much appreciation, either at the state level or at the global level. However, when the country’s first president, Rajendra Prasad, installed curtains made of 52 butis in the Rashtrapati Bhawan, people were introduced to this art, and now even UNESCO is promoting it. Although this art is still distant from the fashion world, its development is ongoing, and we will soon be able to view bawan buti art in the hallways of fashion.
Characteristics and Weaving Technique:

An artisan Working on the Motifs of a Bawan Buti Saree (Image Credit-ETV Media)
The Baavan Buti sari is painstakingly handwoven using frame and pit looms. Its name comes from the words bawan, which mean 52, and butis, which means little motifs. These designs are woven using the laborious extra weft technique. The size of the buti (motif) is determined by the design and placement, but it remains consistent throughout the cloth. There is no hard and fast rule for their size and placement; it all depends on the design. Typically, a cluster of designs is woven in the pallu (or end panel) of the sari, with motifs running down the bottom and top borders along its length. Before weaving begins, the motif’s size and location within the length and width of the sari must be precisely determined.
The Bawan Buti weave is a labor-intensive technique in which each motif is formed by manually inserting an extra weft into the ordinary weft that keeps the warp together. The weaver replicates the motif printed on graph paper. A beautiful piece of craftsmanship is the result of excellent eye and hand synchronization. The technique for weaving these designs onto the body of the sari is akin to satin-stitch embroidery, like as phulkari. The shuttle replaces the needle in the bawan buti saris, and extra weft replaces the embroidery thread, allowing patterns to be woven directly into the cloth.

Peepal Leaf Motif (Image Credit- Bawan Buti, NIFT)
Buddhist Motifs:
Motifs represent the craft’s identity. The Bawan buti motifs are typically symmetrical. The dominant culture has frequently demanded conventional types of design, although design has a sophisticated history dating back to antiquity. The sarees, which originate in the country of Buddhism, feature Buddhist iconographies such as the peepal, bull, stupa, deer, elephant, Bodhi tree, bull, trident, golden fish, wheel of religion, treasure, flower vase, parasol, and conch.
Nature Inspired Motifs:
Traditionally, weavers produced themes based on their surroundings, the flora and wildlife, the socioeconomic leanings of the time, and what they observed. Thus, Bawan Butis, woven in the late 18th century, had themes like the pointed gourd, cowrie shell, flower, peacock, and betel leaf. The betel leaf pattern originated from the custom of giving guests a betel leaf as they left; guests were greeted with water and jaggery. This corpus of patterns was woven until the mid-twentieth century, when demand for Bawan Buti saris began to decline for a variety of reasons, including the creation of lighter cotton saris by power mills and the production of polyester saris at a far lower price.

Nature Inspired Motifs (Image Credit-Bawan Buti, NIFT)
Contemporary Motifs:
At the time, Upendra Maharathi, a prominent Odisha-based artist and Rabindranath Tagore devotee who worked in a variety of mediums, visited Bihar. He initiated significant progress in all crafts. He introduced around 200 new motifs for Bawan Buti, including a boy, an animal, a lotus flower, ducks, a tree of life, and many others that are not remembered and for which no samples exist. He instructed the weavers to weave neater designs.
Bun.Kar Bihar has worked with designers Richard Pandav and Amit Vijaya of the label Amrich to enhance the Bawan Buti motif vocabulary. To meet the demands of the present market, contemporary elements and a more stylized design language were adopted. Richard and Amit traveled across the Bawan Buti weaving belt, interacting with weavers, observing local culture and natural life, and visiting historical sites. They went on to design over 300 themes relating to local culture. Many of these motifs are free-floating and multi-directional, so they can be used anywhere.

Contemporary Motifs (Image Credit-Bawan Buti, NIFT)
Current Scenario:
Currently, the two main centers for the production of these saris are Nepura, famed for its Tussar silk weaves, and Baswan Bigha, recognized for its cotton weaves. This handloom tradition has been revived twice: once in the 1940s by the late craftsperson Dr Upendra Maharathi, and again in 2009 by the Asian Heritage Foundation, which is led by textile specialist Rita Kapur Chisti and designer Rajeev Sethi and is funded by the World Bank.
Srijani Foundation, situated in Patna, Bihar’s capital, is currently working with over 300 artisans, including hand spinners, weavers, and embroidery workers, in four districts of the state: Patna, Nalanda, Samastipur, and Siwan, and retails textile items under the brand Bun.Kar Bihar.
Upendraji also taught the weavers how to use the Bawan Buti technique to make softer home furnishings such as bed coverings, tablecloths, and curtains. Many weavers learned under him, and as a result, new and improved motifs began to be woven, and soft furnishings took on the Bawan Buti character.