Three Generations. One Gaddi. Since 1969.
Where it began
In 1969, a young man named Sri Shiv Bhagwan Poddar set out to do something that should have been impossible. With no funding and no inheritance — only conviction — he began building a Banarasi silk gaddi from nothing.
He didn't begin with looms or ledgers. He began by sitting beside the weavers of Banaras, learning the craft the way it has always been passed down — patiently, in person, thread by thread — until he understood exactly what it takes to weave a true Banarasi saree. On that understanding, and on trust with the hands that wove for him, he built his gaddi.
A family, generation after generation
Shiv Bhagwan's three sons grew up inside that world, and one by one they joined him at the loom. Among them is our father, Ashish Poddar, who carried the work forward and, to this day, leads our gaddi.
We — Vatsal and Vanshika Poddar — are the next generation, and we work under our father, learning this craft the same way he learned it from his: at his side, every day. Nothing here has skipped a generation. The same family that sat with the weavers in 1969 still stands behind every saree we send you.
Our weavers are family
Our bond with our karigars isn't a supply chain — it spans generations. Their families and ours have grown up together in the lanes of Banaras; we have been part of their lives, and they of ours. That closeness is why every piece we send you is genuinely handloom, genuinely Banaras, and genuinely fair to the people who wove it.
Banaras is in us
We are not a marketplace that sources Banarasi sarees — we are a Banaras family. This city, its culture, its craft is woven into who we are. It's why we can look at a weave and read its story, and why we understand this textile the way only those born into it can.
Direct from our gaddi to you
When you buy from Hikayat, nothing stands between you and the loom. You get true source pricing — the honest price of a handwoven Banarasi saree, straight from the gaddi that has protected this craft for over half a century. One family. Three generations. Every thread accountable.