In an attempt to keep our content accurate and representative of evolving scholarship, we invite you to give feedback on any information in this article.


    This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.


    ARTICLE

    Temple Border

    Map Academy

    Articles are written collaboratively by the EIA editors. More information on our team, their individual bios, and our approach to writing can be found on our About pages. We also welcome feedback and all articles include a bibliography (see below).

    An array of motifs on the border (or pallu) of the saree which borrows their imagery from temple architecture of southern India, temple borders are commonly associated with kanjeevaram silk sarees. Woven as figurative relief on cotton and silk sarees, the temple border is usually in contrast to their solid colours of vermilion red, grape green, rani pink, turmeric and indigo.

    The architectural panels of temples of southern India, such as gopurams, the temple gateways, are a distinctive feature of Dravida style of temples. Sometimes this gopuram is morphed into a triangular shape called the pillayar moggu when rendered on a saree’s border. In other cases, a solid border at the end of the saree, called gettipettu, is woven with several motifs such as the eyes of peacock and koel, floral motifs, elephants, kalash (pot), etc.

    With the increasing use of pattern harness in textile production which lead to the spread of the technique from Varanasi to southern India in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, the temple motifs came to populate silk sarees of Mysore, Bengaluru, Molakalmuru, Armoor, Narayanpet, Dharmavaram, Thanjavur, Madurai and Kanchipuram. The temple border doesn’t only serve an aesthetic function, it also adds strength and weight to the ends of the saree, which are subjected to most wear and tear, and integrate with the body of the saree through warp and weft.

     
    Bibliography

    Our website is currently undergoing maintenance and re-design, due to which we have had to take down some of our bibliographies. While these will be re-published shortly, you can request references for specific articles by writing to hellomapacademy@map-india.org.

    Feedback
     
     
    Related Content
    loading