জামদানি শাড়ির দাম কত — কীসে দাম বাড়ে, কীসে কমে

Why one word covers such a range· একই নামে এত দামের তফাত কেন

Two sarees can both be honest handloom Jamdani and sit ten times apart in price. Nothing about the name is being stretched: one was woven in a few days on a coarser cotton with motifs spaced wide, the other took a weaver and an apprentice months on hundred-count yarn with the ground barely visible between the figures. The price is a record of that time and that thread.

So the question to ask is not "what does a Jamdani cost" but "what am I looking at". Five things decide it, and every one of them can be seen or asked about before you pay.

Thread count· সুতার কাউন্ট

Jamdani is woven on cotton yarn graded by count — 40s and 60s are everyday, 80s is fine, 100s and above is the top of the trade. A higher count is a thinner thread, which means more threads in the same inch, a lighter and more translucent cloth, and far more hours to weave the same length. Hold the body up to a window: the finer the count, the more light comes through and the softer it falls.

Ask the shop for the count. A shop that buys from weavers knows it; a shop that buys from a wholesaler may not, and that silence is itself information.

How dense the motifs are· নকশা কতটা ঘন

Every motif in a Jamdani is put in by hand with a separate supplementary thread, one row at a time. A saree with scattered butis across an open ground is a week's work; one where the figures nearly touch, with a heavy pallu and a wide border, is months. Look at how much plain ground is left — that gap is the single biggest reason two sarees differ in price.

Dense is not automatically better. An open ground on a fine count is a beautiful, wearable everyday saree; a dense one is a wedding or a gift. Buy for the occasion, not for the number of flowers.

Cotton, half-silk or silk· সুতি, হাফসিল্ক না সিল্ক

The classic Dhakai Jamdani is all cotton. Half-silk (silk warp, cotton weft) adds a gentle sheen and a firmer drape and usually costs more for the same weaving. Full silk Jamdani is rarer and dearer still. None of the three is the "real" one and the others fakes — they are different cloths, and the price follows the yarn as much as the weaving.

Where it was woven· কোন তাঁতে বোনা

The Jamdani villages of Rupganj and Sonargaon in Narayanganj are the heartland, and pieces from named weaving families there carry a premium the way a named potter's bowl does. Tangail weaves Jamdani-style sarees too — lovely, and usually gentler on the price, because the technique and the yarn differ. A shop should be able to say where a piece came from; it is a fair question.

Prints and power-loom copies· ছাপা ও মেশিনের কপি

A printed "Jamdani" is a cotton saree with the motifs printed on. A power-loom copy has the motifs woven in by a machine, perfectly repeated, with a clean back. Both are sold, both are cheaper, and both are fine to buy if the label says what they are. The problem is only when the word Jamdani is used to sell them at a handloom price. Turn the saree over: a handloom piece shows the cut ends of the motif threads on the back. Our guide to telling a real Jamdani walks through every test.

What a fair price looks like· ন্যায্য দাম কেমন

At the entry of the range you get an honest handloom cotton Jamdani on an everyday count with motifs spaced wide — a saree for office, class and family visits that will outlast several printed ones. In the middle the count rises to 80s, the motifs draw closer and the pallu fills in; this is the wedding-guest and gift band. At the top are 100-count and finer pieces with months of work in them, bought for a bride or kept for a lifetime.

We keep this guide free of numbers because prices move with cotton and with the season; the catalogue always shows the current price of each piece, and the shop will tell you on the phone which band a saree sits in and why. If a price seems low for what is claimed, the claim is usually what is wrong.