From Bengal With Love, World’s Longest Saree In Tricolour

Biren Basak pays tribute to his country by making the world’s longest saree in tricolour.

Biren Basak, maker of the longest saree with his team. 

(Photo: Gurvinder Singh/The Quint)

A saree trader in Nadia district of West Bengal has tried to pay his tribute to the motherland by making the longest saree in the world.

It is my tribute to my motherland and all those who sacrificed their lives for our freedom. I wanted to make my country proud and there was no other way than to make the longest saree with the colours of the national flag. Being a saree manufacturer, I couldn’t think of any other way to do a bit for my nation.

Biren Basak, a saree trader

From Handloom to Power loom

After having conceived the idea, Basak discussed it with his son Abhinaba and his team of weavers, who immediately agreed to his plan. But it was not possible to weave such a long saree through handloom. It was unanimously decided to make it on power loom.

People untangling the saree.

The work started at Basak’s power loom unit at Krishnanagar, around 40 kilometers from Phulia in Nadia, West Bengal on 1 September 2017.

We bought around 450 kg of yarn from Gujarat for making the saree. The work started in September, last year. Around 30 weavers were involved in the process. A sum of around Rs 3.5 lakh has been spent on the manufacturing

Raju Basak, the supervisor at the loom

An Entry into Guinness Book of World Records?

Biren Basak and his team holding the longest saree. 

At present, the Guinness record for the longest saree is being held by Sandip Sagale, IAS Collector and District Magistrate at Bharuch in Gujarat. His record of 3,055 m long saree was achieved on 6 March 2017.

Basak’s saree measures 3,850 meters, which is almost equal to the length of 700 sarees.