Jamdani with all its finesse and glory finds its place in Dum Dum Park Bharat Chakra puja.

A white ethereal story, Udaan, the theme for the pandal, is about strengthening the wings of the weavers who craft the exquisite fabric.

When asked how the theme was selected, the joint secretary of the puja committee, Manoswita Banerjee, said: “It is completely the idea of our theme maker Aditi Chakrabarty. When we approached her to do our theme for this year, she had said she wanted to work on jamdani. Every woman has a jamdani in her wardrobe, so we thought it would be apt to have itas a theme and showcase its beauty.”

Aditi Chakrabarty is a designer who has extensively documented the process of weaving jamdani. She has made a documentary on the weavers in Ghoranash village in Barddhaman.

However, jamdani is originally geotagged at SouthRupshi of Narayanganj district in Bangladesh.

The Mughal emperors patronised the jamdani. During the colonial period, indigenous textiles, including jamdani, suffered at the hands of imported fabrics from the mills of Manchester.

However, in recent years, jamdani has witnessed arevival.

In 2013, the traditional art of weaving jamdaniwas declared a Unesco Intangible Cultural Heritage ofHumanity.

“Very few know about the original jamdani weave. So, I decided to showcase it,” said Aditi.

Old jamdani designs have been showcased in wooden embroidery frames.

Aditi has used the weaves of Raghavendra Das in the pandal.

During her research, Aditi had taken a lot of photographs in Ghoranash village. They have been showcased in linocut prints in the pandal.

“You could say it is a celebration of jamdani,” said the theme-maker.

A map showing where jamdani is woven both in Bangladesh and West Bengal is also shown in the pandal as are small spinning wheels with fine cotton threads that are used to weave the textile.

The idol also wears a pastel shade jamdani weave done in clay.

Textile has also found a place in another Dum Dum puja, at Dum Dum Tarun Dal which has Nil Sada as its theme.

The puja talks of the oppression by the British done in the name of indigo cultivation. The Durga idol here is shown spinning yarn