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
Traditional Indian Textiles - Part IV
Traditional Indian Textiles - Part V
Introduction [1]
Aside from the tapestry-cloth discoveries in Central Asia at the tombs in the Altai mountains (6th - 4th centuries BC) and in Turkestan (2nd Century BC - 10th Century AD), some of which may be of Indian origin, no examples of cloth from the subcontinent were known until the copious nineteenth-century finds of trade cloth unearthed at Fustat, near Cario in Egypt some of which date back to the fifteenth century.
A drawing of Fustat, from Rappoport's 'History of Egypt.'
This object is one of a larger group of textile fragments made in Gujarat, India, but found in Fustat, Egypt (known as Old Cairo.) Dated to either the fifteenth or sixteenth century, it is decorated with patterns which echo the ornamental motifs found in painted Jain manuscripts made during this time. These features can be seen in the fragment’s repeated checkered patterning on the top and bottom borders, which are filled with crosses and divided into smaller squares with floral medallions.
We have both Asian and European literary references to cloth production to shed light on the many centuries bridging these archaeological finds. Assyrian and Babylonian tablets from the seventh century BC allude to the cotton trade between Mesopotamia and the Subcontinent. From within India itself the Hindu epics such as Ramayana and the Mahabharata, as well as Buddhist sources, chart in detail the processes and uses of textiles made of cotton, linen and silk between the fifteenth and second centuries BC. The silk yarn is thought to be Chinese, suggesting the existence of a long-established overland trading route with the lands north of the Himalays.
Silk Road.
By the sixth century BC the expansion of the Persian Empire linked the Indus basin with the Mediterranean by overland and coastal trade routes. Indian cloth became much coverted by both the Persians and the Greeks because of its brilliant colors.
Traditional Indian Textiles - Part V [1]
Weaving in Barpali, Odisha, India.
An elderly man preparing the loom heddles.
Starching the warp with rice paste.
Late nineteenth century mural from a "haveli" (mansion) in Mandawa, Rajasthan, depicting a block printer at work.
Silk bandhani 'odhni' (shawl), from Jamnagar, Saurashtra, made for the wedding of a Gujarati woman of a wealthy family.
Detail of a grid-patterned sari (known as 'garchola'), made with 'bandhani' (tie-and-dye) work, in Mandvi, Kutch and finally dyed red in Jamnagar, Saurashtra.
Sari woven in 'muga' (wild silk) in West Nowgaon District, Assam.
'Kinkhab' (silk and metal thread) 'gaghra' (skirt), woven in Jamnagar, worn by the Kathi women of Saurashtra.
Late eighteenth century 'rumsl' (cover) depicting a marriage ceremony. Muslim embroidered either colored silks, from Chamba, in the Himalayan foothills.
Detail of contemporary 'kantha' work embroidery from Jamalpur, Bangladesh.
A mashru and mirrorwork 'odhi' (known as a 'karamulah') depicting flowers and parrots, worn at festive occasions by the Ahir women of Kutch, Gujarat.
Reference:
[1] Traditional Indian Textiles, John Gillow and Nicholas Barnard, Thames 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
Traditional Indian Textiles - Part IV
Traditional Indian Textiles - Part V
Introduction [1]
Aside from the tapestry-cloth discoveries in Central Asia at the tombs in the Altai mountains (6th - 4th centuries BC) and in Turkestan (2nd Century BC - 10th Century AD), some of which may be of Indian origin, no examples of cloth from the subcontinent were known until the copious nineteenth-century finds of trade cloth unearthed at Fustat, near Cario in Egypt some of which date back to the fifteenth century.
We have both Asian and European literary references to cloth production to shed light on the many centuries bridging these archaeological finds. Assyrian and Babylonian tablets from the seventh century BC allude to the cotton trade between Mesopotamia and the Subcontinent. From within India itself the Hindu epics such as Ramayana and the Mahabharata, as well as Buddhist sources, chart in detail the processes and uses of textiles made of cotton, linen and silk between the fifteenth and second centuries BC. The silk yarn is thought to be Chinese, suggesting the existence of a long-established overland trading route with the lands north of the Himalays.
By the sixth century BC the expansion of the Persian Empire linked the Indus basin with the Mediterranean by overland and coastal trade routes. Indian cloth became much coverted by both the Persians and the Greeks because of its brilliant colors.
Traditional Indian Textiles - Part V [1]
Weaving in Barpali, Odisha, India.
Reference:
[1] Traditional Indian Textiles, John Gillow and Nicholas Barnard, Thames and Hudson, London (1993) ISBN 0-500-27709-5.
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