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Kota in Rajasthan, India is the home of the famous Kota Doria saris made in small villages around the Kota city. "Kota Doria" is a super transparent yet stable cotton or cotton/silk weave consisting of varied guages of yarn, creating an almost graph like pattern called khats (squares formed between the different thicknesses of fibers). The intermittent heavier guage yarns give the fabric enough weight and lateral stability to fall very gracefully, yet it is incredibly airy and transparent. Generally, these pieces are worn in the heat of summer.

The chequered weave of a Kota sari is a prized possession of many women. The gossamer-fine fabric Kota dorias are the finest weaves in India - so fine that they are almost weightless. The spinning, dyeing and weaving are done by skilled artisans and it takes many men hours to do so. The Kota region's craft is exquisite in its perfection. The Kota Doria weave is very special; the warp and the weft use a combination of threads creating a fine chequered pattern where the cotton provides firmness while the silk lends the gossamer finish to the fabric.

Besides the chequered pattern, there are other weaves in complicated designs in a combination of silk and cotton. The standard Kota doria yardage, in sari width, is always woven in white and later dyed in different colours. Some of the weaves also have a narrow border edged with Zari. In the case of saris with designs, the threads are dyed prior to weaving. Ideal for hot summer, this is a muslin fabric woven with alternating threads of silk and cotton in both warp and weft in an open weave. More than 1200 weavers are involved in this art. These karigars, however, say that this art form faces a serious threat from technologically advanced power looms.

For economy, most weavers insist on producing a minimum of three saris of the same design as their looms can accommodate that many at a time. A weaver normally takes a whole day to set up the threads, which is a very complicated process. These weavers do everything from making the patterns and designs to dyeing the yarn, by hand. It takes about a week to complete three saris in the basic doria.