The traditional figured saree from the southern Orissan coastal plains is the Bomkai saree. This saree is named after the village where it was discovered in the early 1980s.

The artisan of the locality used to create Bomkai sarees since the commencement period of the fabric. It was originally made for the local maharaja, aristocracy and Brahmins of the Chikiti tahsilm of the Ganjam district. Although woven in heavy, often coarse, low-count cotton, these sarees originally were always dyed in bright colours, usually with black, red or white grounds. Sometimes multicoloured supplementary-weft and -warp endpieces and borders were also created. The field warp threads were then cut and retied to different-coloured warps for the endpiece. This created a dense layer of colour for the usually large endpiece.

Bomkai saree is made of one of the easy to wear fabrics with traditional designs and patterns. The sarees are brilliantly created with angular discontinuous supplementary-weft patterns woven in the endpiece in contrasting colours. The patterns have such names as rukha (pestle, stick), dombaru (small hourglass-shaped drum), kanthi phoola (small flower) and kalera (bitter gourd), peacock and fish. The supplementary bands are not woven in progressive order from large to small, or vice versa, but are woven according to the choice of the weaver. Yet despite all the work in the endpiece, it is the supplementary-warp patterns of the borders that give these sarees their names. A broad band of supplementary-warp patterning called the `mitkta panji`, forming a latticework of small diamond shapes is the common design found in the sarees.

The Bomkai saree, one of the traditional sarees of east India are created by the adept artisans who excellently define the tradition and culture of India by the simple work of needle.