How each kind of piece is made

Step by step, in the places the work is done: the mekhela sador, saree and gamusa in Sualkuchi, jewellery in Ranthali (Nagaon), the xorai in Sarthebari and carving in Kaziranga.

Hands at a wooden loom: the left grips a dark boat shuttle on the batten, the right is raised over white cloth with red stripes and small red motifs.

A gamusa on the loom. The shuttle is in the weaver’s left hand; at the edge of the weaving, a band of gold-coloured scroll has just been woven.

Contents

  1. Mekhela sadorSualkuchi
  2. Assam silk sareeSualkuchi
  3. GamusaAssam
  4. JewelleryRanthali
  5. XoraiSarthebari
  6. Wood carvingAround Kaziranga National Park
  7. Why the pieces vary
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Mekhela sador

Sualkuchi

A mekhela sador, often written as mekhla chador, is the traditional dress of the women of Assam — a graceful two-piece drape worn across generations, from a young girl’s first Bihu to a grandmother’s festival mornings. It is not just clothing. It is a marker of belonging, worn with the same pride at weddings, Bihu, Puja and quiet family gatherings alike.

It consists of two garments: the mekhela, wrapped from the waist, and the sador, draped over the shoulder. The looms that weave them weave blouse pieces too, and a bridal set traditionally adds a third piece, the riha. This chapter follows the yarn to the loom.

7 steps in this chapter
  1. Yarn arrangement
  2. Opening the hank, winding the reels
  3. Winding the pirns
  4. Laying the warp and drawing it in
  5. Lifting the figure with punched cards
  6. Laying in the motif by hand
  7. Cutting it from the loom
A winding wheel made from a bicycle rim, frame, chainring and chain on a wooden base, a hand on its crank, and a basket of wound pirns in red, green, maroon and blue on a sack beside it.
A winding wheel built from a bicycle rim, frame, chainring and chain, its crank turned by hand; wound pirns wait in the basket.

  1. Yarn arrangement

    The mulberry silk, also known as paat, comes as twisted yarn and is often already dyed. Different kinds of paat are produced in various places all over India. Tussar comes from Bihar, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh, or through Kolkata. Muga comes as cocoons from Upper Assam, Boko and the Garo Hills.

  2. A bamboo cage reel blurred with motion in a wooden floor stand, filling with light-blue yarn from a hank stretched on uprights behind it; a hand with a ring turns it.
    A bamboo reel turned by hand in its floor stand, filling with blue yarn from the hank behind it.Moving photograph, no sound.

    Opening the hank, winding the reels

    sereki (also chereki) — a reel of five small bamboo sticks round a central one

    letai — a bamboo reel or winding device, smaller than the sereki

    The yarn is opened and wound onto a sereki. A sereki takes out knots and uneven fibres. From the sereki, the yarn is then wound onto a smaller bamboo reel, the letai.

  3. A green plastic pirn on a spindle filling with pale thread, a drive cord running to the spindle’s whorl.
    At the other end of the cord, a green pirn fills with pale thread.Moving photograph, no sound.

    Winding the pirns

    jotor (also yatar, charkha) — the hand-turned winding wheel; the pirn it fills is the mohura

    pirn — a rod onto which weft thread is wound for use in weaving

    weft — a horizontal set of yarn or thread that is woven back and forth across the vertical warp threads on a loom to create textile fabric

    One hand turns the jotor while the other guides the thread onto a pirn that rides in the shuttle. Since the yarn is already made, this process is mostly crucial for holding the weft yarn inside the loom’s shuttle for smooth delivery of yarn.

  4. Laying the warp and drawing it in

    boa — the heddles

    heddle — a weaving tool that controls warp threads

    reed — a frame that holds the threads of the warp

    warp — the set of lengthwise yarns that are held stationary and under high tension on a loom before weaving begins

    The yarn is wound to length on a warping drum. The warp is then rolled onto the beam, and each end is drawn by hand through the heddles and the reed. This process can also be done on a Jacquard loom through the harness as well.

  5. Two long runs of laced punched cards hanging beside a loom, white harness cords converging upward to their right, a barred window behind.
    Two runs of laced punched cards beside a loom, and the white harness cords they lift.

    Lifting the figure with punched cards

    dobua — the card-fitted machine that sets the design

    Punched-card devices are used on Sualkuchi looms, like the Jacquard. A design drawn on graph paper is punched into cards and laced in order, worked by an extra treadle under the weaver’s foot. These cards set the design to be woven into the fabric.

  6. Two hands at the warp of a loom, fingertips parting golden threads above a red motif just woven at the edge of the cloth.
    Fingertips part the warp at the edge of the cloth, a red motif thread between them.Moving photograph, no sound.

    Laying in the motif by hand

    bani — the weft; here, the coloured yarn of the motif

    bobbin — a small cylinder designed to hold and dispense thread

    Where the cards lift the warp threads to create the necessary opening to weave the particular design, the weaver manually inserts the coloured motif yarn and ties it off. For smaller patterns like flowers scattered across the fabric’s body, the weaver can even pick them out by hand without using any cards. However, devices that carry many motif bobbins also carry out a similar function.

  7. Cutting it from the loom

    The cloth is cut from the loom. Where a border is woven as a separate strip, a tailor stitches it on. The mekhela, once an unstitched cloth, may be stitched at its two ends. On this site it is offered flat or stitched to the buyer’s measure.

Where

Sualkuchi, in Kamrup district, on the north bank of the Brahmaputra, 30 to 35 km west of Guwahati by road and downriver of it. The maker of the mekhela sadors on this site is recorded there.

Registered names

‘Muga Silk of Assam’ is a registered Geographical Indication (GI 55; certificate 38, issued 13 July 2007) and covers Muga only.

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Assam silk saree

Sualkuchi

The saree is much more than a piece of clothing; it is a symbol of grace, culture and elegance. Many people often ask what a saree is, and why it holds such a revered place in Indian tradition. In simple terms, a saree is an unstitched length of fabric, typically ranging from five to nine yards, that is draped artfully over the body. However, its significance goes far beyond its physical form.

A saree represents centuries of Indian craftsmanship, artistry and heritage. It is worn in everyday life as well as on grand occasions, bridging the gap between tradition and modernity. Understanding what a saree is allows one to appreciate not just a garment but a living piece of culture that celebrates femininity, identity and elegance.

A saree is one length, about five and a half metres, wrapped at the waist with its far end, the pallu, over the shoulder. These photographs follow dyed yarn from the hank to the pirn, and show a loom fitted with punched cards.

6 steps in this chapter
  1. Opening the hank or yarn
  2. Winding it onto the sereki
  3. Winding the pirns
  4. Lifting the figure with punched cards
  5. Weaving it
  6. Cutting it from the loom
One hand at the wheel of a spindle and the other guiding a magenta thread onto a yellow pirn, magenta yarn on bamboo reels in the foreground and a basket of wound pirns on the floor.
Magenta thread from the bamboo reels in front winds onto a yellow pirn at the spindle; one hand turns the wheel.
  1. A blue hank stretched between two wooden uprights on a heavy base, a winding wheel and shelves of folded sacking behind it.
    A dyed hank shaken open on a stand of two wooden uprights; one thread leads off it.

    Opening the hank or yarn

    To prepare a hank of yarn or fabric thread for crafting a saree without creating any inconvenient tangles, it is essential to “shake it open” properly before proceeding with the weaving process. A dyed hank is shaken open on a stand of two wooden uprights.

  2. A bamboo cage reel blurred with motion in a wooden floor stand, filling with light-blue yarn from a hank stretched on uprights behind it; a hand with a ring turns it.
    A bamboo reel turned by hand in its floor stand, filling with blue yarn from the hank behind it.Moving photograph, no sound.

    Winding it onto the sereki

    sereki (also chereki) — a reel of five small bamboo sticks round a central one

    letai — a bamboo reel or winding device, smaller than the sereki

    Turned by hand by its central stick, the sereki draws the yarn off the hank; winding it this way takes out knots and uneven fibres. From the sereki the yarn goes onto a smaller bamboo frame, the letai.

  3. Winding the pirns

    jotor — the hand-turned winding wheel; the pirn is the mohura

    pirn — a rod onto which weft thread is wound for use in weaving

    weft — a horizontal set of yarn or thread that is woven back and forth across the vertical warp threads on a loom to create textile fabric

    From the reels the thread goes onto pirns at a wheel-driven spindle: one hand turns the wheel and the other guides the thread.

  4. Two long runs of laced punched cards hanging beside a loom, white harness cords converging upward to their right, a barred window behind.
    Two runs of laced punched cards beside a loom, and the white harness cords they lift.

    Lifting the figure with punched cards

    muthi — a hundred picks of the cards, the unit figure-work is paid by

    A design drawn on graph paper is punched into cards and laced in order. These cards set the design to be woven into the fabric.

  5. Two hands at the warp of a loom, fingertips parting golden threads above a red motif just woven at the edge of the cloth.
    A mekhela sador on the loom, its motif laid in the same way: fingertips part the warp at the edge of the cloth, a red motif thread between them.Moving photograph, no sound.

    Weaving it

    buti — a small motif

    On the loom the warp is laid, drawn in and lifted by the cards. The motifs are laid in either by hand or by a multi-bobbin device. For a given saree, the motifs are placed in either one of the ways, which depends on the weaver’s judgement.

  6. Cutting it from the loom

    The cloth is cut from the loom. Where a border is woven as a separate strip, it is stitched on, and a seam shows along its inner edge, creating the beloved saree that we know of today.

Where

Sualkuchi, in Kamrup district, on the north bank of the Brahmaputra, 30 to 35 km west of Guwahati by road and downriver of it.

Registered names

‘Muga Silk of Assam’ is a registered Geographical Indication (GI 55; certificate 38, issued 13 July 2007) and covers Muga only.

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Gamusa

Assam

Gamusa, also written as gamosa, derived from Sanskrit, is a traditional Assamese cloth used for bathing, rituals and adornment. Measuring 1.30–1.85 m in length and 60–85 cm in width, it features red borders from the anchu plant. With motifs like “sotia”, “pooh” and “ichioni”, red symbolises bravery and cultural pride.

5 steps in this chapter
  1. Choosing the yarn
  2. Laying the warp with its red border
  3. Setting the pattern
  4. Weaving the ground and the motifs
  5. Cutting it from the loom
Over a weaver’s shoulder at a loom: below the arm, cloth woven in red and gold-coloured bands of flowers, a wooden temple lying across it.
An end panel of red and gold-coloured bands already woven; near the reed a wooden temple holds the cloth at width.
  1. A tall cone of bright red yarn standing on a worn wooden plank in a shed with split-bamboo walls.
    A factory-wound cone of red yarn on a plank.

    Choosing the yarn

    anchu — bright red untwisted yarn, used especially for the side borders and end designs

    kecha suta — pure, untwisted and unbleached raw cotton yarn, used for the main body

    pokuwa suta — bleached and mercerised twisted cotton yarn

    Raw or stiff yarns are often boiled, sometimes with starch or boiled rice water, to strengthen the threads.

    Winding: the treated yarn is arranged and untangled on traditional reeling tools like the letai and sereki, then dried in the sun.

  2. A white warp with groups of red threads at both edges, wound thick on a loom’s back beam, two tied lease rods crossing it, split-bamboo walls behind.
    At the back of the loom, the warp on its beam, its red side borders already in place.

    Laying the warp with its red border

    The warp is laid for several gamusas at once, mostly white with red at intervals, so the red side border runs along the length of the cloth before a single row is woven.

  3. A long chain of laced punched cards, grey-brown and pierced with groups of round holes, curving down beside a loom, white cords and warp behind.
    A chain of punched cards, laced edge to edge, curves down beside the loom.

    Setting the pattern

    The weaver lays out the design on the warp threads with thin bamboo sticks for each row of a motif.

  4. Two hands at a wooden loom: one holds a yellow cord hung from above, the other rests on the batten over white cloth with small red motifs.
    One hand pulls the cord that throws the fly shuttle, the other holds the batten; punched cards hang behind.Moving photograph, no sound.

    Weaving the ground and the motifs

    Plain weaves form the fabric’s base by opening the yarn threads with treadles, passing a shuttle through, and packing each row tightly with a reed while a temple keeps the cloth wide. The process uses a fly-shuttle loom, which uses a pulled cord for greater speed. A separate shuttle introduces the red motif yarn by weaving it using specific threads.

    A woven end panel close up: red and gold-coloured creeper bands with flowers and leaves, the motif yarn lying in raised floats over a plain ivory ground.
    On a finished gamusa, not the one on the loom: the motif yarn lies over the plain ground, tied down at regular points.
  5. The corner of an ivory cloth: red stripes along the long edge cross red lines at the end in a small check, and loose white and red warp ends hang as a fringe.
    The corner of a finished gamusa: the red side stripes cross the end border in a small check, and the warp ends hang free as the fringe.

    Cutting it from the loom

    The cloth is cut from the loom with the unwoven warp left at each end as a fringe, and the red threads of the side border run on into it.

Where

Woven across Assam: the registration’s area is every district.

Registered names

‘Gamosa of Assam’ is a registered Geographical Indication (GI 594; certificate 432, issued 13 December 2022).

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Jewellery

Ranthali

Assamese jewellery is a traditional art form deeply rooted in the rich cultural heritage of Assam. Crafted primarily by skilled artisans, these ornaments are famous for their unique designs inspired by local flora, fauna and everyday Assamese objects.

In Ranthali, about 8 km from Nagaon town, the jewellery is made with a silver frame filled with lac, its stones held by gold foil laid round each one. Each form has a name: the Junbiri crescent, named for the moon; the heart-shaped Dugdugi; the Dhulbiri, after the drum.

8 steps in this chapter
  1. Melting the metal
  2. Beating sheet, drawing wire
  3. Building the frame
  4. Laying in the enamel, where there is any
  5. Filling the frame with lac
  6. Setting the stones
  7. Laying the gold foil around each stone
  8. Stringing the beads
Hands at a bench seen over a dark shoulder: a fine tool against a gold-faced openwork piece with green inserts, a leaf of gold on white board.
Over the shoulder at the bench: gold leaf on a white board, and in the hand a piece already gilded and set with green inserts.

  1. Melting the metal

    The metal goes into a crucible with borax over a gas burner, or a coal furnace kept hot by an air blower, and is poured into an iron mould as a bar.

  2. Beating sheet, drawing wire

    The bar is beaten into a thin sheet on an iron base, and a wire is drawn through a perforated plate.

  3. Two weathered hands hold a thin crescent of grey metal and run a narrow wooden-handled tool along its inside curve, beside an old wooden drawer.
    Working the inner edge of a crescent already cut from thin, silver-coloured sheet.

    Building the frame

    The sheet is cut along the outline of the form, domed, and soldered into a hollow frame with pine (the solder), with a mouth-blown pipe directing the flame.

  4. Laying in the enamel, where there is any

    Crushed coloured glass is laid into the frame’s cells and heated under a lamp flame with a blowpipe. It comes before the lac: lac softens at 65 to 70 °C, far below the heat that fuses the glass.

  5. Filling the frame with lac

    The hollow metal framework is filled with lac, to provide support and a firm base for shaping and setting the gold jewellery.

  6. Setting the stones

    The stones are pressed into the lac and the excess lac is taken off.

  7. A domed openwork piece close up: gold-faced cells each holding a glossy green teardrop, silver-coloured metal showing below, a tool tip at its edge.
    Close to: gold round each green insert, and a band of silver-coloured metal below the gold.

    Laying the gold foil around each stone

    The gold is beaten into foil, heated until it is tacky and laid around each stone a little at a time with a needle, the kalam, layer over layer, until stone and gold are set.

  8. Over a shoulder, a palm holds a heap of cobalt-blue seed beads while the other hand draws a thread; scissors and a strand of beads lie on the bench.
    Stringing blue seed beads by hand on a fine white thread.

    Stringing the beads

    Beads are strung by hand and tassels attached.

Where

Ranthali, in Nagaon district, about 8 km from Nagaon town; the district administration counts almost 90 percent of its families in the jewellery business. The maker of the jewellery on this site is recorded there.

Registered names

‘Axomiya Gohona (Assamese Jewellery)’ is a registered Geographical Indication (GI 858; certificate 664, issued 27 March 2025). Its standard asks for silver of 92.5% purity or above and gold foil of 22 carat or above.

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Xorai

Sarthebari

The xorai, also written as sorai, is a traditional, sacred offering tray mounted on a pedestal that stands as a symbol of Assamese culture, hospitality and respect. Usually crafted from bell metal or brass by skilled artisans in Sarthebari, it consists of a shallow circular tray supported by a stand, often topped with an ornamental conical dome. In Assamese households and public events, the xorai is used to present tamul-paan (areca nut and betel leaf) to welcome guests, offer prasad in a namghar (prayer hall), or honour distinguished individuals during felicitations.

6 steps in this chapter
  1. Starting from the sheet
  2. Cutting the sheet
  3. Beating it over the stake
  4. Joining the parts
  5. Turning it on the lathe
  6. Cutting the decoration
A lidless metal tray on a copper-coloured tube stem with collars and a lobed, flared foot, standing on a scarred wooden bench.
A xorai without its lid. Behind it, a sheet of yellow metal leans on the wall, and an iron stake stands in the earth floor.
  1. A large sheet of yellow metal leaning on a concrete wall, flat offcuts on the floor at its foot and two polished domes with pointed tips in front.
    A sheet of yellow metal leans on the workshop wall, with offcuts at its foot.

    Starting from the sheet

    kanh — bell metal; brass is pitol

    Brass is bought as sheet; bell metal is melted from scrap in a clay crucible, cast into a cake and rolled into sheet at a mill.

  2. Hands with rings work long iron shears along a yellow metal sheet on the floor, a cut strip curling up; hammers and an iron stake lie behind.
    Long iron hand shears take a strip off the edge of a yellow sheet; the strip curls as it comes away.

    Cutting the sheet

    The outline is marked and the sheet is cut into separate portions with long hand shears.

    A stack of flat oval metal blanks on a pink-painted block, long hand shears and a marker on a jute sack behind, curled metal offcuts at the right.
    Flat oval blanks stacked on a block, the shears and a marker beside them.
  3. A hand holding a rounded, dimpled metal dome over an iron stake set in an earth floor, the handle of a hammer in the other hand.
    A hand holds a rounded dome over an iron stake set in the earth floor; the hammer’s dimples show on the unpolished metal.

    Beating it over the stake

    haturi — the hammer

    Each part is beaten over iron stakes driven into the earth floor until a flat blank becomes a dish or a dome.

  4. Joining the parts

    pan — the brazing alloy of copper and zinc

    The tray, the collars, the stem and the foot are made separately and joined.

  5. Rows of polished spire finials on boards, behind them a motor on a low frame beside a polished lid, and a handloom with pink cloth at the back.
    A small electric motor on a floor frame, a spoked wheel on its shaft and a polished lid beside it; polished spires stand in front.

    Turning it on the lathe

    kund (also kunda) — the lathe

    Each part is fixed with lac or sealing wax to a spindle and turned, first against a sharp tool that cuts rings, then against a pad smeared with an oily polish. Traditionally a second person turns the spindle with a rope; in some Sarthebari workshops the polishing machine runs on electricity.

  6. Cutting the decoration

    chena — the chisel

    The decoration is cut with hammer and chisel; motifs include fern, creeper, flower and leaf.

Where

Sarthebari, a revenue circle of Barpeta district.

Registered names

‘Sarthebari Metal Craft’ is a registered Geographical Indication (GI 1013; certificate 626, issued 30 March 2024), covering bell metal and brass.

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Wood carving

Around Kaziranga National Park

Wood carving is a craft that thrives around the periphery of Kaziranga National Park. Local artisans handcraft intricate replicas of the region’s iconic wildlife — most notably the greater one-horned rhinoceros, alongside elephants — using sustainable, fast-growing gomari wood sourced from nearby villages. Without the use of heavy machinery, these skilled carvers shape and dye each piece by hand, turning eco-friendly forestry into a vital livelihood that connects regional tourism with wildlife conservation awareness.

6 steps in this chapter
  1. Choosing the wood
  2. Cutting a block, and drying the wood
  3. Roughing out the figure
  4. Cutting in the features
  5. Rubbing it smooth, or sanding
  6. Colouring it
A steel hammer strikes a chisel with a white plastic-pipe handle into a pale roughed-out figure held by a bare foot on cardboard, shavings around it.
Roughing out on the workshop floor: a steel-headed hammer drives the chisel, and a bare foot holds the figure still.

  1. Choosing the wood

    gomari — Gmelina arborea, also called white teak

    Carvers around the park work mainly in gomari, bought as trunks from nearby villages.

  2. Cutting a block, and drying the wood

    The trunk is cut into a block with a saw. It can be dried either before or after it is roughed out, depending on the craftsman’s judgement.

  3. Bare, dusty toes pin a pale roughed-out wooden figure to cardboard while a hand holds a flat chisel in it, a small curl of wood at the chisel’s edge.
    A flat chisel lifts a curl of wood from the figure.Moving photograph, no sound.

    Roughing out the figure

    Chisels and hammers are used to remove excess wood and shape the basic outline of the figure.

  4. Cutting in the features

    Gouges, smaller chisels and knives cut the detail: the eyes and ears, a rhinoceros’s horn, and the texture of the skin.

  5. Two hands hold a small carved elephant, one pressing a folded square of abrasive paper against its side; a checked shirt and a cardboard sheet behind.
    Rubbing a small carved elephant with a folded sheet of abrasive paper; the ear is incised and the trunk notched.

    Rubbing it smooth, or sanding

    The surface is rubbed by hand with files and abrasive paper.

  6. Two forearms over an upturned carved elephant, legs in the air; one hand holds a leg, the other brushes on a dark coat, drips spotting the cardboard.
    Brushing a dark coat onto a large carved elephant laid on its back.

    Colouring it

    Then the carving is coloured. After the carver has finished, the wooden handicraft is dyed with plant dye, soot or coal-dust. A varnish coat is applied soon after.

Where

Around Kaziranga National Park, which lies in Golaghat, Nagaon and Sonitpur districts.

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Why the pieces vary

Several steps on this page leave a mark on the finished piece, and some of those marks differ from piece to piece. Most are documented for the craft rather than checked on a piece from this site, so each says what can happen, not what you will find.

  1. The gold of Muga

    A Muga ground runs from golden yellow to light brown with the host plant and the season, so two Muga pieces side by side may not match, and neither is wrong.

    Made at: The silk itself

  2. Colour laid in by hand

    Where a weaver lays motif yarn in by hand, its placement, tension and beat vary along the cloth, even where cards fix the outline.

    Made at: Laying in the motif

  3. Small motifs picked by hand

    Small motifs picked out across the body by hand can differ slightly in outline and size.

    Made at: Weaving the saree

  4. The edges of a handloom cloth

    The bamboo temple that holds a gamusa or a sador at width is moved along by hand, and can leave small holes and slight unevenness along the long edges.

    Made at: The temple

  5. Cut decoration on metal

    Each stroke cut with hammer and chisel has its own start, length and depth, and repeated dots sit close but not evenly spaced.

    Made at: Cutting the decoration

  6. Two sides of a carving

    A carving cut freehand is not a mirror image of itself: its left and right sides can differ, and so can the spacing of the legs from piece to piece.

    Made at: Roughing out

  7. What does not vary

    Where punched cards lift a figure, its outline repeats exactly, repeat after repeat; only the colour laid in by hand, its tension and the beat can vary.

    Made at: Lifting the figure