A Goan sari typically featuring distinctive red and white checked patterns, the Kunbi sari — ‘Kunbi kapod (cloth)’ in Konkani — is named for the Kunbi and Gauda, Adivasi (Indigenous) tribes who have historically woven and worn it since at least the late medieval period. While the exact origin of this sari is unclear, it was already in use by the time of the Portuguese colonisation of Goa (on the western coast of peninsular India) in the sixteenth century. Like other handloom saris across South Asia, the Kunbi sari experienced a decline in popularity with the advent of mass-produced textiles, and a subsequent revival in recent history. Contemporary Kunbi saris often feature a wider colour palette.

In western India, the term ‘Kunbi’ refers to a variety of agricultural castes whose status varies by region. In Goa, the Kunbi are historically nomadic cultivators who worked as agricultural labour before and during Portuguese rule; today, they are listed among the Scheduled Tribes of the state, along with the Gauda. Scholarly viewpoints on the origins of and relationship between the communities vary, with some making a distinction between the two, and others suggesting that they are likely closely interrelated. The Kunbi sari is most closely associated with these two communities, and the making and wearing of it is among the practices that distinguish the Kunbi and Gauda culturally from the Sanskritic Hindu communities of the region.

Portuguese rule brought several restrictions on traditional practices, including the manufacture (though not the wearing) of saris and traditional local clothing. These rules were meant to turn the local population towards Western clothing entirely, but this proved difficult as Goans relied heavily on their traditions to distinguish their identities from the colonial classes. The Portuguese annexation of the remaining Hindu fiefdoms in Goa in the mid-eighteenth century — areas collectively known as the New Conquests — led to a more comprehensive restriction on local weaving practices, especially for the region’s large Adivasi population, including the Kunbi. 

However, weaving continued in secret and the demand for saris in local designs even incentivised weavers from other areas on the Konkan coast to work in Goa. In the mid-twentieth century, three weaving families — the Shettigars and Kamats in Candolim, and the Rasquinhas in Bastora — continued to produce the Kunbi sari. Various working class communities, including the Kunbi and Gauda farm labourers, Badali porter women, the Dhangad shepherds and the Koli fisherwomen continued to wear handloom saris until the late twentieth century, purchasing them at the market in Mapusa, Goa. 

The traditional Kunbi sari is about a metre wide and between 4.5 and 7.4 metres long, with a checked body and a border. It is generally cotton, which serves for everyday use — with silk used more rarely, for ceremonial saris — typically woven on a handloom, in plain weave, historically with a thread count between 50 and 60. The body of the sari is usually covered by a pattern of large or small red and white checks. Sometimes additional thin lines of green, pink and yellow accompany the white, to create palo, or multicoloured bands, that intersect to form popli, a secondary set of checks. The size of the checks varies depending on the community of the wearer; Christian Gauda women, for example, wear Kunbi saris with larger checks. 

The border in its simplest version, sada phaati (plain border), is about 8 centimetres wide, comprising a few plain bands of dark red or maroon, yellow, blue and green, sometimes made of silk. More elaborate Kunbi saris traditionally featured an extra-weft aboli phaati (four-petalled border) containing a number of floral motifs including sevanti (chrysanthemum), mogri (jasmine) and chafa (frangipani), which were later replaced with the kuris (cross) for Christian women.

The vibrant red dye used is derived from the iron-rich Goan soil, which yields ferrous oxide, and tree bark mixed with vinegar. Historically the yarn was sized by hand using wheat or rice starch. 

The Kunbi sari was traditionally worn without a blouse, as was the norm across the subcontinent until the colonial period. A 1940 decree by the Portuguese colonial administration in Goa mandated the use of blouses for women when appearing in public, after which blouses became commonplace. The Kunbi drape is locally called dethli, meaning ‘knotted’, as the sari is held in place with a knot at the right shoulder. The drape has two variations, colloquially known as the Hindu and Christian drapes. Both drapes allow the wearer a wide range of movement, and a way to effectively gather up the sari while working on the farms, especially in the mud and knee-deep water of paddy fields.

In the Hindu style, the sari is first wrapped once around the waist and secured with a knot at the right hip, with the hem falling at the ankle. Part of the free length is pleated and tucked in at the front with the rest brought around the waist again, and tucked once more over the pleats at the centre. The remaining fabric is then wrapped for a third time around the body, brought around the chest and passed from the back over the right shoulder, where a corner of the sari’s end is knotted with the upper edge of the fabric covering the chest. Two horizontal lower edges are thus visible: one from the first wrap around the waist, and the higher one from the wrap around the chest. If the sari has an end-panel design (although it traditionally did not), this is visible down the back. 

For the Christian drape, an arm’s-length section of the sari is first folded lengthwise by a third so that the hem falls below the knees, then folded in half breadthwise to maximise opacity. This section is wrapped around the waist and secured with a knot at the right hip. A further tuck is made at the knot. The loose end of the sari is brought up diagonally across the chest, around the back, and tied at the shoulder as in the Hindu drape. The large portion of the sari left hanging in the middle is then pleated and tucked into the waist at the front, after which the leftmost pleat is loosened and drawn back over the rest before being tucked into the waist on the right side, covering and securing the other pleats. 

After Goa merged with India in 1961, the introduction of power looms and integration with the country’s domestic trade made mass-produced clothing easily available and far cheaper than handloom garments. Younger members of traditional weaving families sought opportunities outside the profession, often leaving Goa altogether. By the 1990s, the Kunbi sari largely disappeared from everyday life, but continued to feature in traditional performances and ceremonies, such as the Veerabhadra ritual at the Shigmo festival where it is given as an offering, and the Dhalo and Fugdi dances where it is sometimes worn by dancers.

Since 2010, the craft has seen some degree of revival through the efforts of Goan designer Wendell Rodricks and artist Poonam Pandit. Pandit has spent several years documenting the tradition under the guidance of one of Goa’s last remaining weavers of the Kunbi sari, Baburao Babaji Tilve. Based on Pandit’s findings, Rodricks designed a line of Kunbi saris made by Tilve, with modifications to the patterns and colour palette. Pandit has continued spreading awareness of the craft’s history and working with Tilve to bring new weavers into the craft; the collaboration has resulted in the production and sale of handwoven scarves, dupattas and saris with designs based on the Kunbi sari. These contemporary designs, like Rodricks’s Kunbi saris, retain the minimal arrangement of lines and checks while using pastel shades of red, blue and green in the body of the sari, with larger white sections than traditional Kunbi saris. Vintage Kunbi saris as well as examples from Rodricks’s line are part of the collection now housed at the Moda Goa Museum & Research Centre at Colvale, Goa.

In 2016, the Department of Handicrafts, Textiles and Coir of the Goan state government began funding the production of Kunbi saris. The department has set up training centres, made wooden handlooms and hired older weavers including Tilve to teach aspiring weavers. The students are given a monthly stipend to learn the craft, and skilled graduates can work as trainers themselves. While 70 percent of the saris’ sale price is reserved for the weaver, production costs are high due to the small-scale industry, cost of teachers, equipment and expensive organic dyes;  production is low and consists mainly of items like towels, mats and a relatively small number of saris. Nevertheless, government officials have expressed a desire to apply for a Geographical Indication tag for the sari to secure its position on the handloom market while keeping traditional weaving methods alive.