Devi Gifted With 'World's Longest Saree '

[Guest guest]

CHENNAI (May 17, 2007): A leading garment firm in Chennai has claimed

to have woven the world's longest saree in a non-stop 18-day effort.

 

The 2,007-foot (685-metre) saree was made recently for adorning the

presiding deity of Parshwa Padmavathi Jain temple in Krishnagiri in

Tamil Nadu, said P. R. Kumar, Managing Partner of city-based Kumaran

Silks. The 'kumkum' (maroon)-coloured saree, handed over free of cost

to the temple authorities, has already been draped around the deity.

 

The Guinness Book Of World Records has registered it under the

tag " the longest saree, offered to goddess Padmavathi, " he said.

 

Kumar said it was an onerous task taking up the work, considering the

challenges that lay ahead.

 

" We thought about for a while before taking up the order but later

took it as a prestige issue and decided to go ahead, " he said.

 

" First of all, members of the Jain community are not supposed to use

silk but to give the rich look of silk, we went in for silkon, a

thread closely resembling silk, which is rarely used in weaving

sarees, " he said.

 

Kumar said his firm was given a deadline of 21 days to deliver

completed in 18 days.

 

Three experts were employed and the machine was made to run 24 hours

a day, with each of them working in eight hour shifts, Kumar said.

 

" Even a power fluctuation would result in the thread giving away

which means we have to set things again and start all over, " Kumar

said.

 

" Lest a power failure should destroy the entire process, we decided

to run the machines with the help of generators, " he added.

 

The packaging of the product was important and it was literally " on a

roll " since it started taking shape. " The only way to keep it going

was to keep it rolled, " he said.

 

Kumar said he did not wish to reveal how much money was spent on the

saree.

 

He has no qualms that the Guinness Record was credited to the temple

authorities.

 

" They perceived the idea, we only produced it, " he said with a

smile. " It was a test to our capability and we did not want to sell

it for a price since it was meant for a deity. "

 

Weaving long sarees of late has become a prestige issue among leading

textile firms in South India. Last year Kochi-based 'Seematti' had

come out with a 1,585 ft saree. In 2005, 'Pothys', another firm in

Chennai, had woven a 1,276 ft saree.

 

SOURCE: Kerala Online

URL: http://www.keralaonline.com/news/news.php?news=2709