India's textile heritage: cotton, silk and wool

An ancient tradition. Making fine cloth in India is as old as Indian civilisation itself. The Rig Veda and the Upanishads describe the universe as 'a fabric woven by the Gods', and compare day and night to the movement of the weaver's shuttle. At Mohenjo-Daro, archaeologists found cloth fragments, terracotta spindles and bronze needles, showing that spinning, weaving, dyeing and embroidery in India are at least 5,000 years old. Images of clothed figures in sculpture and paintings, and references in ancient literature, tell us more.

India was among the first civilisations to master colour on cloth, especially cotton. Its dyed and printed cottons were exported widely and praised for being colourfast: Greek and Latin writers said 'colour on Indian fabrics is as lasting as wisdom'. From about the 15th century India was the greatest textile exporter the world had known, and the European East India Companies were set up largely for the textile trade. Indian cloth is made from three main natural fibres: cotton, silk and wool.

Cotton. India is called the home of cotton; Greeks and Romans first described it as 'wool that grew on trees'. Indian cotton was famous for two things:

• Fineness: Dacca (now in Bangladesh) produced the royal muslin, mulmul khas, so fine it was given poetic names such as baft-hava ('woven air'), abe-rawan ('flowing water') and shabnam ('evening dew'). The Jamdani, a figured muslin of Bengal, is one of the finest brocades.
• Fast dyes: until the 17th century, only Indians had mastered the chemistry of dyeing cotton with lasting colours. Painted and printed cotton, chintz, transformed European fashion, and Indian craftspeople were called 'the master dyers to the world'.

Silk brocades. A brocade has extra pattern yarns of silk, cotton or gold and silver (zari) woven in between the regular weave. Famous centres:

• Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh): the kinkhwab brocade, so splendid and costly its name means 'golden dream'.
• Baluchar Butedar (Murshidabad, West Bengal; now also woven in Varanasi): silk saris whose pallav (end piece) tells stories: scenes from epics, royal courts and travellers with palanquins.
• Gujarat: Ashavali saris of Ahmedabad, with gold or silver backgrounds and coloured patterns that look enamelled, often with human, animal and bird motifs.
• Kanchipuram (Tamil Nadu): saris with bird and animal motifs, rich brocaded pallavs and deep colours.
• Paithan (Maharashtra): silk saris in gold tapestry weave, the oldest decorative weave, with motifs glowing like jewels; tapestry weave looks the same on both sides.
• Other zari brocade centres: Surat, Ahmedabad, Agra, Delhi, Burhanpur, Tiruchirapalli and Thanjavur.

Wool belongs to the colder regions: the hills of Ladakh, Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, the North-East, and parts of Punjab and Rajasthan. Besides sheep's wool, the hair of mountain goats, rabbits and camels is used.

• Kashmir shawls, woven in complex tapestry weave in many colours from the 14th century under Persian influence, used pashmina and shahtus (hair of mountain goats). The Mughals promoted them, and the mango or paisley motif became their hallmark.
• Akbar is said to have introduced Jamawar shawls, large enough to be cut into garments.
• Kullu (Himachal Pradesh) shawls have geometric motifs in horizontal bands; Kullu also weaves pattu and dohru wraps.

These traditions carry social, religious and economic meaning, and many centres are now reviving and adapting them for contemporary use.