Eluru has been famous for its hand-knotted wool carpets — locally called Eluru jamakhanas — since the seventeenth century, when Persian weavers were brought here under the patronage of the Nawabs of Golconda. The patterns, traditionally based on Persian and Mughal designs, are still woven on hand looms in a handful of family workshops in the old town.
Several of the workshops welcome visitors; a few have small showrooms attached. The industry has shrunk dramatically with the rise of machine-made carpets, and a single large carpet can take months to weave, but the surviving weavers produce work of remarkable quality.