Background Siddipet is the head quarter of Siddipet District in Telangana. Legendary tales of King Vikramaditya talk of “Gollabama” as the name of a Queen. Due to some unknown reason, the King and Queen got separated and the plight of the queen was reduced to that of a milkmaid selling milk. One day the King found her selling milk, took the milk pot from her and drank some milk. As he could not recognize her instantly he enquired as to who she was and it was only then that they came to recognize each other and were then united. Based on this legend, in the mid to late 1940’s a movie by name “Gollabama” was released, and based on this, a few weavers in and around Siddipet started weaving Siddipet Gollabama Sarees. Material used The Siddipet Gollabama sarees are originally made of cotton with 60-80s yarn both in warp and weft with extra weft design in the border, body and pallu. Nowadays, cotton sarees and silk sarees are woven with 2/120s mercerized cotton and 20/22 D silk respectively. Technique applied These sarees are woven on pit loom and frame loom with extra weft gollabama motifs and geometrical designs in the border, body and pallu using traditional jala technique. Hank Sizing method is followed for sizing of singe cotton yarn. Long length warps are prepared in sectional warping machine. How to distinguish genuine Siddipet Gollabama Saree There will be gollabama motif (milk maid with a milk pot on her head and one pot on her hand), in the border/body/pallu of the sarees. Gollabamabuti motifs are woven in a straight line across the width of the saree. Motifs are woven with the use extra weft cotton yarns, no zari is applied. Source : India Handloom Brand