"The saree that you are wearing is from Orissa.... it is called......”

“This saree dates back to the era when my knowledge of sarees was not broad enough to identify which Indian states they belonged to.

I wore this on a ‘Saree Thursday’ to office, when a gentleman from my team said,

“Priyanka, the saree that you are wearing is from Orissa , it’s called Sambalpuri.”

Not just that, he also recommended that I visit Odisha Bhavan in Vashi( Navi Mumbai) that houses shops selling authentic Odisha handloom, which is definitely on my bucket list!

Now something about Sambalpuri Saree.

The major components of the design are Shells, Flowers, Wheels , with geometric design along the borders, also known as Ikkat.

A Sambalpuri sari is a traditional handwoven ikat or saree wherein the warp and the weft are tie-dyed before weaving.

These saris first became popular outside the state when the late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi started wearing them.
To provide protection to the weavers practicing this art, the handloom silk saris manufactured in Sambalpur and Berhampur in Odisha were included in the Government of India’s Geographical Indications registry.