Saura Art Cotton Saree Cream Mauve Elephant Buti Pallu

A cream handloom cotton saree from Odisha with a mauve purple Saura narrative pallu huts palms cattle and village life woven across its full width led in by rows of elephant butis on the body and a continuous mauve floral vine border running the entire length of the saree Three places to read the hand in this cloth First the elephants woven in supplementary weft their outlines step gently with the thread grid and no two stand exactly alike a block or screen print gives identical ink edged animals Second the reverse pattern yarns float and turn behind the pallu scene and the design reads almost as clearly from the back as the front prints fade to a pale shadow on the underside Third the border across nearly the whole saree length hand guided repeats drift a millimetre or two against each other something a powerloom never allows Add the soft slubs in the cream ground and you have a saree that proves itself on inspection Saura art begins as idital ceremonial murals painted on house walls in southern Odisha s Saura villages for harvests and rites of passage Carried onto the loom by Odisha s cotton weavers the tradition earns from every drape Wear it to festive lunches cultural evenings and family occasions the mauve pallu rewards a simple drape A plum or off white blouse completes it without competing