Muslin the forgotten art of bengal

History of Bengal Muslin

By

Rupak Barua

ID-17101260

Date:13th March 2017

Ex MBA in Apparel Merchandising

CFTM (College of Fashion Technology & Management)

This Report Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of

EMBA in Apparel Merchandising

Course Code: CC101Course Title: Textile Science

Prepared under the supervision & inspiration of

Mr. Musfiqur Rahman Sadiq

Lecturer, CFTM

“BY THE NAME OF ALMIGHTY BUDDHA”

What is Bengal/Dhakai Muslin?

-Bengal Muslin is a light cotton fabric of plain weave, finely woven and typically white in color-Other name of Muslin is wind silk, woven of Air-It is natural and hand made-it is ultra light, glossy and fine that one yard of the fabric weight only 10 grams -six yard of fabric could pass through in a ring of the index finger.

The history of Muslin is very old.

Durgadas Lahiri has mentioned in Bharatbarsher Itihas that in 1462 BC most mummies of Egypt were covered in muslins. The thread count was thick.

Another earliest known reference to the muslin fabric is in Chanakya’s Arthashastra from the 4th century BC.

Classification of BENGAL Muslin

Muslin fabric quality ranging from the finest texture used by the highly aristocratic people, the emperor, nawabs and so on,- down to the coarse thick wrapper used by the poor people.

Muslins were designated by names denoting either fineness or transparency of texture, or the place of manufacture or the uses to which they were applied as articles of dress.

There are 13 name of Muslin -1. Malmal : The finest sort of Muslin was called Malmal/Malmal Shahi or Malbul Khas. It was costly, and the weavers spent a long time, sometimes six months, to make a piece. It was used by emperors, nawabs etc.

2. Jhuna ’ was used by native dancers.

3. Rang ’ was very transparent and net-like texture.

4. Abirawan ’ was fancifully compared with running water.

5. Khassa ’ was special quality, fine or elegant.

6. Shabnam ’ was as morning dew.

7. Alaballee ’ was very fine.

8. Tanzib ’ was as the adorning the body.

9. Nayansukh ’ was as pleasing to the eye.

10. Buddan khas ’ was a special sort of cloth.

11. Seerbund ’ used for turbans.

12. Kumees ’ used for making shirts.

13. Doorea ’ was striped.

14. Charkona ’ was chequered cloth.

15. Jamdanee ’ was figured cloth.

There are many stories about the transparent quality of the mulmul khas.

One of the most enduring is that of Emperor Aurangzeb blaming his daughter princess Zeb-un-Nisa, for appearing in transparent dress in court.

She replied, to the wondering her father, that her dress, in fact, consisted of seven separate layers of muslin.

What is thread count (TC)?-Technically, thread count or “TC” refers to the total number of threads in every square inch of a fabric. -400 above thread count used for Muslin cloth-Cotton with a thread count of 150 to be normal quality fabric,-higher thread count makes softer/finer cloth

-legendary fabric Muslin -a 50 miter fabric could be squeezed into a match box!!!!

Bengal Muslin-The forgotten art of world fine hand made weave fabric.

The Approximate Technology -

Muslin thread was spun in intensely humid conditions, usually in the morning and evening, and then only by young women, whose soft fingers worked with water bowls around them to moisten the air, or else beside riverbanks or on local boats.

They often sang as they spun, and if the river was shrouded in fog, passing travelers brought back tales of muslin being made by mermaids singing in the mist.

Even the seeds for the next planting season were specially treated to keep them ready to germinate.

After being carefully selected and dried in the sun, they were put in an earthen pot in which ghee (clarified butter) had been kept. Its mouth was sealed airtight, then it was hung from the ceiling of the hut at the height of an average individual over the kitchen fire to keep it moderately warm.

The most delicate, the very lightest of fibers were spun into muslin thread, and this was obtained by using a dhunkar, a bamboo bow tautly strung with catgut.

The special bow for muslin cotton was small, and only women did the work—presumably because a light touch was needed. When it was strummed (dhun also means a light raga in classical Indian music) in a distinctive way,

The lightest fleece from the cotton pile separated from the heavier fibers and rose into the air.

One theory is that the strumming, by vibrating the air over the cotton pile, reduced its pressure enough to allow the very lightest fibers to be pulled upward.

It was these finest of fibers—a mere eight percent of the total cotton harvest—that went into the making of the finest muslin.

Indeed, Dhaka muslin was woven out of air

Thriving only along riverbanks near Dhaka and to its south, Gossypiumarboreum var. neglecta, known locally as phuti karpas, was spun to create threads that maintained tensile strength at counts higher than any other cotton species.

Is Muslin lost?

-Dhakai Muslin was one of the purest, simplest, most gentle and most perfect fabrics in the world, which is lost.-weather and cotton were the most important factor to make the Muslin-no more-the skilled worker and women –no more-Brahmaputra/Shitalakkha river (environment) and white (Phuti)Corpus cotton –no more

This is happened after the defeat in Battle of Palashi:1757

How the Muslin technology forgotten?

In one word we can say –yes. after the defeat of Siraj Ud Daulla 1757.

In eighteenth century, the Bengali muslin industry was ruthlessly suppressed by various colonial policies,The East India Company policy, which favored imports of industrially manufactured textiles from Britain. Then the brutality to muslin weavers was intense.

William Bolts, a legendary merchant noted in 1772 that there were instances where “thumbs were cut off” in order to stop the production of wind silk (Muslin).

Since young I have been hearing from people – family members, teachers, etc. –talk about how the British cut off the hands or thumbs and tongues of Bengal weavers in order to stop and destroy the production of Muslin, the famous textiles of Bengal.

The torturing was designed to prevent weavers from undertaking weaving and the cutting off of tongues were said to have been for the purpose of preventing the weavers from passing on the knowledge of weaving through words of mouth.

The E.I.C appointed local spy – Gomosta, they worked like Mirzafor for getting the prize from ECI. They played crucial role for torturing the local weavers

Also the British systematically destroyed the muslin production by levying a 70–80% tax on domestic muslin fabrics.

The East India Company also destroys – the white (Phuti)Corpus cotton tree The East India Company wanted to sell their own cotton goods, and they destroyed the local industry.As a result, the quality of muslin suffered greatly and its finesse was nearly lost in two centuries.

The new age Muslin: Jamdani

Only jamdani, known as “figured muslin” due to the flower and abstract motifs woven on it, survived to the present times.

Its breathability, the open weave and lightweight fabric of muslin allows for airflow, reducing the risk of overheating.

In our culture, Jamdani still famous and used in traditional occasion's like marriage

The use of Muslin in modern edge

-for Baby cloth-for Bandage / medicine-backing of cloth-filtering etc

That’s all for the Muslin

Surprisingly still no Drama or Film made on Bengal Muslin history!!!!

300 years back

To be continue…....

The Muslin festival 2016, Dhaka National Museum

How did they do it? How did they make a storied cloth that, when wet with evening dew, became invisible against the grass below?German scholar Annemarie Schimmel put it well when she wrote of

their “Supreme ability to create amazing works of art with tools

which appear extremely primitive today.… Who today could weave

the fabric described as ‘woven air’?”

I believe that Muslin &Jute - The Golden Fiber of BangladeshWill return back with upgrade technology and will play a vital role in our economy.

Additional:

The End