Katan Silk · Muhurtham
Maroon Katan Silk Saree — Kadwa Shikargh
Shikargah is the hunting-scene weave — figures built motif by motif on the loom. Deep maroon, firm pleats, and roughly six weeks of one weaver's work.
₹95,000.00
Shop NowDelivering to Salem, Tamil Nadu
Buy Authentic Banarasi Saree from a Trusted Saree Shop in Salem
Handwoven in Varanasi by fourth-generation karigars, sold direct from the loom. GI Certified, Silk Mark guaranteed, and at your door in Salem within 3–4 working days.
A note before you read further: we do not have a counter in Salem. We are a weaving house in Varanasi that ships direct, and we would rather tell you that now than after you have driven across town.
3–4 Days
Dispatch to Salem
GI Certified
Genuine Varanasi handloom
4th Generation
Karigars in Varanasi
Free Shipping
Across Salem district
Varanasi to Salem
You live twenty kilometres from a saree town
Most cities we ship to have a favourite saree. Salem has an entire weaving town on its doorstep. Twenty-odd kilometres out at Elampillai, streets of weaving households turn out soft silks and silk-cottons in numbers that supply half of South India — and where handlooms and power looms sit in the same lanes, families here have grown up able to tell the two apart by touch. Nobody in Salem needs a lecture on what a loom does.
So we will skip the lecture. The Panaya is not a reseller or a marketplace listing. We are Kamalya Textiles, based in Chowkaghat, Varanasi, working directly with karigar families in the weaving lanes of Lallapura, Madanpura, Alaipura and Jaitpura. Every Banarasi Saree we send to Salem is woven by hand on a pit loom in pure mulberry silk with real zari, and carries three certifications: the GI tag for Varanasi origin, the Silk Mark for silk purity, and the Handloom Mark for genuine hand weaving.
And because you already know how to check a weave, we would rather you did. Ask for close-ups of the pallu, the border or the reverse of the fabric. Take a live video call from the workshop and inspect it yourself. Nothing is dispatched until you are satisfied.
Chosen for Salem
Six weaves across the price range
A Shikargah Katan for the muhurtham, tissue silk for the reception, and cut-work and Kora pieces for the daytime functions that fall in the hot months. Every piece below is live stock, photographed in daylight, ready to ship.
Tissue Silk · Reception
Onion Pink Tissue Silk Saree — Kadwa Jaal
Featherlight over a metallic zari base. It catches hall lighting without adding weight — the practical answer for a long reception evening.
₹75,000.00
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Katan Silk · Engagement
Lavender Katan Silk Saree — Kadwa Boota
A softer register for the nichayathartham, or for the bride's mother and sisters. Katan body, restrained zari, nothing shouting.
₹59,000.00
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Kora Silk · Festive
Brown Kora Silk Saree — Kadwa Mango Booti
Mango booti is one of the oldest Banarasi motifs. Kora keeps the body light while holding a crisp, defined pleat all day.
₹38,000.00
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Katan Silk · Hot Weather
Sea Green Katan Silk Saree — Cut Work Booti
Cut work opens up the weave, so you get pure Katan silk at a fraction of the weight. The sensible choice for an April function.
₹36,000.00
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Katan Silk · First Banarasi
Maroon Katan Silk Saree — Kadwa Meena Booti
Same pure Katan silk and same real zari as the pieces above — the price difference is motif coverage, not material quality.
₹28,000.00
Shop NowWhy Panaya
What you are actually buying
Power-loom copies are sold as "Banarasi" every day, in every city. Here is how ours differ — and how to check for yourself.
Three certifications, not a sticker
The GI tag confirms Varanasi origin, the Silk Mark confirms pure mulberry silk, and the Handloom Mark confirms hand weaving. We can show you the registration for any saree you are considering.
No middlemen between you and the karigar
We work with the same weaving families in Lallapura, Madanpura, Alaipura and Jaitpura across four generations. Ask which household wove your saree and we will tell you.
Handwoven, with the marks to prove it
One saree takes two weeks to a month and a half on a pit loom. Turn it over: slightly raised threads and small variations between motifs are the signature of hand weaving, and a machine copy has neither.
Zari that ages instead of shedding
Genuine zari feels faintly rough and metallic and darkens gently over years of wear. Plastic-coated imitation feels slippery and leaves a gold tint on your fingers.
A video call from the workshop
With no counter in Salem, this is how we close the distance: the drape, the zari and the true colour shown in daylight over WhatsApp video, plus extra photographs of any detail you ask about.
Priced by the weave, not the postcode
You pay the same in Salem as a buyer standing in our Varanasi showroom. Shipping across India is free, and the price reflects the silk, the zari and the hours on the loom — nothing else.
Where the money goes
What each price band actually buys you
The most common question we get from Salem is the fairest one: why does one saree cost ₹3,000 and another ₹95,000 when both are sold as "Banarasi"? Here is the honest breakdown, including the bands where we are not the right answer.
Under ₹8,000Not real Banarasi
Art silk or polyester with plastic-coated zari, woven on a power loom in a few hours. It can look convincing in a photograph, and it is a perfectly reasonable thing to buy — but it is not handwoven, not pure silk, and the numbers cannot work otherwise. Yarn and labour alone cost more than that.
₹8,000 – ₹20,000The blurred middle
Blended silk, semi-silk or handloom with lightly tested zari. Some genuine value exists here, and a good Elampillai soft silk sits in this range honestly. Be careful of anything in this band claiming heavy Kadwa work in pure Katan — that combination does not survive the arithmetic.
₹21,000 – ₹40,000Entry handloom
Genuine handwoven silk with real zari begins here. Kora, Georgette, Organza and cut-work Katan, with booti-level motif coverage. Same silk and same zari as our expensive pieces — less of the loom time, because there is less pattern to build.
₹40,000 – ₹70,000Mid-weight Katan
Pure Katan silk with dense Kadwa booti, Tanchui or Meena work. Three to four weeks on a pit loom. This is where most first-time buyers land, and where a saree starts genuinely functioning as something you hand down.
₹70,000 and aboveFull jaal & Shikargah
Full-body jaal, Shikargah hunting scenes, heavy Meena colour work — five to six weeks of one weaver's time, motif by motif. You are paying for loom hours and skill, not for a brand name or a shop's rent.
Where we would send you elsewhere
If you need a saree for daily wear, for a temple visit in the heat, or something you will not mind treating casually, do not buy a Banarasi. Buy a good soft silk from a weaver you trust near home — you have plenty of them, and it will serve you better. Ours are for the occasions you will still be looking at photographs of in thirty years.
Salem, specifically
Two weaving towns, the same problem
Elampillai and Varanasi have more in common than either would guess. Both are weaving towns where the loom used to be in the front room of the house. Both have watched power looms multiply in the same lanes as the handlooms, because silk yarn is expensive and hand weaving is slow. Both have families in which the older generation weaves and the younger one is not sure it can afford to. We do not raise this to score a point against anyone in Elampillai — it is the same squeeze, 2,000 kilometres apart, and the only real defence on either side is buyers who can tell the difference and are willing to pay for it.
Which is where the two traditions separate. Elampillai soft silks are built for wearability and value: light, comfortable, quick to drape, priced so a household can own several. A Banarasi Katan is built for the opposite job — heirloom brocade in pure mulberry silk with real zari, where a Kadwa weave means every motif is made separately by hand. A Banarasi Saree is not a replacement for what Salem already weaves well. It is what you reach for when the occasion is the muhurtham, the reception, or the saree that gets passed to a daughter.
One practical note on timing: Salem gets seriously hot from March through June, and plenty of muhurtham dates fall right in it. For those months, cut-work Katan, Kora and tissue carry the same richness with far less weight. Save the full Kadwa and Shikargah pieces for evening ceremonies, indoor halls, or a Yercaud function where the hill does the work for you.
- MuhurthamHeavy Kadwa or Shikargah Katan silk in maroon, red or deep green.
- Reception & nichayatharthamTissue silk and lighter Katan — luminous under hall lighting, easy to wear.
- Temple functions & DeepavaliKora silk with fine booti in cream, brown and gold.
- Summer day functionsCut-work Katan and Kora — pure silk, a fraction of the weight.
- Seer varisai & giftingA certified handwoven saree sent with its certification papers, packed for presentation.
In their words
What buyers tell us
★★★★★
“The GI certification is what made me trust them. I had the saree checked by a local weaver as well and he confirmed it is genuine Banarasi.”
★★★★★
“I wasn't sure how a tissue silk saree would drape and I'm so pleasantly surprised. Light on the body but rich in look — perfect for a summer wedding.”
★★★★★
“I ordered from the pictures and it looked better in person. The booti work is fine and neat — I'll be ordering again for my sisters.”
Questions from Salem
Before you order
Do you have a Banarasi saree shop in Salem?
No — we are a weaving house in Varanasi, not a Salem retailer, and we would rather say that plainly than let you assume otherwise. What we offer instead is a live WhatsApp video call from the workshop, where you can see the drape, the zari and the true colour in daylight, ask for close-ups of the pallu, border or reverse of the fabric, and have our team walk you through the handloom checks before you commit. The saree then ships direct from the loom to your address in Salem.
Do you deliver Banarasi sarees to Salem, and how long does it take?
Yes. We ship to every pin code in Salem and across the district, including Fairlands, Hasthampatti, Suramangalam, Ammapet, Alagapuram, Shevapet, Gugai and Kondalampatti, as well as Omalur, Attur, Mettur, Sankagiri and Yercaud. Orders are dispatched from our Varanasi workshop and usually reach Salem in 3–4 working days. Shipping is free across India.
How is a Banarasi saree different from an Elampillai silk saree?
They are made for different purposes. Elampillai soft silks are woven for wearability and value — light, comfortable, quick to drape, and priced so a family can own several. A Banarasi Katan is heirloom brocade: pure mulberry silk with real zari, where each motif in a Kadwa weave is built separately by hand and a single saree can take a weaver six weeks. One is meant to be worn often; the other is meant to outlive you. Most Salem households have good reason to own both.
Why does a real Banarasi saree cost so much more than a power-loom one?
Because almost all of the price is loom time and raw material. A power loom produces a saree in a few hours from art silk and polyester-coated zari. A handwoven Katan takes 15 to 45 days on a pit loom, in pure mulberry silk with real metallic zari, with a karigar paid for every one of those days. Below about ₹8,000, the numbers cannot work for genuine silk and real zari — whatever the listing says.
How do I check that a Banarasi saree is genuine handloom before ordering?
Turn the saree over. On real handloom the reverse looks close to the front, with slightly raised threads, a few loose ends and small variations between motifs; a power-loom copy has a flat, printed-looking back with identical repeats. Real zari feels faintly rough and metallic and does not shed colour, while imitation zari feels slippery and can leave a gold tint on your fingers. Every Panaya saree also carries GI certification, the Silk Mark and the Handloom Mark, and we will walk you through all of these checks on video before you buy.
How far ahead should I order for a Salem wedding?
Six to eight weeks for a muhurtham date, especially in the peak Tamil wedding months. A heavy Kadwa or Shikargah saree takes between two weeks and a month and a half on the loom and cannot be rushed, and the best pieces in each lot are taken first. If your date is closer than that, message us on WhatsApp and we will tell you honestly what is finished and ready to dispatch.
Woven in Varanasi · Delivered in Salem
Find the saree you will keep
Browse the full collection of handwoven Katan, Kora, Tissue, Organza and Georgette silk — or tell us the occasion and the date, and we will shortlist three pieces for you.
Also delivering to Coimbatore, Madurai, Chennai and Bengaluru .