Preamble
For your convenience I have listed the other posts in this series:
Traditional Indian Textiles - Part I
Traditional Indian Textiles - Part II
Traditional Indian Textiles - Part III
Introduction [1]
The production of sophisticated textiles within the Indian subcontinent has prehistoric origins. Yet though we are spoilt with riches from other cultures with a less fecund weaving history - from the ancient Central Asian and pre-Columbian weavers and embroiderers, for instance, whose work has been stored in the cryogenically sealed tombs of Siberian Altai, or the desecrated burial troves of the Peruvian coastal desert, tragically none of the wealth of ancient Indian textile manufacture has survived. In fact, the unpredictable patterns of the extremes of alternate wet and dry climate have ensured that only a few fragments of bio-degradable woven plant and animal fiber remain to help us chart, with any degree of accuracy, the history of Indian textiles. This lack of tangible evidence is counterbalanced, in part, by an abundance of archaelogical finds and literacy references that have, at times, transported the quest for analytical and accurate data into a world of delightful myths and legends that are much more in the keeping with the mystical and religious qualitities still associated with traditional Indian textiles.
Sinarth Brahmins wearing 'dhotis' (loin cloths). One holds a 'gaumukhi' - an embroidered glove, which contains the sacred prayer beads.
North Indian portrait of a man and boy proudly wearing Kashmir shawls with resist-dyed turbans.
Rajasthani women, dressed in richly decorated traditional garb: a brocade 'odhni' (shawl) with 'mashru' border: and (right) a 'bandhani' (tie-and-dye) odhni.
Traditional Indian Textiles - Part III [1]
Left section of a nineteenth-century pattern sample cloth, intended for the Siamese market, from Gujarat.
Right section of the above nineteenth-century pattern sample cloth.
Left section of Ikat cotton length from Pochampalli, near Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh.
Right section of the above Ikat cotton length from Pochampalli, near Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh.
Brocade silk and metal threaded stole from Varanasi.
Detail of a single-ikat yardage made of wild silk yarn, from Nuapatna, Orissa.
'Toran' (doorway hanging).
Reference:
[1] Traditional Indian Textiles, John Gillow and Nicholas Barnard, Thams and Hudson, London (1993) ISBN 0-500-27709-5.
For your convenience I have listed the other posts in this series:
Traditional Indian Textiles - Part I
Traditional Indian Textiles - Part II
Traditional Indian Textiles - Part III
Introduction [1]
The production of sophisticated textiles within the Indian subcontinent has prehistoric origins. Yet though we are spoilt with riches from other cultures with a less fecund weaving history - from the ancient Central Asian and pre-Columbian weavers and embroiderers, for instance, whose work has been stored in the cryogenically sealed tombs of Siberian Altai, or the desecrated burial troves of the Peruvian coastal desert, tragically none of the wealth of ancient Indian textile manufacture has survived. In fact, the unpredictable patterns of the extremes of alternate wet and dry climate have ensured that only a few fragments of bio-degradable woven plant and animal fiber remain to help us chart, with any degree of accuracy, the history of Indian textiles. This lack of tangible evidence is counterbalanced, in part, by an abundance of archaelogical finds and literacy references that have, at times, transported the quest for analytical and accurate data into a world of delightful myths and legends that are much more in the keeping with the mystical and religious qualitities still associated with traditional Indian textiles.
Traditional Indian Textiles - Part III [1]
Reference:
[1] Traditional Indian Textiles, John Gillow and Nicholas Barnard, Thams and Hudson, London (1993) ISBN 0-500-27709-5.
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