NCERT Textbook: Textile (Living Craft Traditions of India) | Old & New NCERTs for IAS Preparation (Must Read) - UPSC PDF Download

 Page 1


Textiles are a part of Indiaís history ó its past, present,
and future. Indian textiles were found in the tombs of the
Egyptian Pharaohs, they were a sought-after export to
ancient Greece and Rome, they also became part of the
fashionable attire of both European and Mughal courts.
Suppressing and replacing the Indian handloom cotton
trade with mill-made alternatives was a key factor of the
British Industrial Revolution. That is the reason Gandhi
made handspun khadi a symbol of the Indian Independence
movement. Even today, millions of craftspeople all over
India produce extraordinary traditional textiles that appeal
to the international market.
Weaving a Tradition
Sathya sat at the big
wooden loom, throwing the
shuttle through the shining
silk threads stretched on its
frame. As he wove the warp
and weft together, the fabric
that unfolded was a
Kanjeevaram silk saree,
purple and red, with gold
tigers, elephants and
peacocks dancing together
on its resplendent pallav.
The ëthak-thakí sound of the
shuttle as it moved to and
fro had always been part of
his life. His father, and his
fatherís father, and his
fatherís fatherís father, had
all woven sarees on the
same family loomóas had
their forefathers as far back
as memory could stretch.
TEXTILES 8
Brocade work, Varanasi
Page 2


Textiles are a part of Indiaís history ó its past, present,
and future. Indian textiles were found in the tombs of the
Egyptian Pharaohs, they were a sought-after export to
ancient Greece and Rome, they also became part of the
fashionable attire of both European and Mughal courts.
Suppressing and replacing the Indian handloom cotton
trade with mill-made alternatives was a key factor of the
British Industrial Revolution. That is the reason Gandhi
made handspun khadi a symbol of the Indian Independence
movement. Even today, millions of craftspeople all over
India produce extraordinary traditional textiles that appeal
to the international market.
Weaving a Tradition
Sathya sat at the big
wooden loom, throwing the
shuttle through the shining
silk threads stretched on its
frame. As he wove the warp
and weft together, the fabric
that unfolded was a
Kanjeevaram silk saree,
purple and red, with gold
tigers, elephants and
peacocks dancing together
on its resplendent pallav.
The ëthak-thakí sound of the
shuttle as it moved to and
fro had always been part of
his life. His father, and his
fatherís father, and his
fatherís fatherís father, had
all woven sarees on the
same family loomóas had
their forefathers as far back
as memory could stretch.
TEXTILES 8
Brocade work, Varanasi
84 LIVING CRAFT TRADITIONS OF INDIA
Sathya was 17. He had learnt to weave when he was eight,
though he longed to play football with the other village boys.
New laws do not allow children below fourteen years of age to
work. But everyone in his village was involved in weaving.
The women spun the thread, and stretched the warp on the
loom. The village dyers and washermen dyed the yarn in
wonderful colours, starched, and sized the finished fabric.
Traders came to the village from all over India to buy the
sarees, while other traders from Surat brought the gold zari
thread with which they were woven. The village economy
depended on women continuing to wear these traditional
sarees for weddings, festivals, and special occasions. Sathyaís
father had a picture cut-out from a magazine of a famous film
star in one of his sarees.
Sathyaís grandfather was now too frail and blind to weave
the intricate sarees. He told Sathya stories of the days, many
hundred years ago, when South Indian weavers were one of
the richest communities in India. Their wealth built the huge
temples and funded royal armies.
Whole communities were known for their weaving skills, and
their surnames proudly denoted their trade ó Vankars in
Gujarat, Ansaris in UP, Mehers in Orissa ó just as the Kutchi
Khatris were dyers and printers.
Sathya knows that these days even highly skilled weavers
are desperately poor, even though their sarees are worn only
by the very rich.  Weavers depend on traders for loans in order
to pay for the expensive silk and gold yarn from which the
sarees are woven. Machine-made sarees made in the big
industrial mills and cheap synthetic silk copies from China are
taking over the market. Kanjeevaram saree,
Tamil Nadu
Page 3


Textiles are a part of Indiaís history ó its past, present,
and future. Indian textiles were found in the tombs of the
Egyptian Pharaohs, they were a sought-after export to
ancient Greece and Rome, they also became part of the
fashionable attire of both European and Mughal courts.
Suppressing and replacing the Indian handloom cotton
trade with mill-made alternatives was a key factor of the
British Industrial Revolution. That is the reason Gandhi
made handspun khadi a symbol of the Indian Independence
movement. Even today, millions of craftspeople all over
India produce extraordinary traditional textiles that appeal
to the international market.
Weaving a Tradition
Sathya sat at the big
wooden loom, throwing the
shuttle through the shining
silk threads stretched on its
frame. As he wove the warp
and weft together, the fabric
that unfolded was a
Kanjeevaram silk saree,
purple and red, with gold
tigers, elephants and
peacocks dancing together
on its resplendent pallav.
The ëthak-thakí sound of the
shuttle as it moved to and
fro had always been part of
his life. His father, and his
fatherís father, and his
fatherís fatherís father, had
all woven sarees on the
same family loomóas had
their forefathers as far back
as memory could stretch.
TEXTILES 8
Brocade work, Varanasi
84 LIVING CRAFT TRADITIONS OF INDIA
Sathya was 17. He had learnt to weave when he was eight,
though he longed to play football with the other village boys.
New laws do not allow children below fourteen years of age to
work. But everyone in his village was involved in weaving.
The women spun the thread, and stretched the warp on the
loom. The village dyers and washermen dyed the yarn in
wonderful colours, starched, and sized the finished fabric.
Traders came to the village from all over India to buy the
sarees, while other traders from Surat brought the gold zari
thread with which they were woven. The village economy
depended on women continuing to wear these traditional
sarees for weddings, festivals, and special occasions. Sathyaís
father had a picture cut-out from a magazine of a famous film
star in one of his sarees.
Sathyaís grandfather was now too frail and blind to weave
the intricate sarees. He told Sathya stories of the days, many
hundred years ago, when South Indian weavers were one of
the richest communities in India. Their wealth built the huge
temples and funded royal armies.
Whole communities were known for their weaving skills, and
their surnames proudly denoted their trade ó Vankars in
Gujarat, Ansaris in UP, Mehers in Orissa ó just as the Kutchi
Khatris were dyers and printers.
Sathya knows that these days even highly skilled weavers
are desperately poor, even though their sarees are worn only
by the very rich.  Weavers depend on traders for loans in order
to pay for the expensive silk and gold yarn from which the
sarees are woven. Machine-made sarees made in the big
industrial mills and cheap synthetic silk copies from China are
taking over the market. Kanjeevaram saree,
Tamil Nadu
85 TEXTILES
Indian hand-crafted textiles are unique today for their
variety and beauty. This is a living craft, practised by millions
of craftspeople ó many in their teens and twenties. No other
country in the world has a weaving tradition that goes back
thousands of years and is still part of the mainstream economy.
Sathya and other young craftspeople like him make India
special and proud.
Yarn, Threads and Fibres
In the story about Sathya you read about many aspects of
weaving. You came across terms like ëyarní, ëloomí and
ëshuttleí, ëwarpí and ëweftí, ëstarchingí and ësizingí, ëtradersí
and ëweaversí. Some of the fibres commonly used in textile
weaving are:
? cotton
? silk
? wool
? mixture of the above
? gold and silver thread, etc.
Cotton: It has been cultivated in India since the Harappan
Civilisation. Raw cotton is a round fluffy white ball growing
on a bush about three feet high. Earth, seeds and other
impurities are removed from the cotton balls by ginning.
The loose fibres of cotton are collected and bowed with a
bow made of canes and the string of the mid-rib of a banana
leaf. The vibration of the string fluffs and loosens the cotton.
It is spun on a charkha or spinning wheel to the required
thickness and texture and is then ready for weaving.
Warli representation of
gathering and spinning
cotton, Maharashtra
A variety of cotton fabrics were woven all over the country,
ranging from course, strong gauzes to the finest of muslins,
that represent the highest achievement of the cotton-
weaving industry in India.
Indian muslins were used as shrouds for royal Egyptian
mummies, and used as garments to adorn Mughal
emperors 3000 years later. Delicate muslin cottons were
given poetic names like ëflowing waterí (abrawan), ëevening
dewí (shabnam), and ëwoven airí (bafthava), by their court
poets. Now they are commissioned by national and
international designers!
Cotton Shawl, Gujarat
Page 4


Textiles are a part of Indiaís history ó its past, present,
and future. Indian textiles were found in the tombs of the
Egyptian Pharaohs, they were a sought-after export to
ancient Greece and Rome, they also became part of the
fashionable attire of both European and Mughal courts.
Suppressing and replacing the Indian handloom cotton
trade with mill-made alternatives was a key factor of the
British Industrial Revolution. That is the reason Gandhi
made handspun khadi a symbol of the Indian Independence
movement. Even today, millions of craftspeople all over
India produce extraordinary traditional textiles that appeal
to the international market.
Weaving a Tradition
Sathya sat at the big
wooden loom, throwing the
shuttle through the shining
silk threads stretched on its
frame. As he wove the warp
and weft together, the fabric
that unfolded was a
Kanjeevaram silk saree,
purple and red, with gold
tigers, elephants and
peacocks dancing together
on its resplendent pallav.
The ëthak-thakí sound of the
shuttle as it moved to and
fro had always been part of
his life. His father, and his
fatherís father, and his
fatherís fatherís father, had
all woven sarees on the
same family loomóas had
their forefathers as far back
as memory could stretch.
TEXTILES 8
Brocade work, Varanasi
84 LIVING CRAFT TRADITIONS OF INDIA
Sathya was 17. He had learnt to weave when he was eight,
though he longed to play football with the other village boys.
New laws do not allow children below fourteen years of age to
work. But everyone in his village was involved in weaving.
The women spun the thread, and stretched the warp on the
loom. The village dyers and washermen dyed the yarn in
wonderful colours, starched, and sized the finished fabric.
Traders came to the village from all over India to buy the
sarees, while other traders from Surat brought the gold zari
thread with which they were woven. The village economy
depended on women continuing to wear these traditional
sarees for weddings, festivals, and special occasions. Sathyaís
father had a picture cut-out from a magazine of a famous film
star in one of his sarees.
Sathyaís grandfather was now too frail and blind to weave
the intricate sarees. He told Sathya stories of the days, many
hundred years ago, when South Indian weavers were one of
the richest communities in India. Their wealth built the huge
temples and funded royal armies.
Whole communities were known for their weaving skills, and
their surnames proudly denoted their trade ó Vankars in
Gujarat, Ansaris in UP, Mehers in Orissa ó just as the Kutchi
Khatris were dyers and printers.
Sathya knows that these days even highly skilled weavers
are desperately poor, even though their sarees are worn only
by the very rich.  Weavers depend on traders for loans in order
to pay for the expensive silk and gold yarn from which the
sarees are woven. Machine-made sarees made in the big
industrial mills and cheap synthetic silk copies from China are
taking over the market. Kanjeevaram saree,
Tamil Nadu
85 TEXTILES
Indian hand-crafted textiles are unique today for their
variety and beauty. This is a living craft, practised by millions
of craftspeople ó many in their teens and twenties. No other
country in the world has a weaving tradition that goes back
thousands of years and is still part of the mainstream economy.
Sathya and other young craftspeople like him make India
special and proud.
Yarn, Threads and Fibres
In the story about Sathya you read about many aspects of
weaving. You came across terms like ëyarní, ëloomí and
ëshuttleí, ëwarpí and ëweftí, ëstarchingí and ësizingí, ëtradersí
and ëweaversí. Some of the fibres commonly used in textile
weaving are:
? cotton
? silk
? wool
? mixture of the above
? gold and silver thread, etc.
Cotton: It has been cultivated in India since the Harappan
Civilisation. Raw cotton is a round fluffy white ball growing
on a bush about three feet high. Earth, seeds and other
impurities are removed from the cotton balls by ginning.
The loose fibres of cotton are collected and bowed with a
bow made of canes and the string of the mid-rib of a banana
leaf. The vibration of the string fluffs and loosens the cotton.
It is spun on a charkha or spinning wheel to the required
thickness and texture and is then ready for weaving.
Warli representation of
gathering and spinning
cotton, Maharashtra
A variety of cotton fabrics were woven all over the country,
ranging from course, strong gauzes to the finest of muslins,
that represent the highest achievement of the cotton-
weaving industry in India.
Indian muslins were used as shrouds for royal Egyptian
mummies, and used as garments to adorn Mughal
emperors 3000 years later. Delicate muslin cottons were
given poetic names like ëflowing waterí (abrawan), ëevening
dewí (shabnam), and ëwoven airí (bafthava), by their court
poets. Now they are commissioned by national and
international designers!
Cotton Shawl, Gujarat
86 LIVING CRAFT TRADITIONS OF INDIA
Secret of Silk
Some textile traditions came to us from other parts of the worldójust
as silk came to India from China. According to legend, the Chinese had
banned the export of silk worms; however, they were smuggled into
India by Chinese Buddhist monks in the hollow shafts of their cane
walking sticks.
The thread is classified by its thickness: the thinner the
thread, the higher the number of counts, and the finer the
fabric. Its fineness and its absorption quality make it an
ideal fabric for the heat of the Indian summer.
Silk: It is made from the cocoon of a cream-coloured moth
which feeds on the leaves of the mulberry tree. The
caterpillar of the silk moth spins an oval cocoon of very
fine silk, the size of a pigeonís egg. The silk is generally
yellow, but sometimes white.
About 1600 silk worms produce nearly 500 grams of silk
and one hectare of land produces enough mulberry leaves
to feed caterpillars that can produce 46 kg of silk. It takes
about seven days for the cocoon to be fully spun round
with silk.
The cocoons are collected and sorted into different qualities
and then boiled. The silk thread is reeled and twisted, dried
and polished. It is then wound on a spindle and spun. The
softness, the lustre and the tensile quality of silk make it
one of the most prized materials for weaving fabrics.
Silk cocoon
Kanjeevaram saree,
Tamil Nadu
Mashru and Himru, Gujarat
Ikat silk saree, Orissa
Mix of Silk and Cotton: Another glorious fabric is mashru,
a lustrous weave from Gujarat, patterned in brilliant
multi-coloured stripes, or dots as fine as rice grains.
Though it appears like silk it is not really silk. Mashru,
and himru, have a twisted weave with a silk underside to
replicate the look and feel of satin while technically
remaining cotton.
Tussar, Eri and Moga: India is the only source of tussar
silk that comes from the Antheria Assamia moth, which
feeds on the leaves of the Som and Wali trees. Tussar silk
has a coarse, uneven texture and a slightly yellowish
brown colour. Since it is less strong in texture and cannot
be refined it does not have the same sheen or fineness as
mulberry silk.
Women weavers of Assam make their traditional mekla-
chador costumes with golden moga and eri silk, which
come from worms that feed on Ashoka and castor leaves
rather than mulberry leaves.
Page 5


Textiles are a part of Indiaís history ó its past, present,
and future. Indian textiles were found in the tombs of the
Egyptian Pharaohs, they were a sought-after export to
ancient Greece and Rome, they also became part of the
fashionable attire of both European and Mughal courts.
Suppressing and replacing the Indian handloom cotton
trade with mill-made alternatives was a key factor of the
British Industrial Revolution. That is the reason Gandhi
made handspun khadi a symbol of the Indian Independence
movement. Even today, millions of craftspeople all over
India produce extraordinary traditional textiles that appeal
to the international market.
Weaving a Tradition
Sathya sat at the big
wooden loom, throwing the
shuttle through the shining
silk threads stretched on its
frame. As he wove the warp
and weft together, the fabric
that unfolded was a
Kanjeevaram silk saree,
purple and red, with gold
tigers, elephants and
peacocks dancing together
on its resplendent pallav.
The ëthak-thakí sound of the
shuttle as it moved to and
fro had always been part of
his life. His father, and his
fatherís father, and his
fatherís fatherís father, had
all woven sarees on the
same family loomóas had
their forefathers as far back
as memory could stretch.
TEXTILES 8
Brocade work, Varanasi
84 LIVING CRAFT TRADITIONS OF INDIA
Sathya was 17. He had learnt to weave when he was eight,
though he longed to play football with the other village boys.
New laws do not allow children below fourteen years of age to
work. But everyone in his village was involved in weaving.
The women spun the thread, and stretched the warp on the
loom. The village dyers and washermen dyed the yarn in
wonderful colours, starched, and sized the finished fabric.
Traders came to the village from all over India to buy the
sarees, while other traders from Surat brought the gold zari
thread with which they were woven. The village economy
depended on women continuing to wear these traditional
sarees for weddings, festivals, and special occasions. Sathyaís
father had a picture cut-out from a magazine of a famous film
star in one of his sarees.
Sathyaís grandfather was now too frail and blind to weave
the intricate sarees. He told Sathya stories of the days, many
hundred years ago, when South Indian weavers were one of
the richest communities in India. Their wealth built the huge
temples and funded royal armies.
Whole communities were known for their weaving skills, and
their surnames proudly denoted their trade ó Vankars in
Gujarat, Ansaris in UP, Mehers in Orissa ó just as the Kutchi
Khatris were dyers and printers.
Sathya knows that these days even highly skilled weavers
are desperately poor, even though their sarees are worn only
by the very rich.  Weavers depend on traders for loans in order
to pay for the expensive silk and gold yarn from which the
sarees are woven. Machine-made sarees made in the big
industrial mills and cheap synthetic silk copies from China are
taking over the market. Kanjeevaram saree,
Tamil Nadu
85 TEXTILES
Indian hand-crafted textiles are unique today for their
variety and beauty. This is a living craft, practised by millions
of craftspeople ó many in their teens and twenties. No other
country in the world has a weaving tradition that goes back
thousands of years and is still part of the mainstream economy.
Sathya and other young craftspeople like him make India
special and proud.
Yarn, Threads and Fibres
In the story about Sathya you read about many aspects of
weaving. You came across terms like ëyarní, ëloomí and
ëshuttleí, ëwarpí and ëweftí, ëstarchingí and ësizingí, ëtradersí
and ëweaversí. Some of the fibres commonly used in textile
weaving are:
? cotton
? silk
? wool
? mixture of the above
? gold and silver thread, etc.
Cotton: It has been cultivated in India since the Harappan
Civilisation. Raw cotton is a round fluffy white ball growing
on a bush about three feet high. Earth, seeds and other
impurities are removed from the cotton balls by ginning.
The loose fibres of cotton are collected and bowed with a
bow made of canes and the string of the mid-rib of a banana
leaf. The vibration of the string fluffs and loosens the cotton.
It is spun on a charkha or spinning wheel to the required
thickness and texture and is then ready for weaving.
Warli representation of
gathering and spinning
cotton, Maharashtra
A variety of cotton fabrics were woven all over the country,
ranging from course, strong gauzes to the finest of muslins,
that represent the highest achievement of the cotton-
weaving industry in India.
Indian muslins were used as shrouds for royal Egyptian
mummies, and used as garments to adorn Mughal
emperors 3000 years later. Delicate muslin cottons were
given poetic names like ëflowing waterí (abrawan), ëevening
dewí (shabnam), and ëwoven airí (bafthava), by their court
poets. Now they are commissioned by national and
international designers!
Cotton Shawl, Gujarat
86 LIVING CRAFT TRADITIONS OF INDIA
Secret of Silk
Some textile traditions came to us from other parts of the worldójust
as silk came to India from China. According to legend, the Chinese had
banned the export of silk worms; however, they were smuggled into
India by Chinese Buddhist monks in the hollow shafts of their cane
walking sticks.
The thread is classified by its thickness: the thinner the
thread, the higher the number of counts, and the finer the
fabric. Its fineness and its absorption quality make it an
ideal fabric for the heat of the Indian summer.
Silk: It is made from the cocoon of a cream-coloured moth
which feeds on the leaves of the mulberry tree. The
caterpillar of the silk moth spins an oval cocoon of very
fine silk, the size of a pigeonís egg. The silk is generally
yellow, but sometimes white.
About 1600 silk worms produce nearly 500 grams of silk
and one hectare of land produces enough mulberry leaves
to feed caterpillars that can produce 46 kg of silk. It takes
about seven days for the cocoon to be fully spun round
with silk.
The cocoons are collected and sorted into different qualities
and then boiled. The silk thread is reeled and twisted, dried
and polished. It is then wound on a spindle and spun. The
softness, the lustre and the tensile quality of silk make it
one of the most prized materials for weaving fabrics.
Silk cocoon
Kanjeevaram saree,
Tamil Nadu
Mashru and Himru, Gujarat
Ikat silk saree, Orissa
Mix of Silk and Cotton: Another glorious fabric is mashru,
a lustrous weave from Gujarat, patterned in brilliant
multi-coloured stripes, or dots as fine as rice grains.
Though it appears like silk it is not really silk. Mashru,
and himru, have a twisted weave with a silk underside to
replicate the look and feel of satin while technically
remaining cotton.
Tussar, Eri and Moga: India is the only source of tussar
silk that comes from the Antheria Assamia moth, which
feeds on the leaves of the Som and Wali trees. Tussar silk
has a coarse, uneven texture and a slightly yellowish
brown colour. Since it is less strong in texture and cannot
be refined it does not have the same sheen or fineness as
mulberry silk.
Women weavers of Assam make their traditional mekla-
chador costumes with golden moga and eri silk, which
come from worms that feed on Ashoka and castor leaves
rather than mulberry leaves.
87 TEXTILES
Wool: It is spun from the fleece of animals. Sheep wool is
the most common, but in India goat wool, camel hair, and
ibex hair is also used. In North India the angora rabbit is
bred for its fine, long, very soft and silky hair. Its warmth,
tensile strength and resistance to fire, give this wool its
special quality.
The fame of the Kashmiri Jamawar shawl can be gauged
from the fact that the English word ëshawlí is derived from the
Persian ëshalíóa length of woven woollen fabric. Shawl weaving
in Kashmir was introduced by the ruler Zain-ul-Abidin in the
fifteenth century bringing in Turkistan weavers to teach
the twill tapestry technique to local weavers. As many as
fifty colours were used on one shawl.
The rough goat wool dhablas worn by shepherds and
camel herders in Kutch and the Thar Desert have been
reinvented into wonderful contemporary shawls, home
furnishings and throws. Today designers are translating
indigenous motifs and colours from tribal shawls of the
North-east and Kinnauri shawls of Himachal into softer
merino and sheep wool.
Jamawar shawl, Kashmir
The celebrated Kashmiri shahtoosh ëring shawlí made from the fleece of
the wild Himalayan ibex is so fine that a metre of this woollen shawl
can pass through a manís signet ring. Production and sale is banned
today for ecological reasons and to prevent the extinction of the ibex.
Weaving it was a fine art, wearing it now a forbidden luxury.
Woollen shawls from
different states of India