Banarasi saris are saris made in Varanasi, a city which is also called "Benares." These saris are historically considered to be among the finest saris in India and are known for their gold and silver brocade or zari, fine silk and opulent embroidery, and being highly sought after. These saris are made of finely woven silk and are decorated with intricate design, and because of these engravings, these saris are relatively heavy. Their special characteristics are Mughal inspired designs such as intricate intertwining floral and foliate motifs, kalga and bel, a string of upright leaves called jhallar at the outer, edge of border is a characteristic of these sarees. Other distinctive features are Heavy gold work, Compact weaving, figures with small details, metallic visual effects, pallus, jal (a net like pattern), and mina work. These saris are an inevitable part of any Indian bride's trousseau.

Depending upon the intricacy of designs and patterns, a sari can take anywhere from 15 days to a one month and sometimes up to six months to complete. Banarasi saris are mostly worn by Indian women on important occasions such as when attending a wedding and are expected to be complemented by the woman's best jewelry.

Saris (Arabic: ساريس) was a Palestinian Arab village that was depopulated during the major offensive launched by the Haganah on 6 April 1948. Called Operation Nachshon, and launched before the British had left Palestine, its objective was to capture villages between Jerusalem and the coastal plain.

During Ottoman rule in Palestine, in 1596, Saris was a village in the nahiya (subdistrict) of Jerusalem under the liwa' (district) of Jerusalem and it had a population of 292. The villagers paid taxes on a number of crops, including wheat, barley, olives fruit and carob, as well as on goats, beehives and vineyards.

In the late 19th century, Saris was described as being located on top of a hill, with olive trees growing below the village.

In 1944/45 its population was 560, with 3,677 dunums (over 900 acres) used for cereals and 366 dunums (≈90 acres) of orchards and irregated land.

On 13 April, before the village was attacked, Israel Galili wrote to Yosef Weitz of the JNF asking for a settlement to be established at Saris 'as soon as possible.'