“I made a little story for the couple,” M Dharmaraj tells us, opening out a maroon silk sari he designed. His daughter-in-law wore it on her wedding day, and Dharmaraj has preserved it at his home office in Sirumugai, a silk hub 38 kilometres from Coimbatore. The sari is what is popularly known as the ‘Manamakkal’ or bride-and-groom sari. Its defining feature is a large portrait of the couple woven in golden zari across the pallu. Dharmaraj has added special elements to his daughter-in-law’s sari by incorporating several portraits of the couple so as to tell a story.
“I arranged their pictures in a sequence that depicts their life together,” he smiles. The panel is on the sari’s border and the story starts with the bride all decked up, waiting for her big day. She is then joined by her husband, and in the next photo, they exchange rings, following which they are all smiles. “I did it as a surprise,” recalls the 59-year-old. The sari, a glittering beauty with silver brocade work all over, cost ₹ 1,35,000.
