http://www.chillibreeze.com/articles/The-ten-most-beautiful-Indian-textiles.asp
The Ten Most Beautiful Indian Textiles *[image: In this article the writer gives ten tips on the most beautiful Indian textiles]chillibreeze writer — *Usha Balagopal<http://www.chillibreeze.com/articles/The-ten-most-beautiful-Indian-textiles.asp#a> India has a wide range of textiles of varied designs and manufactured by different techniques when compared to other countries of the world. The specialty in the weave of the textiles in each region is developed based on location, climate and cultural influences. The rich and beautiful products of the Indian weavers have been rightly called, "exquisite poetry in colorful fabrics". Ten of the most beautiful textiles of India have been chosen keeping in mind the uniqueness in the weave, texture and quality. 1. KHADI At a time when speed and precision have been the hallmark of production technology, the wholly hand spun, hand woven and hand printed khadi cloth epitomizes a product of ultimate uniqueness and luxury. Hand-spun yarn is used in making khadi and this activity is mainly carried out in the rural areas of India. The handlooms producing khadi weave the cotton in such a way that the interlacing of threads provides the maximum passage of air. It is thus cool and absorbent when worn in the scorching summer and surprisingly suitable in winter too. Today khadi is neither the metaphor nor choice for clothing of India's poor as envisioned by the 'father of the nation', Mahatma Gandhi. The handcrafted khadi is definitely a material of excellence that distinguished, and will do so always, Indian cottons throughout the world. Khadi cotton and silk textiles are some of the most expensive fabrics today and definitely one of the most beautiful textiles of India. 2. MUGA SILK OF ASSAM Another beautiful but lesser known textile of India is from Assam, a state in the northeast of India. This textile is not only sensuous and beautiful but also durable and strong. Muga silk is used in sarees and traditional Assamese attire, 'mekhla chaddar'. Assam's golden silk is from a caterpillar, Antheraea assama. As many as 28000 families are known to be associated with the culture of muga silk in the state. Designs on the silk are inspired from nature and familiar objects. The influence of architecture is evident too. Even the stone carvings from the Madan Kamdev Temple have been incorporated in the weave. Muga silk is available all over India, but much more needs to be done to promote the production of this beautiful Indian textile. 3. COTTON TEXTILE OF MANIPUR. Manipur is famous for its special fabrics like moiraingphee, lasingphee and phanek. Tribal textile is woven on a loin-loom type of back-strap loom commonly used by hill people, Weaving is universal and every girl knows how to weave. The loom forms part of her dowry. Weaving by women is for personal use, while men do organized commercial weaving. The traditional dress of the women here is 'phanec', which is a colourful striped wrap-around and an 'innaphi' that covers the upper part of the body. From a thick hand spun fabric that was essentially for personal use it is now a fine muslin textile combining both beauty and simplicity in its wrap and weft. The extraordinary flora and fauna of this state has inspired the textile motif. This is truly one of the best textiles of India. 4. WOOL FROM KASHMIR. India has never been an important producer of woolen textiles but the superb shawls of Kashmir, incorporating true works of art and the craftsman's nimble skill, make it one of the most beautiful textiles of India. The Kashmir shawls are pre-Mughal in origin and design. Apart from Kashmir, high quality shawls are made in Amritsar and Ludhiana. Woolen fabric for dresses and drapery are also woven. The 'Pashmina' shawl of Kashmir popularly known as the 'ring shawl' is so exquisite and fine that it can be passed through a mans signet ring. This fabric is made from 'pashm' that is the wool of 'Capra hircus', a species of the wild Asian mountain goat. The state also produces brocaded woolen fabric. 5. DORIA OF KOTA [Rajasthan] The KOTA DORIA is one of the best textiles of India. It has undergone various changes in texture over the years and is the name given to saris woven at Kaithoon. Kota doria uses two types of yarn, a thick one of 80 counts and a fine one of 20 counts. At times silk is added with the cotton yarn and there is also pure silk. The Kota doria has some special features. The yarn used is the very best. It is given further resilience by polishing it with starch and 'kanji', something not done anywhere else. 6. TIE AND DYE FABRICS India has many varieties of tie and dye fabrics. This form involves a good mastery over dyeing. The use of resist or barriers to protect certain portions of the fabric from the dye is a way of enabling several colors to be used on the same textile. There are several resistance techniques and the most popular is the 'tie and dye' technique. Its uniqueness places it rightfully as one of the ten best textiles of India. In Rajasthan the dyeing of fabrics has been an important craft. Chunari, lahariya mothra and bandhani are the various forms. Textile dyeing has been fashioned here in conformity with social beliefs and traditions. Bandej work is done all over Rajasthan but Shekhawat bandej is the finest. Among the common names in bandej are doongarshahi [hill shaped], kat-ka-lahariya [single striped] and ladoo- jalebi [a big circle in the center and a small circle on every side] and so on. Another special feature of Jaipur is dyeing two sides of a cloth in different colors. 7. IKAT FABRICS Indian textile prowess throughout the world, from ancient times to present, has rested largely on India's unrivalled skills in dying and weaving. Textiles dyed and woven in ikat technique are very popular. These include the satin weave of South India, the double-ikat silk patola of Gujarat, and simple cotton saris from Orissa and Tamil Nadu. This is also a resist dyeing technique. Here the resist is applied not to the woven fabric but to the yarns. Gujarat is the heartland of ikat because of its being the source of the 'patola'-the Indian ikat par excellence. The simpler ikats of the Deccan and South India are popular too. 8. BANARASI BROCADE India's fabric of dreams is the Banarasi brocade known as 'Kinkhab'. It is an interweaving of colored silk and gold threads to form the most attractive floral designs. The brocades are without doubt India's most gorgeous and most fascinating silken fabrics. An extra weft of gold thread runs across the warp with motifs picked up in silk threads. Another variety has warp and weft of gold thread with patterns. Some brocade has the background material woven in silver zari and the patterns in gold thread material woven in silver thread. It is said that when Lord Buddha attained Nirvana his mortal remains were wrapped in Banaras brocade. 9. SOUTH INDIAN SILK South Indian silk, mainly made into sarees, is unique in texture and design. It is commonly styled into 'kornad' sarees, which originated in Kornad or Tanjore in Tamil Nadu. The best come from Dharmavaram and Arni in A.P, Kanchipuram in T.N and Kollegal in Mysore. These sarees are woven with the finest of silk; the designs are traditionally Indian with special stress on borders and pallavs. The kanchipuram have contrasting border and pallav woven with a variety of zari motifs such as 'rudraksham', 'malli mogu', 'gopuram' etc. Andhra Pradesh is famous for the 'pochampally' silk sarees with geometrical designs. 10. MUSLIN WEAVES OF BENGAL The muslin weaves of Bengal enjoyed a unique place and undisputable supremacy in the world market for centuries. Bengal handloom industry always reigned supreme for cotton textiles. Muslin is a finely woven gauze-like cotton fabric, named 'woven air' because of its delicate quality. The wonderful hand woven muslin of Dacca is a thing of the past. But the weavers who have migrated to India practice the same style in West Bengal. Different colored threads are intricately woven, with several needles, on unbleached cotton. Today muslin is produced in Varanasi, Jaipur, Hyderabad and Madurai. Embroidered muslin of Uttar Pradesh, printed muslin of Tirchirapalli in Tamil Nadu, flowered muslin of Gujarat and the beautiful jamdani are all very popular. This fine fabric also finds its place as one of the ten best textiles of India. In India, fabrics and garments have been an integral part of life. They are reminiscent not only of the beauty of the past, but also a catalyst to future entrepreneurs. Indian craftsmen are constantly being reminded and encouraged to move with the times and bring innovations to their designs. The world's leading couturiers have fashioned India's timeless fabrics into garments that mesmerize the world with their beauty and splendor. Chillibreeze's disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not reflect the views of Chillibreeze as a company. Chillibreeze has a strict anti-plagiarism policy. Please contact us to report any copyright issues related to this article. Out of 5 "chilies", our editorial team gave this article... [image: Rating 3] ------------------------------ *—About our writer: * Usha writes for chillibreeze. -- Babul Gogoi 011-29817150 / 9868182079
_______________________________________________ assam mailing list [email protected] http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
