Textile Legacy of India

The Textile Legacy of India is one of it’s most vital components. The rich cultural and ethnic diversity of India is very vast yet flamboyant! A wide array of textiles exists and their brightness, variety of colours and earthy appeal are unique and unparalleled. No other country in the world can boast of such fabrics made with a wide variety of techniques, where all of them are indigenous and have been practiced since ancient times as a way of life.

The ancient scriptures of India such as The Ramayana, Mahabharata, Rigveda- all have an account of the finesse possessed by Indian textiles. Paintings of Ajanta and Ellora caves depicts figures that are covered with decorated fabric. The most ancient civilization of the world i.e. the Harrapan Civilisation was practicing spinning and wearing more than five millenniums ago. The advanced textile knowledge can be traced back to 5 thousand years ago (2600 - 1900 BCE / several spindles have been found at the excavated sites. Examples of patterned fabrics have been traced back to 2500 B.C.

Textile printing and production of sophisticated textiles was a fairly extensive industry in India since pre-historic times. There are numerous references of weaving. The Vedic literature found while excavating the Harappan sites have brought to life light the evidence of the existence of cotton fibre cultivation, advanced dyeing techniques, tools used for weaving and stitching needles as well as fragments of dyed cotton cloth. At an excavation site in Mohenjo-Daro, stone bust of a supposed Priest- king with left shoulder draped in a stole with a foil design interspersed with small circles with their interiors filled in with pigment have been found. Textiles have always played an important value in trade in India. Rome, China, Egypt, Britain- everywhere, traces have been found of Indian textiles. Global trade systems were formed on the export of Indian fabrics and the hand. Making clothes continues to shape India today.

Recently, our Union Textile Minister Smriti Irani said India will become self- reliant in silk production in the next two years. She also said that India’s raw silk production has increased significantly in the last six years. On the eve of international women's Day, the minister also distributed Buniyaad Reeling Machines to women silk reelers with an aim to eradicate unemployment and empower women. Indian textile sector has a lot of potential but it has to be facilitated with exponential technology and skilled artisans. India has a wide variety of textiles. Here are some of the fabrics/embroideries of India:

KHADI

Indian Khadi is a hand spun, hand-woven natural fibre cloth. Also known as Khaddar during the British era, it has always been depicted as purely Indian. One can say it's a Swadeshi fabric. Fibres are spun into a spinning wheel called charkha!

KALAMKARI - Andhra Pradesh

Kalamkari is a type of hand - painted silk block printed-cotton textile. There are two distinctive styles of Kalamkari art in India- Srikalahasti style and the Machilipatnam style. The Srikalahasti style of Kalamkari is done using a pen for freehand drawing of pattern and filling in the colors are entirely done by hand. Machilipatnam style of Kalamkari work involves vegetable dyed block-painting of a fabric.

BANARASI SILK - Varanasi , Uttar Pradesh

Banarasi silk is known for it’s opulent gold and silver Zari embroidery on fine silk. The Sari is decorated with intricate designs inspired by Mughal floral and foliate motifs, mango leaves motifs and Minakari work.

CHIKANKARI Embroidery – Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh

Chikankari is an art, which gives the best of all results. It transforms the plainest cotton into flowing yards of magic. Chikankari is a long running work of threads, basically six strands of thread. The word “chikan” comes from a Persian word “chic” which referred to the Jali work on marble or wood. Chikankari is a long running or darning stitch worked with six strands on the right side on the fabric taken over four threads and picking up one. Other styles of embroidery are backstitch, chainstitch, bakiya and jari work.

SAMBALPUR FABRIC – sambalphur, odisha

Sambalphuri is a traditional Hand woven bikat wherein the warp and the weft are tie–dyed and before wearing. The fabric incorporates of traditional motifs like shanka (shell), chakra (wheel), phula (flower). In this technique, the threads are tie–dyed and later woven into a fabric with the entire process taking many weeks.

CHANDERI – Madhya Pradesh

A beautiful blend of cotton, silk thread and zari results in Chanderi fabric. Traditional looms are used as primary means of production. These include dobby of jacquard looms. Most chanderis have a rich gold border and butis all over fabric. The finished fabric is extremely transparent and which in consequence results in sheer texture.

PAITHANI BROCADE Aurangabad, Maharashtra

The art of wearing Paithanis is 200 years old. The fabric looks exactly same on the both sides. It is mode of silk with an ornamented zari on pallu and borders. Traditional vines and flowers and shapes of fruits and stylized forms of birds especially peacocks are used as motifs is weaved in rainbow colours.

PASHMINA, Kashmir

Pashmina is mode from cream-coloured goats’ wool having intricate embroidery. Pashmina means soft gold in Kashmiri. Some designs are hand block printed and these blocks sometimes date back to more than 100 years. It takes a week to get single shawl of pashmina. Hand embroidery is done on shawl which takes more time to make the end product.

KANJIVARAM, Tamil Nadu

Kanjivaram is woven from pure mulberry silk with three ply using thick zari forming unique and different designs in the saree. Weavers use korvai method of weaving in which innovative, different colours of yarn is used for the body and the border are interlinked.

The Indian government has taken a lot of initiative to boost the textile production of India but we as citizens can do a lot- such as buying handloom work and going for ethnic fashion rather than buying westernized clothing. Scientists also need to resolve main issues pertaining to it’s slow production, and designers brands need to rethink how handloom and every day fashion can go hand in hand. We need to understand and respect the skills and dignity of people who put their heart and soul in handloom products like the people and the villages behind textile work. Only then can India's great textile legacy survive.

- Abhishek Rajpoot