‘Swaramadhuri’, a ‘singing silk saree’, embedded with eight micro speakers on its border has caught the fancy of many silk traders down South.
Conceptualised by P. Mohan, a small-time designer in the Dharmavaram town in Anantpur district of Andhra Pradesh, the beautiful drape has micro speakers on its border and a small digital music player at the ‘Pallu’ which can play as many as 200 songs continuously for a stretch of four hours. Mr. Mohan has used a 2-GB memory chip to support the device on the saree.
Armed with a diploma in Fashion Design, he is said to have toiled for two months to come out with this unique design, which has piqued the interest of silk traders down South.
B. Datta Shiva, the master weaver, who purchased the rights of the saree, said, “Orders are pouring from reputed showrooms from Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh for supply.”
“It took nearly a whole month to make one saree. Ten members of our unit continuously worked and finished it. It can play music for four hours non-stop, without disturbing others,” Mr. Shiva said.
Being strong disciples of Sri Ganapati Sachidananda Swami, the duo has included musical compositions of the Swamiji in the saree.
The saree will be put up for open auction in Dharmavaram on February 14 and Mr. Shiva is expecting a good response for this design.
The enterprising designer had earlier created sarees with small LED bulbs which he called ‘lighting sarees’.
He also made silk sarees using sandalwood. “There is a great demand for the sandalwood saree. We get orders from all over the South. But we are unable to meet the demand because of the time-consuming process of making the saree,” Mr. Shiva said.
The fragrance of sandalwood is said to remain permanently on the saree, as Mohan uses pure sandalwood purchased from an emporium owned by the Karnataka Government, he said.
With a whooping Rs 300 crore-market for silk sarees and dress material, Dharmavaram weavers have little doubt that Swaramadhuri will sing another successful tune.
