What do we hold on to when someone is no longer around? Sometimes, it is their voice, a story we have heard a hundred times, or something they left behind that makes them feel a little closer.
For S. Aishwarya and S. Saundarya, the sarees worn by their great-grandmother M.S. Subbulakshmi and grandmother Dr Radha Viswanathan offer just that. The two women are remembered for their contributions to Carnatic music, but the sisters’ memories of them also come from family life, where their discipline, simplicity and devotion were as significant as their musical achievements.
Through Suswaram, a collaboration with Bengaluru-based South Indian silk label Aikyatha, the sisters revisit these memories through Kanjivaram sarees. The collection has two parts, Archival and Raga. The first recreates seven sarees worn by Subbulakshmi and Radha Viswanathan, while the second introduces five new designs inspired by Carnatic ragas. Together, the collections look at two ways of engaging with tradition: preserving existing textiles and interpreting the music that has shaped the family’s life. And they’re perfect for wedding functions.
The idea for the Archival collection began with a question about Subbulakshmi’s signature blue saree. For Kaushik Sunku, co-founder and director of Aikyatha, understanding the story behind the colour meant going beyond photographs. A conversation with Mr Shrinivasan led to the family allowing the team to study the original sarees worn by Subbulakshmi and Radha Viswanathan.
“Seeing would help us make,” Kaushik says.
Examining the garments in person gave the team a reference for recreating the sarees, but the project was also an opportunity to showcase the variety of Kanjivaram weaving. The seven selected pieces represent different aspects of the craft, from striped kattams and temple borders to contrasting borders and the korvai technique, which creates distinctive combinations of colours and motifs. The collection also includes the iconic Kalakshetra saree in Subbulakshmi’s signature blue.
“Each saree represents a different aspect of the Kanjivaram tradition and its craftsmanship,” says Yeshwanth Sanku, co-founder and director of Aikyatha. “We wanted people to look beyond the silk itself and appreciate the thought, skill and tradition woven into every piece.”
Recreating the originals required close attention to detail, particularly colour. Kanjivarams often use dual tones, and a saree can look different in a photograph depending on the light. The colour of a garment worn decades ago can also change with age, making it difficult to reproduce the original shade accurately.
For Aishwarya and Saundarya, the value of revisiting these garments goes beyond the craftsmanship. The sarees offer another way to connect with the two women they grew up hearing about and whose music remained part of their family life. Yet only around ten to twelve sarees remain from Subbulakshmi and Radha Viswanathan’s wardrobes. Most had been given away to people around them or donated to charity.
“We feel this says so much about who they were. Despite the immense respect and affection they received, they lived without pretence and never allowed their achievements to define how they lived,” say Aishwarya and Saundarya.
They also remember Subbulakshmi for her humility, discipline and devotion, qualities they associate with Radha Viswanathan as well. For the sisters, the surviving sarees are reminders of the women behind the public legacy, and of the values that continued within their family.
The Archival collection looks back at garments that already existed. The Raga collection, by contrast, begins with music and asks how its moods and qualities might be expressed through weaving.
The five designs draw on Saveri, Shankarabharanam, Kalyani, Kambhoji and Bhairavi. According to Kaushik, the ragas offered direct and indirect associations with colour, which the team explored before translating them into motifs. Brundha Ballipi, Aikyatha’s lead designer, led the visual interpretation, with the team deciding which designs best expressed the character of each raga.
Shankarabharanam inspired motifs of a dancing Shiva and the flowing Ganga, while Kalyani’s expansive and radiant quality informed designs featuring temple gopurams and motifs drawn from Subbulakshmi’s personal aesthetic. Rather than simply assigning colours to musical moods, the team explored how the qualities of each raga could inform the designs.
For Aishwarya and Saundarya, this connection between music and textiles comes naturally. “Music can move you, evoke an emotion and stay with you long after you have heard it. In much the same way, the colours, motifs and drape of a saree can move you when you wear it,” they say.
Both music and weaving require years of learning and craftsmanship, and both can communicate something difficult to put into words. The Raga collection brings these two forms together, turning an auditory experience into something tactile while drawing on the traditions that inform it.
The move from recreating existing sarees to designing new ones also reflects a larger question about how traditions can remain relevant to younger generations. For the sisters, preserving a legacy does not mean keeping it unchanged. They see culture and music as an ongoing conversation between the past, present and future, with every generation adding its own experiences and interpretations.
“We truly believe that culture and music are constantly being created. They are a sum of the past, the present and the future. Tradition gives us a foundation, but every generation brings its own experiences and interpretations to it. That is what keeps a culture alive,” they say.
They see this evolution in Kanjivaram weaving, too. Its design vocabulary has changed over time, even as familiar elements such as mallipoo motifs, mookuthi patterns, South Indian jewellery and the saree itself remain recognisable. Contemporary interpretations, in their view, do not have to come at the expense of tradition.
That belief also shapes how they think about Subbulakshmi’s personal style. Her signature blue saree became iconic, but the sisters believe its appeal came from the natural way she carried herself rather than any attempt to follow trends.
“M.S. Amma was iconic, not just for her music, which reached audiences across India and the world, but also for the way she carried herself. She was never trying to be someone else or trying too hard,” they say.
Through Suswaram, the sisters hope younger audiences will see Kanjivaram sarees, classical music and inherited cultural practices as things they can make their own, rather than traditions that belong exclusively to the past.