महेश्वरी बुनाई (Maheshwari Bunai)
Maheshwari is a handwoven silk-cotton textile from Maheshwar, a riverside temple town on the Narmada in Khargone district, Madhya Pradesh. Developed in the 18th century under the patronage of Rani Ahilyabai Holkar of the Holkar dynasty — one of history's most remarkable instances of a ruler personally designing a craft tradition — Maheshwari is characterized by a reversible weave structure, a silk warp with cotton weft (or mixed), a distinctive five-stripe or check border (the 'Maheshwari border'), and a matte-silk surface without the high sheen of Banarasi or Kanchipuram. The tradition is managed today in part by the Rehwa Society, a social enterprise founded in 1979 to revive the near-extinct craft, making it one of the few traditions in the database with a documented, successful revival history.
Risk level: Endangered · Not inscribed; GI Tag 2005
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