Mangaluru: Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman was in for a pleasant surprise when a sari was handed over to her by the Admar seer at Udupi Admar Mutt where her daughter Parakala Vangmayi wedding with Pratik Doshi was solemnized last week.
The sari was sent along with a note, saying it was a GI-tagged Udupi sari — a beautiful and authentic pure cotton piece woven in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts.
The Udupi sari has been known for more than a century for its variety in terms of design, colour and durability and the one that the Admar seer choose for the minister’s daughter was made from natural dyes of indigo and ‘khata’, with embroidery.
Sari-weaving was once a flourishing industry in Udupi, providing livelihood to more than 5,000 families in the coastal region of Karnataka. However, in recent years, this traditional form of work is on the verge of extinction, with only about 45 weavers, all above the age of 60, left in the profession until around 2018.
TIO Reporter: Deepthi