Research Paper Abstract
Muslin is an exquisitely lightweight, sheer, and finely woven cotton. Literature from ancient to recent early colonial history shows that this textile was being produced exclusively by hand in the Dhaka region of Bengal (previously known as Dacca). Only spinners and weavers of the Sonargaon region of Dhaka, which is in current-day Bangladesh, knew how to handle the fine muslin fibers. Even the cotton used to produce it (phuti karpas) was locally grown, and is now extinct.* Muslins of varying quality were both locally used and exported to the Roman and Ottoman Empires. Maritime trade can be traced back to pre-modern times, reaching areas such as Venice, Portugal, and China. By the seventeenth century, the very finest muslin from Bengal (mulmul khas) began to be worn exclusively by the Mughal court. In the eighteenth century, muslin cloth was worn by influential and fashionable women in Europe, such as Marie Antoinette (1755-93) and Empress Joséphine (1763-1814). The desirability of Bengali muslin can be inferred by several references in the novels of Jane Austen and Leo Tolstoy. Recent scholarship on muslin has traced its ancient history, to its eventual loss due to colonial presence, to the revival of muslin weaving traditions in the aftermath of the partition of India in 1947, and the eventual birth of Bangladesh in 1971. This essay will begin by describing the history of muslin from pre-modern India to the revival efforts of the source cotton and to techniques being used in current-day Bangladesh. A connection between the past glory of muslin and the present-day identity-building of Bangladesh is less often addressed. The competitive desire to own the finest possible qualities of muslin has now been replaced by a desire to revive the hand weaving of muslin, regardless of its quality. The recently constructed 6.5 km long Padma Bridge incorporated a mural featuring muslins, specifically the geometric and intricate designs of jamdānī, a surviving variety of muslin. This paper will explore how jamdānī muslin, a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, is important to the identity of Bangladesh. Both jamdānī and Dhaka muslin recently received Geographical Identification (GI). Finally, I examine how the rise of industrialization and change in colonial import policies affected the hand-woven muslin industry. My methodology includes a content analysis of Muslin by Sonya Ashmore, The Art of Cloth in Mughal India by Sylvia Houghteling, as well as essays by several scholars in India in Fashion: The Impact of Indian Dress and Textiles on the Fashionable Imagination by Hamish Bowles. My paper is informed by interviews of people involved in the revival of weaving and the use of jamdānī in fashion.
*some phuti kharpas sample plants have been found by the Bengal Muslin Project established in 2014.