New Delhi, Aug. 15 -- Corporate lawyer-turned-textile designer Vinay Narkar has travelled the length and breadth of the country researching different weaves. However, he particularly remembers his visit to Achalpur, a town near Vidarbha, some years ago when he sat in the humble home of an 85-year-old weaver. The latter pointed to a joth sari and remarked that he had first started weaving this style as a 15-year-old in the same house. The nearly-extinct handwoven sari is now being revived after months of travelling from village to village to understand its provenance and authenticity.

The joth is a cotton sari with woven silk borders comprising multiple narrow borders with different patterns or motifs, including an arrowhead motif called ...