Patola: the double ikat of Patan

Of every textile Gujarat makes, the Patan patola is the one with the reputation. Kings ordered them. They were traded to Indonesia for centuries. A single saree takes four to six months, and a genuine one costs what a small car does.

Double ikat

Ikat is a technique where the threads are tie-dyed before they are woven, so the pattern is in the yarn rather than printed or embroidered onto finished cloth. Most ikat dyes either the lengthwise threads or the crosswise ones. Double ikat dyes both, and the two sets must line up on the loom to within a thread or the pattern blurs. Patan is one of only a handful of places on earth where this is done.

The weaving is done on a slanted loom by two people at once, adjusting the threads by hand, a few centimetres a day. The Salvi family of Patan have done this for something like nine hundred years and are, today, a handful of households.

The saying

Padi patole bhat, phatey pan phite nahi.

The pattern on a patola may tear, but it will never fade. Because the colour is in the yarn, it is true.

Patterns

• Nari kunjar: women and elephants.
• Pan bhat: betel leaves.
• Phul vadi: flower gardens.
• Chhabdi bhat: baskets.

Patan or Rajkot

Rajkot also weaves patola, but single ikat, where only the crosswise threads are dyed. It is beautiful and a fraction of the price, and it is what most people mean when they say they own a patola. The difference shows on the back: a Patan double ikat is identical on both sides, and its motif edges are clean because both sets of threads agree. A single ikat has a slight feathering along the pattern edges.

A patola is a saree for a lifetime and then for someone else's. Store it in muslin, refold it along different lines twice a year, and never let it near a wardrobe with naphthalene.