Before there was a Banarasi saree, there was Banaras — a city so old it makes history feel young. This is the place our sarees come from.
✨ Fun fact: The city has three names — Kashi (the city of light), Banaras, and Varanasi, said to come from the two rivers it sits between: the Varuna and the Assi.
Every Khinkhwab saree carries the name of a city. To understand the cloth, it helps to understand the place — because Banaras isn't only where these sarees are made. In many ways, it's what they're made of.
Older than history itself
Mark Twain, who passed through in the 1890s, put it most famously: “Benares is older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend, and looks twice as old as all of them put together.” He wasn't exaggerating by much. Varanasi is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities on earth, spoken of in the same breath as Athens, Jerusalem and Rome — a place that has stayed exactly where it is while the world turned around it for thousands of years.
The city of light
It answers to many names — the city of temples, the city of learning, the spiritual capital of India — but the loveliest is Kashi, the city of light. It sits on the banks of the Ganga, and in Hindu belief it is among the holiest places of all: a city where the river is said to wash away the sins of a lifetime, and where to die is to be released from the endless cycle of birth and rebirth. For millennia, pilgrims, poets, scholars and traders have all been drawn to the same few miles of riverbank.
Where the loom found its home
So why did the world's most celebrated silk come from here, of all places? Because everything met in Banaras. Pilgrims and royalty created a hunger for the finest cloth; trade routes brought silk, gold and new ideas; and centuries of learning and patronage gave the craft room to grow. Generation after generation of weaving families — the people we wrote about in The Many Hands Behind a Banarasi — turned that meeting point into an art form. The full timeline is in our history of the Banarasi saree; here, the point is simpler: the saree is a child of the city.
The city, woven in
Once you know Banaras, you begin to see it in the cloth. The shimmer of the river at dawn, the gold of temple spires, the colour and life of the ghats, the feeling of something ancient and alive at the very same time — all of it finds its way into the colours and motifs of a Banarasi. When you wear one, you're wearing a little of the oldest living city in the world.
Explore sarees woven in that city across our handwoven Banarasi collection.
Frequently asked questions
Why is Varanasi so famous?
Varanasi (Banaras / Kashi) is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world and one of Hinduism's holiest, on the banks of the Ganga. It's revered as a place of pilgrimage, learning and liberation — and renowned for its handwoven silk.
What's the difference between Kashi, Banaras and Varanasi?
They're three names for the same city. Kashi, “the city of light,” is the ancient sacred name; Banaras is the popular historical name; and Varanasi, the official name, is said to derive from the two rivers it lies between, the Varuna and the Assi.
Why is Varanasi famous for silk sarees?
For centuries the city drew pilgrims, royalty, traders and scholars, creating both demand for fine cloth and the means to weave it. Generations of weaving families perfected the art of silk-and-zari brocade here, making Banaras India's foremost centre for handwoven silk.
Did Mark Twain really write about Varanasi?
Yes — in his travel book Following the Equator (1897), Twain famously described Benares as older than history, tradition and legend combined.
More from Khinkhwab Diaries: the history of the Banarasi saree · the many hands behind a Banarasi · our story.
