The Path Way of silk…..

According to Chinese tradition, the history of silk began in the 27th century BCE. Its use was confined to China until the Silk Road opened at some point during the later half of the first millennium BCE. China maintained its virtual monopoly over silk for another thousand years. Not confined to clothing, silk was also used for a number of other applications, including writing, and the colour of silk worn was an important indicator of social class during the Tang Dynasty.
Silk cultivation spread to Japan in around 300 CE, and by 522 the Byzantines managed to obtain silkworm eggs and were able to begin silkworm cultivation. The Arabs also began to manufacture silk during this same time. As a result of the spread of sericulture, Chinese silk exports became less important, although they still maintained dominance over the luxury silk market. The Crusades brought silk production to Western Europe, in particular to many Italian states, which saw an economic boom exporting silk to the rest of Europe. Changes in manufacturing techniques also began to take place during the Middle Ages, with devices such as the spinning wheel first appearing. During the 16th century France joined Italy in developing a successful silk trade, though the efforts of most other nations to develop a silk industry of their own were unsuccessful.
The Industrial Revolution changed much of Europe’s silk industry. Due to innovations in spinning cotton, it became much cheaper to manufacture and therefore caused more expensive silk production to become less mainstream. New weaving technologies, however, increased the efficiency of production. Among these was the Jacquard loom, developed for silk embroidery. An epidemic of several silkworm diseases caused production to fall, especially in France, where the industry never recovered. In the 20th century Japan and China regained their earlier role in silk production, and China is now once again the world’s largest producer of silk. The rise of new fabrics such as nylon reduced the prevalence of silk throughout the world, and silk is now once again a rare luxury good, much less important than in its heyday.

Early history

The appearance of silk

The earliest evidence of silk was found at the sites of Yangshao culture in Xia County, Shanxi, where a silk cocoon was found cut in half by a sharp knife, dating back to between 4000 and 3000 BCE. The species was identified as bombyx mori, the domesticated silkworm. Fragments of primitive loom can also be seen from the sites of Hemudu culture in Yuyao, Zhejiang, dated to about 4000 BCE. Scraps of silk were found in a Liangzhu culture site at Qianshanyang in Huzhou, Zhejiang, dating back to 2700 BCE. Other fragments have been recovered from royal tombs in the Shang Dynasty (c. 1600 – c. 1046 BCE).
During the later epoch, the Chinese lost their secret to the Koreans, the Japanese, and later the Indians, as they discovered how to make silk. Allusions to the fabric in the Old Testament show that it was known in western Asia in biblical times. Scholars believe that starting in the 2nd century BCE the Chinese established a commercial network aimed at exporting silk to the West.Silk was used, for example, by the Persian court and its king, Darius III, when Alexander the Great conquered the empire. Even though silk spread rapidly across Eurasia, with the possible exception of Japan its production remained exclusively Chinese for three millennia.

Myths and legends

The writings of Confucius and Chinese tradition recount that in the 27th century BCE a silk worm’s cocoon fell into the tea cup of the empress Leizu. Wishing to extract it from her drink, the young girl of fourteen began to unroll the thread of the cocoon. She then had the idea to weave it. Having observed the life of the silk worm on the recommendation of her husband, the Yellow Emperor, she began to instruct her entourage the art of raising silk worms, sericulture. From this point on, the girl became the goddess of silk in Chinese mythology. Silk eventually left China in the heir of a princess promised to a prince of Khotan. This probably occurred in the early 1st century CE. The princess, refusing to go without the fabric she loved, would finally break the imperial ban on silk worm exportation.
Though silk was exported to foreign countries in great amounts, sericulture remained a secret that the Chinese guarded carefully. Consequently, other peoples invented wildly varying accounts of the source of the incredible fabric. In classical antiquity, most Romans, great admirers of the cloth, were convinced that the Chinese took the fabric from tree leaves. This belief was affirmed by Seneca the Younger in his Phaedra and by Virgil in his Georgics. Notably, Pliny the Elder knew better. Speaking of the bombyx or silk moth, he wrote in his Natural History “They weave webs, like spiders, that become a luxurious clothing material for women, called silk.”

Silk usage in Ancient and Medieval China

In China, silk worm farming was originally restricted to women, and many women were employed in the silk-making industry. Even though some saw the development of a luxury product as useless, silk provoked such a craze among high society that the rules in the Li Ji were used to regulate and limit its use to the members of the imperial family. For approximately a millennium, the right to wear silk was reserved for the emperor and the highest dignitaries. Later, it gradually extended to other classes of Chinese society. Silk began to be used for decorative means and also in less luxurious ways: musical instruments, fishing, and bow-making. Peasants did not have the right to wear silk until the Qing dynasty (1644–1911).
Paper was one of the greatest discoveries of ancient China. Beginning in the 3rd century BCE paper was made in all sizes with various materials. Silk was no exception, and silk workers had been making paper since the 2nd century BCE. Silk, bamboo, linen, wheat and rice straw were all used differently, and paper made with silk became the first type of luxury paper. Researchers have found an early example of writing done on silk paper in the tomb of a Marchioness who died around 168, in Mawangdui, Hunan. The material was certainly more expensive, but also more practical than bamboo slips. Treatises on many subjects, including meteorology, medicine, astrology, divinity, and even maps written on silk have been discovered.
Chinese painting on silk, with playing children wearing silk clothes, by Su Hanchen (active 1130s–1160s), Song Dynasty.
During the Han Dynasty, silk became progressively more valuable in its own right, and became more than simply a material. It was used to pay government officials and compensate citizens who were particularly worthy. By the same token that one would sometimes estimate the price of products according to a certain weight of gold, the length of the silk cloth became a monetary standard in China (in addition to bronze coins). The wealth that silk brought to China stirred up envy in neighbouring peoples. Beginning in the 2nd century BCE the Xiongnu, regularly pillaged the provinces of the Han Chinese for around 250 years. Silk was a common offering by the emperor to these tribes in exchange for peace.
“. . . the military payrolls tell us that soldiers were paid in bundles of plain silk textiles, which circulated as currency in Han times. Soldiers may well have traded their silk with the nomads who came to the gates of the Great Wall to sell horses and furs.”
For more than a millennium, silk remained the principal diplomatic gift of the emperor of China to his neighbours or to his vassals. The use of silk became so important that “silk” (糸) soon constituted one of the principal radicals of Chinese script.
Broadly speaking, the use of silk was regulated by a very precise code in China. For example, the Tang Dynasty and Song Dynasty imposed upon bureaucrats the use of a particular colour according to their different functions in society. Under the Ming, silk began to be used in a series of accessories: handkerchiefs, wallets, belts, or even an embroidered piece of fabric displaying dozens of animals, real or mythical. These fashion accessories remained associated with a particular position: there was a specific bonnet for warriors, for judges, for nobles, and others for religious use. The women of high Chinese society heeded codified practices and used silk in their garments to which they added countless motifs. A 13th-century work, the Jinpingmei, gives a description of one such motif:
“ Golden lotus having a quilted backgammon pattern, double-folded, adorned with savage geese pecking at a landscape of flowers and roses; the dress’ right figure had a floral border with buttons in the form of bees or chrysanthemums.

Chinese silk and its commerce

A number of archaeological discoveries showed that silk had become a luxury material appreciated in foreign countries well before the opening of the Silk Road by the Chinese. For example, silk has been found in the Valley of the Kings in a tomb of a mummy dating from 1070 BCE. First the Greeks, then the Romans began to speak of the Seres (people of silk), a term to designate the inhabitants of the far-off kingdom, China. According to certain historians, the first Roman contact with silk was that of the legions of the governor of Syria, Crassus. At the Battle of Carrhae, near to the Euphrates, the legions were said to be so surprised by the brilliance of the banners of Parthia that they fled.
The silk road toward the west was opened by the Chinese in the 2nd century CE. The main road left from Xi’an, going either to the north or south of the Taklamakan desert, one of the most arid in the world, before crossing the Pamir Mountains. The caravans that employed this method to exchange silk with other merchants were generally quite large, including from 100 to 500 people as well as camels and yaks carrying around 140 kg (300 lb) of merchandise. They linked to Antioch and the coasts of the Mediterranean, about one year’s travel from Xi’an. In the South, a second route went by Yemen, Burma, and India before rejoining the northern route.
Not long after the conquest of Egypt in 30 BCE regular commerce began between the Romans and Asia, marked by the Roman appetite for silk cloth coming from the Far East, which was then resold to the Romans by the Parthians. The Roman Senate tried in vain to prohibit the wearing of silk, for economic reasons as well as moral ones. The import of Chinese silk resulted in vast amounts of gold leaving Rome, to such an extent that silk clothing was perceived as a sign of decadence and immorality.
“ I can see clothes of silk, if materials that do not hide the body, nor even one’s decency, can be called clothes. … Wretched flocks of maids labour so that the adulteress may be visible through her thin dress, so that her husband has no more acquaintance than any outsider or foreigner with his wife’s body. ”

Spread of production

Although silk was well known in Europe and most of Asia, China was able to keep a near monopoly on silk production. The monopoly was defended by an imperial decree, condemning to death anyone attempting to export silkworms or their eggs. Only around the year 300 CE did a Japanese expedition succeed in taking some silkworm eggs and four young Chinese girls, who were forced to teach their captors the art of sericulture. Techniques of sericulture were subsequently introduced to Japan on a larger scale by frequent diplomatic exchanges between the 8th century and 9th centuries.
Starting in the 4th century BCE silk began to reach the West by merchants who would exchange it for gold, ivory, horses or precious stones. Up to the frontiers of the Roman Empire, silk became a monetary standard for estimating the value of different products. Hellenistic Greece appreciated the high quality of the Chinese goods and made efforts to plant mulberry trees and breed silkworms in the Mediterranean basin.
According to story by Procopius, it was not until 552 CE that the Byzantine emperor Justinian obtained the first silkworm eggs. He had sent two Nestorian monks to Central Asia, and they were able to smuggle silkworm eggs to him hidden in rods of bamboo. While under the monks’ care, the eggs hatched, though they did not cocoon before arrival. The Byzantine church was thus able to make fabrics for the emperor, with the intention of developing a large silk industry in the Eastern Roman Empire, using techniques learned from the Sassanids. These gynecia had a legal monopoly on the fabric, but the empire continued to import silk from other major urban centres on the Mediterranean. The magnificence of the Byzantine techniques was not a result of the manufacturing process, but instead of the meticulous attention paid to the execution and decorations. The weaving techniques they used were taken from Egypt. The first diagrams of semple looms appeared in the 5th century.
The Arabs, with their widening conquests, spread sericulture across the shores of the Mediterranean. Included in these were Africa, Spain and Sicily, all of which developed an important silk industry. The mutual interactions among Byzantine and Muslim silk-weaving centers of all levels of quality, with imitations made in Andalusia and Lucca, among other cities, have made the identification and date of rare surviving examples difficult to pinpoint.
While the Chinese lost their monopoly on silk production, they were able re-established themselves as major silk supplier (during the Tang dynasty) and industrialize their production in a large scale (during the Song dynasty). China continued to export high-quality fabric to Europe and the Near East along the silk road.
Much later, following the Crusades, techniques of silk production began to spread across Western Europe. In 1147 while Byzantine emperor Manuel I Komnenos was focusing all his efforts on the Second Crusade, the Norman king Roger II of Sicily attacked Corinth and Thebes, two important centres of Byzantine silk production. They took the crops and silk production infrastructure, and deported all the workers to Palermo, thereby causing the Norman silk industry to flourish. The sack of Constantinople by the Fourth Crusade in 1204 brought decline to the city and its silk industry, and many artisans left the city in the early 13th century. Italy developed a large domestic silk industry after 2000 skilled weavers came from Constantinople. Many also chose to settle in Avignon to furnish the popes of Avignon.
The sudden boom of the silk industry in the Italian state of Lucca, starting in the 11th and 12th centuries was due to much Sicilian, Jewish, and Greek settlement, alongside many other immigrants from neighbouring cities in southern Italy. With the loss of many Italian trading posts in the Orient, the import of Chinese styles drastically declined. Gaining momentum, in order to satisfy the rich and powerful bourgeoisie’s demands for luxury fabrics, the cities of Lucca, Genoa, Venice and Florence were soon exporting silk to all of Europe. In 1472 there were 84 workshops and at least 7000 craftsmen in Florence alone.

Reciprocal influences
Silk was made using various breeds of lepidopterans, both wild and domestic. While wild silks were produced in many countries, there is no doubt that the Chinese were the first to begin production on such a large scale, having the most effective species for silk production, the Bombyx mandarina and its domesticated descendent B. mori. Chinese sources claim the existence of a machine to unwind silkworm cocoons in 1090. The cocoons were placed in a large basin of hot water, the silk would leave the cauldron by tiny guiding rings, and would be wound onto a large spool, thanks to a backwards and forward motion. Little information exists about spinning techniques in use in China. The spinning wheel, in all likelihood moved by hand, was known by the beginning of the Christian era. The first accepted image of a spinning wheel appears in 1210. There is an image of a silk spinning machine powered by a water wheel that dates to 1313.
More information is known about the looms used. The Nung Sang Chi Yao, or Fundamentals of Agriculture and Sericulture, compiled around 1210, is rich with pictures and descriptions, many pertaining to silk. It repeatedly claims the Chinese looms to be far superior to all others. It speaks of two types of loom that leave the worker’s arms free: the draw loom, which is of Eurasian origin, and the pedal loom which is attributed to East Asian origins. There are many diagrams originate in the 12th and 13th centuries. When examined closely, many similarities between Eurasian machines can be drawn. Since the Jin dynasty, the existence of silk damasks has been well recorded, and since the 2nd century BCE, four-shafted looms and other innovations allowed the creation of silk brocades.

The silk industry in France

Italian silk cloth was very expensive, as much a result of the cost of the raw material as of the production costs. The craftsmen in Italy proved unable to keep up with the exigencies of French fashion, which continuously demanded lighter and less expensive materials. These materials were used for clothing, and garment production began to be done locally. Nevertheless, Italian silk long remained among the most prized, mostly for furnishings and the brilliant colours of the dyes.
Following the example of the wealthy Italian city-states of the era (Venice, Florence, Lucca, etc.), which had become the centre of the luxury textile industry, Lyon obtained a similar function in the French market. In 1466 King Louis XI decided to develop a national silk industry in Lyon. In the face of protests by the Lyonnais, he conceded and moved the silk fabrication to Tours, but the industry in Tours stayed relatively marginal. His main objective was to reduce France’s trade deficit with Italy, which caused France to lose 400,000 to 500,000 golden écus a year. It was under Francis I in around 1535 that a royal charter was granted to two merchants, Étienne Turquet and Barthélemy Naris, to develop a silk trade in Lyon. In 1540 the king granted a monopoly on silk production to the city of Lyon. Starting in the 16th century Lyon became the capital of the European silk trade, notably producing many reputable fashions.[33] Gaining confidence, the silks produced in the city little by little began to abandon the original oriental styles and moved towards their own distinctive style, with an emphasis on landscapes. Thousand of workers, the canuts, devoted themselves to the flourishing industry. In the middle of the 17th century over 14,000 looms were in use in Lyon, and the silk industry fed a third of the city’s population.

In the 18th and 19th centuries Provence experienced a boom in sericulture that would last until the First World War, with much of the silk produced being shipped north to Lyon. Viens and La Bastide-des-Jourdans are two of the communes of Luberon that profited the most from mulberry plantations that have since disappeared. Working at home under the domestic system, silk spinning and silk treatment employed many people and increased the income of the working class.

Decline in the European silk industry

The first silkworm diseases began to appear in 1845, creating an epidemic. Among them are pébrine, caused by the microsporidia Nosema bombycis, grasserie, caused by a virus, flacherie, caused by eating infected mulberry leaves or white muscardine disease, caused by the fungus Beauveria bassiana. The epidemic grew to a massive scale, and after having attacked the silkworms, other viruses began to infect the mulberry trees. The chemist Jean-Baptiste Dumas, French minister of agriculture, was charged with stopping the epidemic. In face of sericulturers’ call for help, he asked Louis Pasteur to study the disease, starting in 1865. For many years, Pasteur thought that pébrine was not a contagious disease. In 1870 he changed his view, and measures were enacted that caused the disease to decline.
Nevertheless, the increase in the price of silkworm cocoons and the reduction in importance of silk in the garments of the bourgeoisie in the 19th century caused the decline of the silk industry in Europe. The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 and the silk shortage in France reduced the price of importing Asian silk, particularly from China and Japan.
Starting from the Long Depression (1873 – 1896), Lyonnais silk production had become totally industrialized, and hand looms were rapidly disappearing. The 19th century saw the textile industry’s progress caused by advances in chemistry. The synthesis of aniline was used to make mauveine (aniline purple) dye and the synthesis of quinine was used to make indigo dye. In 1884 Count Hilaire de Chardonnet invented artificial silk and in 1891 opened a factory dedicated to the production of artificial silk (viscose), which cost much less and in part replaced natural silk.

Silk in modern times

Following the crisis in Europe, the modernization of sericulture in Japan made it the world’s foremost silk producer. Italy managed to rebound from the crisis, but France was never able to. Urbanization in Europe saw many French and Italian agricultural workers leave silk growing for more lucrative factory work. Raw silk was imported from Japan to fill the void. Asian countries, formerly exporters of raw materials (cocoons and raw silk), progressively began to export more and more finished garments.
During the Second World War, silk supplies from Japan were cut off, so western countries were forced to find substitutes. Synthetic fibres such as nylon were used in products such as parachutes and stockings, replacing silk. Even after the war, silk was not able to regain many of the markets lost, though it remained an expensive luxury product.[5] Postwar Japan, through improvements in technology and a protectionist market policy, became the world’s foremost exporter of raw silk, a position it held until the 1970s. The continued rise in importance of synthetic fibres and loosening of the protectionist economy contributed to the decline of Japan’s silk industry, and by 1975 it was no longer a net exporter of silk.

A woman making silk in Hotan, China.

With its recent economic reforms, the People’s Republic of China has become the world’s largest silk producer. In 1996 it produced 58,000 tonnes out of a world production of 81,000, followed by India at 13,000 tonnes. Japanese production is now marginal, at only 2500 tonnes. Between 1995 and 1997 Chinese silk production went down 40% in an effort to raise prices, reminiscent of earlier shortages.[41]
In December 2006 the General Assembly of the United Nations proclaimed 2009 to be the International Year of Natural Fibres, so as to raise the profile of silk and other natural fibres.

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By

Ambadi Group Of Textiles

Perambra, Calicut , Kerala , INDIA

History Of Banarasi Saree

Banaras (now Varanasi) has long been famous for its Brocades and Sarees. The exquisite fabric was produced by wearing with warp & weft threads of different colours and often of different material. It appears from ancient texts that in the early days, gold and silver threads used to be made to such a fine quality that they could be woven into fabric of pure gold or silver. We find evidence of several kinds of textures of cloth since Rig Vedic times and, one can easily figure out the cloth of gold (Hiranya Vastra) as a distinguished type belonging to the above mentioned metallic fabric. The use of Silkora mixture of silk and cotton, in the wearing of the brocade seems to have been a fairly recent innovation. Though it is difficult to say, when the art of brocading started in India, especially in Varanasi, we find mention of the use of this kind of fabric, right from the Vedic period upto the Buddhist period. It is said that when Lord Buddha attained Nirvana, his mortal remains were wrapped in a Banarasi material i.e. brocade which radiated dazzling lights of yellow, red and blue.

Banaras Is the Athens of India. – – Francois Bernier Banaras figures as an outstanding centre of textile manufacture in the very. early stage of Indian Culture. In the neighbourhood there were great cotton growing regions and probably this spurred the textile industry in the city, which during the early period was the capital of an important province. Geographically commanding a situation on a national highway and situated on the Ganga, connecting all important Indian state capitals of the time in the Gangetic Valley, Banaras in the first millennium BC, rose to the status of an important centre of art, culture and education. Banaras cotton was famous for its fine and soft texture. A tradition goes that the Buddha’s dead body was wrapped in a Banaras manufactured textile. Banaras was similarly reputed for its silk and wool. We also hear that textiles formed one of the important cargo to west- bound ships of the time, an unbroken tradition which survived down to the late-.Mughal period. Banaras must have contributed to this famous export-trade, as is supported by the Jataka stories about Banaras merchants crossing deserts and seas. We also come across the traditional Vedic term hiranya (brocade) surviving in this period; however, due to absence of any definite evidence we can only presume that Banaras, with its several types of silk manufacture, specialized in this branch as well. Testimony of Kautilya’s – Arthashastra is cited for other varieties of silk manufacture in the Maurya period, including the Kausheya (also known from Panini’s Ashtadhyai Sutra. Valmiki’s Ramayana). The Ramayana also offers an important reference to brocade as Ravana, the Lankan king, is described donning a golden fabric (i.e., brocade). Chinese silk also seems to have been popular in the period. Banaras is known in the Pali literature as a reputed centre of textile manufacture, famous for its Kasikuttama and Kasiya. The Majjhimanikaya refers to Varanaseyyaka, known for its fine texture. The Kasika Suchivastra was probably some kind of embroidery. Kashi continued to flourish as a regional capital under the Nandas, the Mauryas and the Shungs and we can safely ascribe to it its non-broken tradition of textile industry during those glorious epochs.Patanjali (second century B.C.) leaves no doubt about the Kashika textile in the Shung period; it was more expensive and probably of better quality than the similar material of Mathura manufacture.During the Gupta period (ca. 3.50 to 500 AD) Banaras seems to have once more risen to the status of a provincial capital under Kumaramatya Janardana, whose personal and official seals have been discovered in abundance from remains of ancient Banaras. As known from other seals from the same site, Banaras was a centre of trade, with its elaborate guild-systems of traders in the Gupta period, but no seals relating to its textile-manufacture or textile trade has come to light so far. However, its old glory in the realm of textile manufacture is re-affirmed by the Dilyalvadana, a Buddhist Sanskrit text of the same period, which makes references to such fabrics known as Kashikavastra, Kashi Kashikamsu and so on. Banaras fabrics gained India-wide fame, particularly in the quality of dhotis and dupatta, which were so exquisite that a pair could cost one hundred thousand karshapanas. However, it is curious to note that not a single reference to silk manufacture in Banaras is known from the text. The Bhaishajyaguru Sutra (one of the famous Giligit texts) informs us about the Kashika textiles as of superfine quality. The Lalita Vistara, another Buddhist text, also refers to garments made of Kashika fabrics. A number of decorative motifs appearing on the Dhamekh-Stupa at Sarnath (Banaras) presupposes the transference of the textile designs on stone or a copy of some textile which originally wrapped such stupas (such textiles were called the Devadushyas). If this theory is admitted, we have an interesting archaeological evidence to show some of the designs which Banaras weavers used in the Gupta period.The fabrics were calendered (Hindi, kundi) according to the Divyavadana. The process was used for the garments belonging to the people of high ranks and princes; ahata is Sanskrit term for the process. This process appears in the Amarakosha, the famous Sanskrit lexicon of the Gupta period which distinguishes it from the term anahata (i.e., the uncalendered ) cloth. It is curious to note that the same process continues to be used in the manufacture of Banaras brocades down to the present day; a locality in Banaras is known as (KundigaraTola ) a centre of such artisans, who earn their bread through this trade.

Stavaraka, in the Harshacharita, seems to be a clear reference to the brocade as pointed out by Dr. V.S. Agrawal- In the Harshacharita, it figures as woven with gold thread and beaded with pearls. As suggested by Dr. V.S. Agrawala, stavarakais a Sanskritised form of a Pahlvi and Persian term. It is also used in the Holy Koran in its Arabic form, as an expensive textile, used by the heavenly beings. Actually Surya images, also one terracotta from Ahichchhatra show similar textile-stuff, i.e., the stavaraka, beaded with pearls. They are sometimes exquisitely embroidered. Elsewhere in the Harshacharita, the princes appear donning the varabanas (coats) made of the stavarakamaterial. In the same work the stavaraka appears as the top of a canopy. It may be remarked here that the kimkhab had been widely used in the seventeenth, eighteenth and the nineteenth centuries for making such canopies as evidenced by late Mughal painting. Dr. V.S. Agrawal on the etymological grounds, remarks that the stavaraka was an imported textile. However, it is possible that even though the term was taken from the Pahlvi in the ancient times, the fabric was later on being manufactured indigenously; for example, even in the present days the termkimkhab is obviously a Persian name for an indigenous textile and there are other instances, e.g., the gulbadan, the abrawan and so on. The pingaseems to be another variety of the brocade but it is difficult to contend whether gold thread was at all used in it. However, Banadoes not make mention of Banaras as a centre of brocade or zari manufacture. Similarly, during the same period yuan-Chwang, the famous Buddhist traveller visited Banaras. He unequivocally mentions Banaras as a big trade-centre. However, he is also silent about its textile industry.Damodara Gupta (eighth-ninth century A.D) in his kuttanimalam,describes Banaras in its full glory. A wealthy person is portrayed donning a lower garment, shot with gold thread (kanakagalrbhita).This may suggest Banaras as one of the centres of zari manufacture in that period and the degree of popularity, which such fabrics enjoyed in the upper classes in Banaras.The Jain Sutras form a store-house of information about Indian textiles. Dr. Moti Chand has rendered a spectacular service to the history of Indian textiles by extracting the information from the floating mass of Jain Sutra-literature. The AcharangaSutra informs us about a scarf, woven with gold thread (i.e., brocade) showing the traditional geese motif, which enjoyed great popularity at least in the late Gupta period, if not since earlier times.During the early ninth century AD, Banaras became arena of a tripartite war among the Palas, Rashtrakutas and the Pratiharas, the three rival imperial powers aiming at the capture of Kannauj. Dr. A.S. Altekar opined that Dharmapala mobilised his force towards Banaras, which became his military outpost in his campaign against his rivals which must have ruined the Banaras-trade temporarily. Further in 1034 A.D., Banaras under Karnadeva Kalachuri, was sacked by the Muslim invader, Ahmad Niyal-tigin, Baihaki in his Tawarikh-i- Subuktgin records that among the war prizes the yield from Banaras textile- market was the most substantial, which leaves no doubt about the prosperity of the Banaras textile traders in the eleventh century. The Gahadvala period revived the ancient glory of Banaras which became the capital of that vast and powerful empire. Jaya Chandra Gahadvala was a great sovereign and his patronage towards education, culture and fine arts has become a legend in medieval Indian history. An important text, the .Ukti- Vyaktiprakana, compiled during his times throws light on the Indian society under the Gahadvalas. The Ukti- Vyaktiprakarana clearly states that the Banaras merchants were rich and prosperous and made ample money through tradeAgain, the Ukti- Vyaktiprakaranaspecifically mentions the thriving textile industry of Banaras. But it is disappointing that all such references are to cotton fabrics, its manufacture and trade and no specific mention is found of the zaris and the brocades. There are reasons to believe that Banaras town was on the decline after the fall of the Gahadvalas, i.e., under the early Sultanates. However, in the late fourteenth century a new Sultanate established itself in this region with Jaunpur, a neighbouring town, as its capital. .Jaunpur soon became a great seat of learning and culture. Its textile activities are known down to the Jahangir period, as recorded by a Jain trader of the seventeenth century in his autobiography, the Ardhakathanaka. Banaras remained a centre of weavers; the famous saint Kabir belonged to this class. However, it seems to be quite probable that the zari and brocades revived in the Sharki period as no earlier evidence refers to such textile manufacture in Banaras. The Jaunpur Kalpasutra Ms. of 1465 AD has a special bearing on the history. Of Banaras textiles of the pre-Mughal period, as culturally, Jaunpur belongs to the Banaras region. The information derived from the Jaunpur Ms. is more so interesting because it actually furnishes some regional motifs.From the Akbar period onwards, we begin to get an uninterrupted account of the zariwork and brocades through the Mughal and Rajasthani painting. It is significant to note that in the sixteenth century the old designs abruptly came to an end; we find from the contemporary paintings that wholesale Persianised motifs were introduced although modified to Indian taste. More emphasis on floral designs is evident. For example, the ancient animal and bird motifs were given up for good. We have a definite evidence to support the influx of Persian motifs; the unequivocally informs us about the importation of Persian masters, Ghias Nakshaband being the greatest among them, to the royal atelier of Akbar.It is strange to note that the A ‘indoes not make any reference to Banaras, as a centre of brocade and zari manufacture. The plausible explanation for this decline in Banaras zariand brocade industry seems to be the devastation of Banaras which preceded the Akbar period at the hands of several invaders. However, very soon the old glory of Banaras seems to have been retrieved, as is evident from the accounts of several European travellers of the sixteenth- seventeenth century.The foreign accounts were confined mostly to Western India or sometimes to the Eastern coast; as the Western world knew the Indian textiles through the exporting ports situated on the eastern or western coasts. We can, however, surmise that similar products were manufactured in other towns like Banaras. In the middle ages, principal textile exporters to Egypt, as also to the Far East were Indians, says Ts’iuan- tcheon, Chinese Inspector of Commerce. Aden itself received fifteen to twenty boat- loads of textiles from India.European travellers, for example, Marco Polo (1271 -95 AD), Tavernier (ca. 1665 AD) and Thevenot again furnish details of textile industry in India, but unfortunately they do not add to our knowledge about the zari work or brocades of their times. We can only surmise that centres like Surat and Ahmedabad were thriving and probably produced zaris or brocades during those centuries.A few interesting pieces of information appear from the pre- Mughal period. It was a prevalent Durbar custom to award robe of honour (the Khil ‘at) made of brocade including a waist- band; the brocade-Khil’at. was supposed to be the highest honour bestowed. Actually a brocade coat and the turban made the official dress of the court. It appears that the brocade industry was at a great height during this period and was actively followed in several Indian cities. Even the palace tapestries were made of brocade material. We know from Humayun’s biography by his sister, Gulbadan Begam that the house of a nobleman at Koli (Aligarh), visited by him was decorated by curtains fringed with gold thread. Similarly, Amir Khusru in his I’zak-i-Khusaravi (vol. V) refers to brocade curtains in a noble’s house and the same tradition in the sixteenth century survives in Ghazi Khan’s house visited by Babur.Some of the European visitors to India in the Mughal period visited Banaras. Ralph Fitch (1583-91) informs us that Banaras was a thriving centre of cotton textile industry. However, he adds that Banaras manufactured turbans in great numbers for the Mughals. We know from the contemporary paintings that usually the Mughals used zari material for their turbans. Peter Mundy, another traveller to Banaras (1632 AD) records that in the Vishvanatha temple he found a silk canopy hanging over the Shiva-lingam.This might have been a work of Banaras zari or brocade. Tavernier visited Banaras in 1665 AD He saw in Banaras the loftiest houses in India, which shows the height of prosperity Banaras witnessed during the seventeenth century. He noticed a caravan sarai in Banaras where the weaver directly sold their manufactures to the customers and there was no middleman in the trade, He mentions both cotton and silk textiles in the trade, which bore quality grading and marking in the form of imperial seals failing which the merchants were flogged. 1t is generally believed from the above account that Tavernier saw Banarasi zari and brocades .in the Sarais. However, describing the Bindumadhava temple of Banaras, Tavernier informs that over the holy platform, he noticed brocades and other silks. Presumably they were of Banaras manufacture. Manucci in his famous travel-book Storia Do Mogor (second half of the seventeenth century) records that Banaras exported to all over the world, its gold or silver zaritextiles, which were “of the best quality.” TheKhulasat-ut- Tawarikh, a work compiled in 1720 AD describes two other types of Banarasi fabrics: “The Jhuna and the Mihrgula among others were of principal character.” However, the author does
not specify them. Were they two important types of zarior brocades. Due to political upheaval Banaras received a set back in the middle of the eighteenth century when Ahmad Shah Bangash dispatched his troops towards Banaras and threatened to reduce it and a fat ransom was paid to him (1750 AD)to save the town. Maratha records, in 1751, inform us that Banaras was almost deserted in that period and its many banking houses turned insolvent. People at large felt themselves unsafe and unprotected from the cruel hands of the invading Rohillas. Further the Nawabs of Oudh tried to destroy the local chief Balavant Singh, Banaras continued to face a menace to danger and insecurity at least for another fifteen or twenty years. In November 1764 AD” the East India Company’s forces entered Banaras and soon Banaras transferred its allegiance to the Company. It was due to some rich settlers in Banaras, particularly due to the Maratha interest in this city, in its learning and arts that in the middle of the eighteenth century Banaras retrieved back its old glory to some extent. Other exiled members of the ruling families and dignitaries seeking asylum in the East. India Company’s enclave or retired pious Hindus of higher classes as well as Mughal princes, scions of the Nawab of Oudh and people belonging to the house of the Peshwa residing in Banaras contributed substantially to its cultural and economic life. This spurred Banaras zariand brocade manufacture and its trade and this explains for the rise of Banaras textile industry to the present altitude. With reference to the textile industry in Banaras, zari and brocades were for almost the first time well- recorded by several British travellers to Banaras. George Viscount Valentia, in his travel-account furnishes some interesting information about Banaras textiles in early nineteenth century. Valentia held a Durbar in Banaras some textile-traders also attended the Durbar and displayed some very good examples of zari and brocades. Valentia remarks that the brocades showed close patterns and were quite expensive, so that they were worn only on important occasions. Valentia right observed that the prosperity of the Banaras people mainly rested on its brocades and zari manufacture and trade, and that these textiles were popular Items of export to Europe. Soon after, in his census report, Mr. Deane, the then Collector of Banaras, recorded several types of artisans in Banaras. Among these figure out the Muslim weavers (carpet weavers) and the Rajput (Muslim) weavers who produced several types of zari and brocades. The zari and brocade weavers seem to have been considerable in number as the number of their houses was about 580 at that time, which although a symbolic figure, may show their abundance. To study the various processes of their manufacture, the dozens of the “Company Style” illustrations are most helpful, a number of which are now in the possession of the India Office Library, London. These illustrations, sometimes, show the textile pieces under manufacture and they confirm in details to the information recorded by the English travellers in the East India Company period.Bishop Heber, travelling in this region in the early nineteenth century observed that Banaras was a great centre of textile-trade as well as a market for Kashmir shawls. Dacca muslin and its own manufacture: “it has a very considerable silk, cotton and woollen manufacture of its own.” These included some expensive type of probably zari and brocades. Mrs. Colin Mackenzie, a traveller to Banaras in1847 AD, records some, interesting information about the zari and brocade textiles. An Indian prince who visited their party wore “wide trousers of cloth of gold”, or brocade. This seems to be very popular among the gentry of Banaras, which is corroborated by her later account and also b)’ the surviving examples of that period. Mrs. Mackenzie also furnishes a very interesting account of the shops which dealt in the zaribrocade. “This was the house of one of the richest manufacturers at Banaras. Half of the room was raised one step. Here we sat while bales of the most magnificent gold and silver stuffs, called “Kinkob” were unrolled before us. I do not suppose any European brocades equal them. They are used by the natives for trousers some of the muslins spotted with gold and muslin shawls and scarves with gold and silver borders for about thirty rupees were beautiful…” The above account not only gives a picture of the trade but also informs us about the price which these stuffs fetched in those times, assuming that the prices offered to Mrs. Mackenzie were meant for fabrics of high quality. She also informs us how brocade was popular in the ladies’ dress as she narrates her visit to the Rajah of Sattara. The dress of the ladies included, “a very short red jacket with short sleeves …a red drapery embroidered or spriggled with gold enveloped the whole person …the jacket was (made of) cloth of gold…a singing woman, with stiff outstanding petticoats of red gold, was introduced.” These stray information leave no doubt about the popularity of the brocades used as material for both male and female costumes. The men also had their coats made of brocade. This seems to be the popular costume-type all over the country in the nineteenth century, specimens of which are preserved inBharat Kala Bhavan and other collections; some of them are being reproduced in this book. Soon after, Dr. J. Forbes Watson published his monumental work, The Textile Manufacturers and the People of India. This seems to be the first authentic and systematic record of the facts relating to the textile industry in the nineteenth-century India. He quotes Captain Meadows Taylor, who observes:”a piece of silver of about the length and thickness of man’s forefinger gilded or of pure gold was beaten and drawn through successive holes in a steel plate an line wire was literally as thin as a hair”. This was the kalabattu. Water adds that the gold or silver thread, badla, was twisted around silk thread and woven. The women who manufactured the gold and silver thread were called batavaiya(those who twisted into the shape of kalabattu).The brocades were meant forcholi sleeves etc. or for the entire piece for the choli. Watson reproduced a sample of the kimkhabfrom Banaras in his Vol.7. It was a silk gauze and gold showing diagonal stripes and flowers in gold on a mauve ground, which was and is a very popular shade for the ground (angan).Unfortunately, the price of the stuff js not quoted; the textile was 13′ 8″ long and 2′ 10″ wide. However, it is strange that Watson did not furnish any account of the zari sarisand scarves which seem to have been very popular in the nineteenth century and are still very popular. The official catalogue of 1 he Crafts Exhibition, Delhi (1902-03) IndianArt at Delhi by Sir George Watt throws immense light on the Banaras kimkhabs,and zaris. The process of manufacture is recorded in the following statement: “The small needle-like spool (simple pencil of bamboo, actually called ‘needle’ by the weavers) is by the hand carried in and out of the exact number of threads of the warp that may be necessary in the production of the pattern”. Thus, loosely it was called ‘loom-embroidery’. Sir George further informs that Banaras has been the chief centre of brocades or kimkhabs. The zari work was known in Banaras as pot-than. He distinguishes the various sub-types, e.g., baftas, amarusand even the gold and silk gauzes or abrawanswhich were brocades in only varying degrees of the use of gold thread; the brocades in pure silk were known as amarus, those with gold wire or thread (kalabattu)in addition to silk were kimkhab,sometimes a speck of golden thread orkalabattu illuminiated a particular feature of the pattern in the amaru. Kimkhab came very near to borderings, braidings and trimmings. The kimkhabs included pure cloth of gold or silver, the brocades with greater portion of the surface in kalabattu” which were too heavy to be worn and therefore, were chiefly used for curtains and trappings. A business family, connected with the trade in Banaras, informed that for trappings and curtains the gold or silver thread (kalabattu) was made of much heavier material known as ekpara, dopara, tinpara, chaupara and even chhapara brocade. These various grades were determined on the basis of the number of kalabattu threads repeated in a given spare; for example, the ekpara represents ten such kalabattu threads in a running inch. Thus, even the chaupara was supposed to be a very heavy material popularly used for trappings of elephants etc. It was only rarely that the chaupara was used. The curtains were also heavy fabrics and they were double-sided weaving ( do-rukha). Similarly, very close weaving was known as khes.The other factor which determined the price of the kimkhabwas the degree of gilding on the kalabattu ‘thread’, which was determined as ekratia, doratia, tinratia, chauratia and so on; i.e., containing one or more ratis (one rati = nearly 7.5 gm.) in the kalabattu thread which had its unit as one thousand or twelve hundred yards etc. (the hazargaja or barahsaugaja). Originally, the manufacture of kalabattuwas an indigenous industry but later on it was imported from France. The “Gold Mohour” brand French gilded wire or thread (i.e., kalabattu) was most popular among the Banaras weavers. Thickness of the textile is mainly. due to the silk threads used in the ‘enamel’ work. The colour pattern in the ‘enamel’ work was technically known asalfi. The very fine kimkhab work was known as ektara. The Banaras weavers recollect that Surat manufactured very fine gold’ thread’ (kalllbattu) which was used for very fine type of work.It is also learnt that formerly the two localities of Banaras, viz. Madanpura and Alaipura monopolised the manufacture of the zari
and brocades respectively. However, in the present times both the centres in Banaras manufacture both the varieties. The third variety of brocades, according to Sir George, known as bartas or pot- thans, had only certain portions of the pattern in gold or silver thread (kalabattu) while the abrawan (a Persian term) meant a silk gauze or muslin with certain portions of the pattern shown in kalabattu. The exhibition displayed some important and beautiful kimkhabs from Banaras and Ahmedabad. The garments represented a riding coat and a long coat jalidar (mesh pattern enclosing rosettes) and lahariyadar (wavy lines) pattern respectively. They were bordered with gold embroidery and pearls; The gudari pattern anga showed uniform patches of several colours and beautiful pale border. Watt observed that due to many factors, the kimkhab industry was on decline in the early twentieth century. The taste changed considerably during the nineteenth century with the advent of the British rule and the manufacturers were forced to change according to the new patron’s taste. The Banaras brocades witnessed a major change due to a special and interesting factor. Watt recorded that a weaver happened to visit London. The state of Banaras weavers, the manufacture of zari textiles and its trade are very well-recorded in the District Gazetteer of 1909. Most of the workers (in weaving and cognate crafts) were Muslims, yet there were high-cast Hindus also, total about 12,000 people.” All the raw material is imported from Bengal, Central Asia and even China (via Bombay). China silk is a yellow colour and fine quality. The Central Asian is known as sangaland this is either wardwani or white or bashiri or yellow (from Samarkand and Bukhara). The Central Asian import is dwindling because the cost is enhanced by the necessity of sorting the threads which are of varying thickness”…. “Of Late Italian silk has been largely imported from Como and elsewhere and is used for the well known ‘Kashi silk’ and similar fabrics”. Many of those were dyed by celebrated artisans, some exported to Lucknow by Nawab Wazirs. But aniline dyes imported from Europe replaced vegetal dyes. Brocades were exported to Europe the patterns are often merely geometrical. The kimkhabs are very heavy in texture and are seldom used for fabrics. A lighter fabric, both in material and ornamentation is the pot-than or bafta work, which in colouring and pattern differs but little from the former. Where the kalabattu work in gold or silver is omitted the brocade is known as amaru and this is much in demand among those who cannot afford the high prices demanded for kimkhab work.Similarly, in every sphere of lndian art and industry cheap and decadent European influence was felt. The colours used in the Banarasi brocades were indigenous and showed a preference to dazzling and variegated tones. The import of European chemical pigment, however, considerably influenced the local taste, still in certain cases it could not substitute some of the very popular colours. But the European customers or the Westernised Indian patrons cared for more sophisticated or sombre colour- schemes. This vitally changed the entire out look of the Banarasi manufacturers, their colour-sense was irretrievably lost and consequently led to the decline in taste. This state of affairs continues in some proportions. Certain weavers, induced by the traders, still produce incredibly bad motifs, most inspired by cheap Edwardian or Georgian prints.

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Ambadi Group Of Textiles

Perambra, Calicut , Kerala , INDIA

HISTORY OF CHANDERI SAREES

Ancient texts speak of Madhya Pradesh as a famous center for weaving between the 7th century and the 2nd century BC. One of the historical identities of MadhyaPradesh, is situated on the boundary of two cultural regions of the state, Malwa and Bundelkhand. This habitation, in the dense forests of Vindhyachal Ranges,is a depository of various traditions. Contemporarily, in eleventh century, its location near the trade routes, connecting Malwa, Mewad and Central India to the ports of South and Gujrat, gave it the importance. It has been an important ancient center of Jain culture. We find its reference in the Epic Mahabharata. Famous Persian scholar Albaruni referred this town while making a reference to a period around 1030AD in his book “Albaruni’s India”.
Mughals, Rajputs and Maratha dynasties ruled this region from time to time. Kings and Kingdoms, Badshahs and Sultans, battles won and lost, Queens who performed Johar, Palaces, Forts, Doors and what not, which gave name and fame to Chanderi, now remain only part of stories and fables; but what survived throughout, from 12th and 13th centuries AD till today, is the magic of the weave of Chanderi which is known to rich and middle classes of India as ‘Chanderi Saris’.
Proven record of tradition of cloth weaving is available from 13th century. In the beginning, weavers were mostly Muslims. In 1350, Koshti weavers from Jhansi migrated to Chanderi and settled down here. During Mughal period cloth business of Chanderi reached to its peak. The cloth length of Chandri was sent to Mughal Badshah Akbar folded and packed in a hollow of a bamboo, when it was taken out, a whole Elephant could have been covered by its length. This was the delicacy and sophistication of weaving of those days. During the reign of Jahangir, this art of weaving still used to mesmerize people. But this is also true that this excellence of weaving which peaked during Mughal period, also deteriorated during this very period. Jain community has been living in Chanderi for avery long time. There are many Jain temples and pilgrimages in Chanderi. It is said that in Gajrath Samaharos, held between1436 to 1468, turbans made only from Chanderi cloth were worn. Chroniclers of history of Chanderi have mentioned the uniqueness of Chanderi fabrics. Tieffenthaler, a Jesuit priest who stayed innearby Marwar from 1740 to 1761, mentioned in his description De L’Inde in 1776 that “very fine cloth is woven here and exported abroad.” One by-product of this was the growth of new weaving centers; Chanderi rose to prominence as a cloth producer on the back of the raw cotton boom. Weavers produced very fine quality turbans for export to Maratha rulers among whom the cocked ‘turban’ was becoming a distinguishing mark of high nobility. Much earlier one finds mention of Chanderi in Maasir-i-Alamgir (1658-1707) wherein it is stated that Aurangzeb ordered that “in the Khilat Khana embroider cloth should be used instead of stuff with gold and silver worked on it.” The material was very expensive, a pair of sari costing eight hundred to one thousand rupees and sometimes even more.”The beauty of fabric consists in its fineness, softness and transparency, but the ends were often worked and fringed heavily with gold thread.” A British R.C. Sterndal described Chanderi cloth as, “Chanderi is a place where thin Malmal cloth is woven. The cloth woven in Chanderi is the favorable choice of Queens in India. This cloth is very expensive, which have works of Golden thread on its borders. The cloth of Chanderi can be identified by its thin, soft and transparent texture, which can only be experienced.” Till recently, all the turbans of Maratha rulers of India were made by Chanderi weavers. These turbans were woven on a 6″ loom. There is probably no weaver of this school of weaving is left in Chanderi now. Royal families of Gwalior, Indore, kohlapur, Baroda and Nagpur used clothes woven in Chanderi on festivals like child birth, marriage, etc. Chanderi produced a range of saris appropriate to the tastes of its clients, the royalty and nobility of Gwalior, Baroda, Nagpur and beyond. Rarely could a trader get past the discerning eye of an elder in these select households. The Maharani of Baroda would immediately put aside the 200s count cotton by just a ‘rub on the cheek’ and could decipher the finer nuances of the motif work and pay accordingly. Gwalior state patronized Chanderi weavers from time to time. Traditionally, Chanderi cloth was woven using hand spun cotton thread. Threads were always brought here from outside. Due to its proximity to trade routes, supply of threads was never interrupted; but in 19th century local weavers started using mill spun thread. Then Silk thread was preferred because the mill spun cotton thread could not produce the required shine which was the specialty of Chanderi cloth. This was the time when ‘woven air’, which was the name to describe exclusiveness of Chanderi cloth had started losing its meaning.

By

Ambadi Group Of Textiles

Perambra, Calicut , Kerala , INDIA