What is Madurai ?
Madurai has been a textile centre since ages. The streets and lanes are lined with shops and tailors offering readymade as well as fabric material manufactured in Madurai. Madurai is famous for "Sungadi", a fine-count, zari-bordered, fabric painted cotton saree. It was originally hand made, but now the dots are printed. Sourashtra community was specialising in that. The lovely Sungundi Sarees are in great demand among Indian women. These are handloom sarees of excellent quality. The name of Chinnalapatti sarees is synonymous with Madurai. Chinnalapatti a famous historical village 12 km from Dindigul, is well-known for its rich and traditional cotton sarees. Sarees Produced in Chinnalapatti are famous throughout India. More than 1000 families are engaged in this Industry. Chinnalapatti had only been weaving cotton sarees for the past 100 years. Now they produce sungudi sarees with zari borders in various designs and art-silk sarees. Sungudi industry provides livelihood for nearly 50,000 people in chinnalapatti.