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Uttar Pradesh is famed for its beautiful silks, brocades, carpets, brassware, inlay, intricate woodcarvings and furniture, ceramics, glass ware, carpets and cotton rugs called dhurries, leather goods, gold and inlaid jewellery. A trip to the Uttar Pradesh Government Emporium in Lucknow, Agra, or Delhi will give shoppers an idea of the range and variety of crafts made in the state as well as the right prices.
Chikan work is Lucknow’s famed intricately patterned hand embroidery on the finest of cotton, silk and crepes. The embroidered fabric is then stitched into traditional Indian dresses or sold as saris and fabric lengths that can be used to custom make dresses. One may go shopping for it as chikan work on cotton is the perfect thing for India’s hot and sultry summer days and nights and it can be bought either from government run emporia, women’s cooperatives or from retailers in the old and congested inner city markets of Aminabad and Chowk or from shops in the more up market Hazratganj. Aminabad and Chowk are also great places to glimpse old Lucknow, with their crowded streets and shops selling everything from kohl to attar, spices to silks.
Agra is famous for its jewellery, embroidered wall hangings, zardozi or gold and silver metal thread work, leather goods, marble artifacts inlaid with semi-precious stones including scaled down replicas of the Taj Mahal and stone sculptures. There are plenty of crafts shops, jewellery stores and emporia near the Mall, in the Sadar Bazaar and in Taj Ganj near the Taj Mahal.
People travel from across the length and breadth of India to buy Benares’s fabulous silks and brocades, essential items in every Indian bride’s trousseau. In the shopping markets of Varanasi Chowk, Godaulia, Golghar and Pilkothi, dealers and retailers stock yards and yards of excellent silks and brocades embroidered with gold and silver. Visitors can buy lengths of silk, brocade and cotton or readymade stoles and scarves. The region around Benares is well known for its wool and silk carpets and cotton dhurries, which can be bought from shops in Benares, or travel agents/ hotels can arrange a trip to the carpet belt where these can be bought directly from the carpet makers. The cognoscenti also buy musical instruments, particularly flutes and percussion instruments in Benares.
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