warp and weft are hand spun. The quintessential jamdani is so because of its fineness, soft hand, and lightweightedness - which none other than khadi can impart. As Pupul Jayakar writes in her essay on Indian Fabrics in Indian Life, "It was in cotton that the genius of the Indian weaver, printer and embroider was to find its richest and boldest expression." The whole process of growing, spinning and weaving cotton in fine counts by hand and patterning with motifs of "rare elegance and sophistication" was what lent to jamdani its unrivalled flavour. It should also be noted that actual jamdani is extra weft after every pick. Ruby Palchoudhuri is believed to have a spectacular collection of this heirloom fabric handed down to her from the previous generations. She is striving to revive designs and motifs from old saris. In her effort to revive jamdani, she is providing financial aid and resources, to Jyotish Debnath and others like him.
This page: Rare specimens of pure khadi jamdani woven by master weaver Jyotish Debnath for a private collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, at the request of textile artist and enthusiast, Thinlay Rhodes. Thinley believes that Jamdani is not to do with the technique only, but the look, feel and touch as well. This comes across is the above specimen where we can see the beauty of handdspun yarns interlaced together to make fine muslin fabric, possibly of 500s count cotton. A rare sight to see nowadays, the jamdani patterning is after every pick here.
35