Podhuru Khaddar

Ponduru Khaddar Sarees — Where Every Thread Tells a Story

In and around the small town of Ponduru in Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh, rural women still spin fine-count cotton yarn by hand — beginning from the very first steps of ginning and carding, using traditional manual tools in their own homes. The yarn then travels to weavers in the same neighbourhood, who transform it into cloth on handlooms. This is not a supply chain. It is a community.

What makes Ponduru Khadi truly rare is that the entire process — from growing the native cotton to making the yarn to weaving the fabric — happens within a radius of just a few kilometres.  It is one of the last living examples of what a truly self-sufficient textile tradition looks like.

The cotton cleaning begins with the jawbone of the Valuga fish — an indigenous tool used to remove impurities and lend the cotton its characteristic silky fineness. The yarn is then spun on a single-spindle charkha, one of the only places in India where this ancient spinning method is still in use. 

The result is a fabric that feels like a second skin. Cool in summer, gentle against the body, and more beautiful with every wash.

Mahatma Gandhi personally endorsed Ponduru Khadi — he wore it, wrote about it, and championed it as the finest example of what handspun India could produce. Acharya Vinoba Bhave was once gifted a Ponduru khadi dhoti — three metres long — so fine it folded into a matchbox. 

Today, the number of people choosing to weave in Ponduru is declining. The meticulous, time-consuming process is not always matched by fair earnings  — making every saree you choose a quiet but powerful act of keeping this craft alive.

When you drape a Ponduru Khadi saree, you are wearing something spun at a doorstep at dawn, woven over days of patience, and carried forward by a community that has kept this knowledge alive through generations. It deserves to be worn, loved, and spoken about.