Parsi Gara Work

India, a hub of talent and hard work. I think there is no need to mention about the richness of culture  and heritage of India. One of the famous work of India is Parsi work but now it had extinct, but now it’s exquisite embroidery is known worldwide called as ZOROASTRIAN. Zoroastrian is present in the form of Gara sarees, it is one of the instrinsic saree of Indian textile Industry. It showed it’s traces back in Bronze age but later it influenced Indian, European, Chinese and Persian heritage. Parsi work is thousands of years old and parsi saree is 150 years old. In 19th and 20 th century Parsi  women got connected with Chinese work. Parsis travelled across whole India that’s why they developed a unique style of patterns in there embroidery. There work patterns depicts nature like trees, birds, flowers, bamboos, huts etc. There bright colors provide warmth to the eyes. Parsi work is getting global acceptance because other than saree it is also used in kurtas, shirt, purses etc. Parsi work is mainly originate from china as Chinese people taught these embroidery to parsis. 
Parsi work has differential motifs with a deep and emotional meaning. Parsis have a affinity towards nature which were reflected in their work . They mainly use nature related motifs in their work to make their work appealing to the eyes. With the lot of dedication and hard work they make beautiful design with a thread like chakla chakli , trees, birds etc . Divine fungus trees depicts longevity and immorality. The other most popular motifs is of peacock and lotus. Blooming gardens, flowers like rose, chrysanthemum depicts peace of mind and satisfaction. Carp and Goldfish represents fertility .  Designs of hen, creepers, vines, ducks, horse carts, roosters and floral sprays are commonly used in sarees and borders. Some of the motifs that is used in Gara is “Cheena  Cheeni”,  ” kaanda papeta”  , ‘Karoliya’ , ‘Marga Margi’ and chakla chakli. Cheena cheeni  is a motif in which Chinese man and women doing chores. Kaanda papeta indicate onion potato. Karolina stands for a spin wheel. We can also call it a spider. Marga margi stands for hen and rooster. Chakla  chakli stands for female and male sparrow. 
Parsi work mainly prevail through Parsi Gara ( saree) which mainly found in Gujarat, India. It mainly done through pure silk on the dark fabric taking as a base like on black, green, red or violet colors. It can also be used on suits, tops, skirts etc. Some parsis were lived in Mumbai and had a contract with china to sell cotton . In this way parsis learnt this work from China. Gauze, gara , or chiffon had a mixture of European and Chinese patterns.
The base of the saree is generally darker and it is done with ivory thread , pastel colours and embroidered by multicolours threads. The colours mainly used in this sarees is of two shades. The main designs that are on the sarees are inspired by Chinese stories example: boatman, bridges, pagodas and shrines. Main stitches which are used in sarees are crewel stitch, French stitch, stem stitch and satin stitch. 
As the for most thing that craftsman do while doing parsi work firstly he draw the design of saree on the paper then formation of colour that are used in saree takes place. The craftsman perceive that design and embroidered on the saree. It is  a long process . It took around 2-8 months to create. The specialised craftsman  can draw motif continuously and it brings uniformity in designs. 
It shows how much India is rich in it’s designing and what is the quality of our swadeshi cloth and what make handloom so special.

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