Ram temple inauguration: Andhra families weave 60-metre long silk saree for Seethamma

The two families from Dharmavaram in Andhra Pradesh's Sri Satyasai district have woven the 60-metre long pur silk saree weighing 16 kg over a period of four months. The families associated with handloom industry said that they consider themselves lucky that they have got an opportunity to present the gift to deity Sita as a mark of love and devotion.

Dharmavaram: Ahead of the upcoming inauguration of Ayodhya Ram Mandir in Uttar Pradesh, two families associated with handloom industry in Dharmavaram area of Sri Satyasai district in Andhra Pradesh have woven a 60-metre long silk saree for Seethamma as a token of devotion to the Hindu deity. It has taken the two handloom families from Dharmavaram four months to weave the 60-metre long saree weighing 16 kg and a width of 44 inches.

On the mega silk saree, the Hindu chant 'Jai Shri Ram' is intricately woven in thread 32,200 times in 13 different Indian languages, including Telugu, Kannada, Marathi, Odiya, Tamil, Gujarati, Konkani, Malayam, Urdu and others. The saree also has 168 pictorial depictions illustrating Lord Ram's life from the Ramayana. The saree was designed by handloom artist Nagaraju and woven on the loom by Surendranath and his son Teja. Handloom families said that they feel lucky to get a chance to gift a silk saree to Hindu deity Sita.

"From our ancestors, we have been living in the profession of handloom. We wanted to give something from us to the Rama. As part of that, I took scenes from the Ramayana and weaved images on it to present to the Ayodhya Rama temple. It took me four months to make it," -Nagaraju, an expert silk saree designer said. The pictorial representations of the Ramayana are computer generated and displayed on the fringes of the silk saree with modern technology.

The handloom workers said that the silk saree worth Rs 5 lakh is made entirely of quality silk. Before being sent to Ayodhya, the saree was put on display for the public at Dharmavaram. After the inauguration of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, Nagaraju and Nagendranath's family members plan to carry the saree to the temple.