Muslin
Muslin is a cotton fabric of plain weave. It is made in a wide range of weights from delicate sheers to coarse sheeting. It is commonly believed that it gets its name from the city of Mosul, Iraq.
Muslin was produced in different regions of the Indian subcontinent; the Bengal region was the main manufacturing area. While there were several cotton production centers in Bengal, the clothe produced in Sonargaon, 15 miles from east of Dhaka, was of the highest quality in the subcontinent. As Dhaka became the capital of Mughal Bengal following its conquest by the Mughals, the Muslin produced around Dhaka became more accessible to distant markets, including Central Asia where fine muslin was known as "Daka". The muslin produced at Dhaka, Sonargaon and its surrounding areas was of excellent quality, which is popularly known as Dhaka Muslin. Muslin was made in Dhaka from very fine yarn, which is made from a cotton called Phuti karpas, endemic to Bangladesh. A minimum of 300-count yarn was used for the muslin, making the muslin as transparent as glass. There were about 28 varieties of muslin, of which jamdani is still widely used. During the 17th and 18th centuries, Mughal Bengal emerged as the foremost muslin exporter in the world, with Dhaka as capital of the worldwide muslin trade. In the latter half of the 18th century, muslin weaving ceased in Bengal due to cheap fabrics from England.
In India in the latter half of the 20th century and in Bangladesh in the second decade of the 21st century, initiatives were taken to revive muslin weaving, and the industry was revived. Dhakai Muslin was recognized as a Geographical Indication product of Bangladesh in 2020 and Banglar Muslin was recognized as a Geographical Indication product of the Indian state of West Bengal in 2024. In 2013, Jamdani weaving art of Bangladesh included in the list of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO under the title Traditional art of Jamdani Weaving.
Etymology
The dictionary Hobson Jobson published by two Englishmen named S. C. Burnell and Henry Yule mentions that the word muslin comes from 'Mosul'—a famous trading center and city in Iraq. Mosul produced a very fine cloth, which became known as muslin in Europe.An alternative etymology traces the word muslin to Masulipatnam, a prominent port town on the Coromandel Coast of India that was a major center for cotton textile production and export from the early medieval period. Masulipatnam was well known to Arab, Persian, and later European traders—particularly the Portuguese, Dutch, and English—for its fine cotton fabrics, including lightweight plain-woven cloths comparable to what later came to be called muslin in Europe. Some scholars have suggested that European merchants may have derived the term muslin from the name of this port, in a manner similar to other textlile names such as calico and denim, reflecting a common practice of naming fabrics after their principal places of trade rather than their sites of manufacture.
History
Early period
A kingdom called 'Ruhma' is found in the Sulaiman al-Tajir written by the 9th century Arab merchant Sulaiman, where fine cotton fabrics was produced. There were cotton fabrics so fine and delicate that a single piece of cloth could be easily moved through the ring. Very fine cotton cloth was made in Mosul in the 12th century and later. Arab traders carried it to Europe as a commodity, and enchanted Europeans called it muslin; since then the very fine and beautiful cotton cloth came to be known as muslin. In 1298 AD, Marco Polo described in his book The Travels that muslin is made in Mosul, Iraq. Ibn Battuta, a Moroccan traveler who came to Bengal in the middle of the 14th century, praised the cotton cloth made in Sonargaon in his book The Rihla. Chinese writers who came to Bengal in the fifteenth century praised cotton cloth.Mughal period
The muslin industry flourished in Bengal between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries. The main muslin production centers in Bengal during this period were Dhaka and its surrounding areas. The 16th-century English traveller Ralph Fitch lauded the muslin he saw in Sonargaon. He visited India in 1583, described Sonargaon, "as a town ... where there is the best and finest cloth made in all India". During the reign of Emperor Jahangir, Islam Khan Chishti shifted the capital from Rajmahal to Dhaka in 1610 AD, Dhaka gained prominence as the center of trade and commerce of Bengal. During this period the muslin produced in Dhaka achieved excellence, and the muslin produced here became world famous as Dhakai muslin. Mughal Emperor Akbar's courtier, Abul Fazal, praised the fine cotton fabric produced in Sonargaon. Abul Fazl wrote "the Sarkar of Sonargaon produces a species of muslin very fine and in great quantity". European traders began arriving in the Bengali capital of Dhaka in the early seventeenth century, and these traders procured cotton cloth and muslin from Bengal for export to Europe.During the 17th and 18th centuries, Mughal Bengal emerged as the foremost muslin exporter in the world, with Mughal Dhaka as capital of the worldwide muslin trade. It became highly popular in 18th-century France and eventually spread across much of the Western world. Dhaka muslin was first showcased in the UK at The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations in 1851.
Decline under Company rule
During the period of Company rule, the East India Company imported British-produced cloth into the Indian subcontinent, but became unable to compete with the local muslin industry. The Company administration initiated several policies in an attempt to suppress the muslin industry, and muslin production subsequently experienced a period of decline. It has been alleged that in some instances Indian weavers were rounded up and their thumbs chopped off, although this has been refuted by historians as a misreading of a report by William Bolts from 1772. Many of the threatened weavers fled East Bengal and settled in the eastern districts of West Bengal, these districts were famous for the cotton products of Bengal. The quality, fineness and production volume of Bengali muslin declined as a result of these policies, continuing when India transitioned from Company rule to British Crown control.Revive: 1950s–present
Bangladesh
In the second decade of the 21st century, a scheme called Bangladesh Golden Heritage Muslin Yarn Manufacturing Technology and Muslin Cloth Restoration was undertaken to restore and develop the muslin production system in Bangladesh. Under this project, samples of muslin from different countries including India, Britain were inspected and data collected. Old maps of the Meghna River were examined and combined with modern satellite imagery to identify possible locations – where phuti carpus plants could still be found. From there, the genetic sequences of the recovered cotton plants were made and compared with the original ones. After testing, a carpus plant was identified, which was 70 percent identical to the Futi carpus. An island in the Meghna, 30 km north of Dhaka, was selected for the production of this corpus, where some seeds were sown experimentally in 2015, and the first cotton was harvested that year. But at that time there were no skilled spinners in Bangladesh to produce fine yarn. On the other hand, Indian spinners were able to produce 200-300-400-500 count fine yarn from cotton. As a result, in joint venture with Indian spinners, a hybrid yarn of 200 and 300 count was produced by combining common and futi corpus cotton. At least 50 tools were needed to make cloth from yarn, which had to be reinvented, as they disappeared with muslin. Ultimately, a weaver is able to weave a saree with a thread count of 300, which is nowhere near the quality of real Dhaka muslin; But much better quality than what the weavers of many generations past have woven.is implementing the first phase of the project titled Bangladesh's Golden Heritage Muslin Yarn Manufacturing Technology and Muslin Cloth Reviving, and the Revival work was completed in 2020. Dhakai Muslin was recognized as a GI product on 28 December 2020. The declared the official revival of fine Dhaka Muslin in April 2022.
In 2022, the Dhakai Muslin House was built on the banks of Shitalakshya river at Rupganj under Tarab municipality of Narayanganj district. The second phase of the project named ‘Dhaka Muslin Commercialization’ begins in 2023.
India
To revive Bengal muslin, two muslin production centers were set up by the Khadi and Rural Industries Commission, one at Basowa in Birbhum district of West Bengal, and the other at Panduru in Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh. Under the patronage of former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, Kalicharan Sharma took the lead in reviving the lost fame of muslin in Basowa, Birbhum district of West Bengal, with the help of some spinners. He soon found the dry climate of Birbhum quite unsuitable for spinning muslin yarn. Later he shifted his work center to the neighboring district of Murshidabad, and chose Chowk Islampur as the site of this weaving industry. Chowk Islampur, situated on the banks of the Bairab River, a tributary of the Padma, is an ancient village famous for spinning and weaving since the days of the East India Company. After India's independence, the village had already gained a reputation for high-quality silk weaving. A muslin training center was started at Chowk Islampur in 1955 under the supervision of Kalicharan Sharma.At first experiments were started on spinning yarn with traditional Kishan Charkha, but it was not possible to make more than 250 counts on this traditional Charkha. Kalicharan Sharma did further experiments and research and developed a highly sensitive six spindle Ambar Charkha capable of spinning 500 count yarn. This new Charkha was able to reduce the cost of production and increase the wages of spinners. The use of this ambar Charkha proved to be effective and promising for the regeneration of muslin. To concentrate on muslin spinning, the Khadi Society constructed a separate spacious two-storied building at Berhampore in 1966.
The Government of West Bengal launched "Project Muslin" in 2013 with Khadi. The aim in this initiative was to revive the muslin fabric and support the weavers. Through this project, weavers from Murshidabad, Nadia, Maldah, Burdwan, Birbhum, Hooghly and Jhargram districts who are capable of weaving muslin cloth were identified. All these weavers are provided training and technical assistance to produce high quality muslin. Weavers are capable of producing 500 counts of muslin; Some weavers have been able to weave 700 count muslin. Project Muslin was able to expand the production of muslin in different parts of West Bengal. Muslin products produced in West Bengal include handkerchiefs, dhoti, bed sheets and men's and women's clothing. According to 2015 data, the products were priced between ₹400 and ₹25,000, while some premium sarees in this category were priced between ₹70,000 and ₹150,000.