Test for pure Kancheepuram Silk

A couple of years ago Amma, niece, Brittany (family friend of my sister in the USA) and I visited my sister staying at Chennai. We decided to go sightseeing to Vellore and on the way visit the temples at Kanchi. Since Brittany wanted to have a look at the weaving of Kanjeevaram silk sarees, we requested the taxi driver to show us a weaver in work at Kanchi which is famous for the Kanccheepuram silk sarees- hand woven pure silk sarees with motiffs made of silver zari dipped in pure gold.

Though there were many shops along the way, we were taken to one 'good' shop by the driver. I told the salesman that we were not interested in buying but wanted to see the weaving of a saree. He took us to the first floor and we saw their craftsman weaving a beautiful pink saree with gold motiffs and border. Man, was it beautiful! I showed Brittany the gold thread and the test for its purity.

Weaving silk using the loom

Pure silk thread, outer zari, innermost red thread

Having satisfied our curiosity, we decided to leave, when the salesman forced us to just have a 'look' at their collection of sarees. We decided to look but not buy.

The salesman began showing us the cheapest of their lot INR 800. Beautiful sarees, the zari/motiffs were not pure he said( he already knew I knew about the test for pure Zari) but insisted the silk was pure. The saree was not expensive, was beautiful and silk 'pure', so I decided on seeing a few. I somehow felt the silk needed testing. Brittany and Prama(niece) were excited to see the test too.I first asked the salesman if he was sure the silk was pure. He was dead sure that  the silk was pure but insisted the zari was not. (I was speaking in  Hindi, had worn a Salwar kameez so he assumed I was not a south Indian:))

I asked him if he could get me a matchbox, he was surprised. I said I wanted to test the silk. He brought one, asked me if I really wanted to test and began drawing out loose thread for the test (lots of thread actually:)

All this attracted attention and all the sales(wo)men and customers gathered around us. He struck the match and held it to the fibres of 'pure silk' and the fibres burnt quickly and formed a  hard, shiny lump and could not be powdered!

The salesman in action

The salesman hung his head in shame. He was trying to sell a saree which was 100% synthetic as pure silk!

One could be easily fooled by such salesman, return home and spend many sleepless nights worrying about the money wasted on expensive fake silk.

In Chennai at big showrooms like Nalli's, Kumarans etc we asked to be shown pure silk saree and were shown sarees with silver zari (22K gold plated) and pure silk. We were also informed that there were cheaper versions(showed them too) which were pure silk but with 18K gold.

Here is how you test a Kancheepuram saree: 22K gold plated silver zari and Pure silk

For the silk:

Collect a couple of threads from the warp and weft from a bundle and light one end. When the thread stops burning, you will see a tiny ball of ash. Gently press with fingers and it will crumble into a powder and smell of burnt hair if it is a natural fiber-silk/wool/hair.

Extracting silk thread

Extracting cotton fiber

Carefully burn fiber

If it has a mixture of natural fibers, say cotton, jute, then it will burn but not crumble nor form a ball at the end.

If it is a 

synthetic fiber, the fibers will quickly burn and leave a ball/ lump of burnt fibers which will be hard, shiny and you will not be able to powder it.It will not smell of burnt hair.

Fibres -burnt (cotton), crumbly/ash (silk), lump(synthetic)

For the zari:

Find a loose bit of zari . Pure zari has a red silk thread covered with silver dipped in 22K gold. So when you pull out the gold covering, the inner thread is red irrespective of the saree colour.If the thread is white, then it is not a pure zari.

Gently pull off outer gold thread

Red thread within gold zari irrespective of colour of cloth

I guess the next time when buying a pure silk Kanjeevaram saree you will be fully prepared!

Note:

 A friend was fooled to buying a string of pearls which was entirely fake (not even cultured). Here is how to test pearl.

Gently bite the surface of pearl. If it feels gritty, it is pearl -cultured/natural. If it feels smooth, it is fake.

 A real  polished coral appears to be with flaws-tiny holes and cracks and not flawless.

Many thanks to Brittany for providing me the real pictures of our adventure in Kanchipuram!

Thanks to Pavan I could click pictures of all the tests.

Thank you Pramod for inspiring me to write this.

Mantra that cured my bed wetting

The feeling was intense. My bladder was full and the pressure was unbearable. I woke up, went to the toilet and slowly began to relieve myself. Wow! what a relief. But half way through, I felt warm and wet and woke up with a start. Oh no! Not again! I urinated in my bed. 

Amma and Appa have 4 children and being the youngest of them all I was pampered a lot. At the same time was an object of my brothers pranks (which kept him occupied). I was 7 years old and had no friends but my sisters and brother filled up the lacuna. I had never stopped wetting my bed at night. My mother tried all sorts of home remedies suggested by her sisters, neighbours, friends, doctors, books...... some of the remedies were easy- consuming soaked raisins, reducing fluid intake in the evenings, and some a little complicated-spread raw rice under sheets at night, cook the next day and feed me. The result, I woke up in the morning with a nightgown or bed sheet reeking of urine. I do not remember a single day when my mother punished me for it. Everyone in the family was supportive and protective to the extent when watching the TV, if there was even a mildly scary scene sisters or brother would cover my eyes and ears till the scene shifted. Bedtime stories were not scary either  (occasionally my brother would tell me a story which was really scary and run away when Amma/ sisters appeared at the door, though I used to enjoy the story the nightmares that followed all through the night led me to urinate in my bed). Amma and Appa would even wake me twice at night and take me to the toilet, but I would still be wet in the morning.

Finally, one night Amma sat beside me and said to me, " let us chant a powerful mantra before you go to bed every night. I am sure this will help you". By then I was ready to try anything. She asked me to fold my hands (as in a Namaste) and repeat after her (translates) "I will not urinate in my bed tonight" 10 times and then asked me to sleep.

Next morning, I woke up and surprisingly had not urinated in bed. Amma and sisters, brother were eagerly waiting to see the results were overjoyed. I was extremely happy as it was the first time I had not wet my bed and woken up not feeling guilty. So the 'mantra' became a bedtime ritual and that was the end of my bed wetting at home.

After a few days I had to visit a cousins thread ceremony and my mother sent me with a cousin the previous day promising to be there the next morning. I was really apprehensive about staying overnight and being put to shame 'just in case I wet my bed'. My aunt who was aware of my 'weakness' put me to bed with her grandaughter of my age with the same 'weakness'. When the lights were off, I folded my hands, silently chanted my mantra and went to sleep. What happened that morning changed my life forever. My aunt was surprised to see that her grandaughter had wet her bed and I had not. I proudly told her that my  Amma had taught me a powerful 'mantra' which helped cure me. It helped cure her granddaughter and many more too. Thankyou Amma for this wonderful 'mantra'.

Note: I have asked two people I know (with motion sickness) to try a modified version of this  mantra/ autosuggestion before their journey as many times as needed.

 Also suggested to plug their ears with a tiny piece of cotton applied with a drop of cold pressed sesame seed oil and keep inhaling a kerchief in which a drop of peppermint oil has been placed. They reported that their journey was much better(without nausea and vomiting which was the main complaint when travelling long distances in a bus)