Brocade is the cloth Banaras dreams in gold. Its very name carries that dream — and it's the name we took for ourselves.
✨ Fun fact: “Kamkhwab” can be read as kam (scarcely) + khwab (dream) — “a dream one rarely sees” — which is just how rare and precious real gold brocade once was.
If you've ever wondered where the name Khinkhwab comes from, the answer is woven into the history of Banaras itself. The heavy, gold-shot brocade the city is famous for has a name of its own — kinkhab, also written kamkhwab or kimkhab — and it is one of the loveliest words in Indian textile.
A cloth woven from a dream
The word is usually unpicked two ways, and both are beautiful. Read it as kin (golden) and khab (dream), and it means a golden dream. Read it as kam (scarcely) and khwab (dream), and it means a fabric so fine you would rarely see it even in a dream. Either way the sense is the same: cloth at the very edge of the possible.
In plain terms, kinkhab is the richest Banaras brocade — silk so densely woven with gold and silver zari that the base almost disappears. The English word brocade comes from the Latin brocare, “to prick” — a nod to the way the pattern is thrust through the cloth, which is why brocade is sometimes described as loom embroidery. (For the full family of Banarasi weaves, see our guide to Banarasi weaves.)
The three families of Banaras brocade
Traditionally, the brocades of Banaras were sorted into three great families — a simple map that still helps make sense of the whole field:
- Zari brocades — the gold-and-silver group. This is where kinkhab sits, worked so heavily in metal thread that little silk shows, alongside the lighter baftas (also called pot-than), where gold is used more sparingly against coloured silk.
- Amru brocades — brocade without the gold. Here the patterns are raised in coloured silk on silk, with no zari at all; the much-loved Tanchoi belongs to this family.
- Abirawan brocades — the light, airy group, including cutwork brocades and tarbana (cloth woven with a zari weft for a tissue-like shimmer). The name echoes ab-e-rawan, “flowing water.”
A cloth of kings — and of wealth
For most of its history, brocade this fine was treated as a form of wealth in its own right. A real-zari kinkhab was woven with actual silver and gold, so it was valued like jewellery — bought for weddings, kept in the family, handed down. The Mughal court prized it; queens and emperors wore it; and Banaras built its global name on it. (We tell that longer story in our history of the Banarasi saree, and explain the metal thread itself in what zari is.)
At Khinkhwab
We chose the name Khinkhwab because it is, quite literally, what we make: the golden dream of Banaras, woven by hand. Our Khinkhwab Gold collection keeps the oldest tradition alive — real-zari brocade woven as it was centuries ago — and you'll find the wider world of brocade across our Banarasi sarees.
Frequently asked questions
What does kinkhab (kamkhwab) mean?
It's the name for the richest Banaras gold brocade. The word is read either as kin (golden) + khab (dream) — a “golden dream” — or as kam (scarcely) + khwab (dream), a fabric so fine it is rarely seen even in dreams.
Is brocade the same as a Banarasi saree?
Brocade is the technique — patterns woven in with an extra, often metallic, thread. A Banarasi saree may be a heavy gold brocade like kinkhab, a silk-on-silk amru, or a lighter cloth; brocade is the heart of the tradition, but not the whole of it.
What is the difference between kinkhab and amru?
Kinkhab is woven densely with gold and silver zari. Amru is brocade woven entirely in coloured silk, with no zari — the same raised patterning, but without the metallic shine.
What is bafta?
Bafta (or pot-than) is a lighter zari brocade: mostly coloured silk, with gold and silver used sparingly rather than all over. It's the easy-to-wear, everyday face of the brocade family.
Sources & further reading
Tarannum Fatma Lari, Textiles of Banaras: Yesterday and Today (Varanasi: Indica Books, 2010); Dream of Weaving: Study & Documentation of Banaras Sarees and Brocades (Textiles Committee, Government of India, 2007); Rai Anand Krishna & Vijay Krishna, Banaras Brocades (Crafts Museum, 1966).
