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History of Bengal Muslin
By
Rupak Barua
ID-17101260
Date:13th March 2017
Ex MBA in Apparel Merchandising
CFTM (College of Fashion Technology & Management)

This Report Presented in Partial Fulfillment of
the Requirements for the Degree of
EMBA in Apparel Merchandising
Course Code: CC101
Course Title: Textile Science
Prepared under the supervision & inspiration of
Mr. Musfiqur Rahman Sadiq
Lecturer, CFTM
“BY THE NAME OF ALMIGHTY BUDDHA”

What is Bengal/Dhakai Muslin?
-Bengal Muslin is a light cotton fabric of plain weave, finely woven and typically white in
color
-Other name of Muslin is wind silk, woven of Air
-It is natural and hand made
-it is ultra light, glossy and fine that one yard of the fabric weight only 10 grams
-six yard of fabric could pass through in a ring of the index finger.

The history of Muslin is very old.
Durgadas Lahiri has mentioned in Bharatbarsher Itihas that in 1462 BC most mummies of
Egypt were covered in muslins.
The thread count was thick.
Another earliest known reference to the muslin fabric is in Chanakya’s Arthashastra from
the 4th century BC.

Classificationof BENGALMuslin
Muslin fabric quality ranging from the finest texture used by the highly aristocratic
people, the emperor, nawabs and so on,
- down to the coarse thick wrapper used by the poor people.
Muslins were designated by names denoting either fineness or transparency of texture,
or the place of manufacture or the uses to which they were applied as articles of dress.
There are 13 name of Muslin -
1. Malmal : The finest sort of Muslin was called Malmal/Malmal Shahi or Malbul Khas.
It was costly, and the weavers spent a long time, sometimes six months, to make a
piece. It was used by emperors, nawabs etc.
2. Jhuna â€™ was used by native dancers.
3. Rang â€™ was very transparent and net-like texture.

4. Abirawan â€™ was fancifully compared with running water.
5. Khassa â€™ was special quality, fine or elegant.
6. Shabnam â€™ was as morning dew.
7. Alaballee â€™ was very fine.
8. Tanzib â€™ was as the adorning the body.
9. Nayansukh â€™ was as pleasing to the eye.
10. Buddan khas â€™ was a special sort of cloth.
11. Seerbund â€™ used for turbans.
12. Kumees â€™ used for making shirts.
13. Doorea â€™ was striped.
14. Charkona â€™ was chequered cloth.
15. Jamdanee â€™ was figured cloth.

There are many stories about the
transparent quality of the mulmul khas.
One of the most enduring is that of
Emperor Aurangzeb blaming his
daughter princess Zeb-un-Nisa, for
appearing in transparent dress in court.
She replied, to the wondering her father,
that her dress, in fact, consisted of seven
separate layers of muslin.

What is thread count (TC)?
-Technically, thread count or “TC” refers to the total number of threads in every square inch
of a fabric.
-400 above thread count used for Muslin cloth
-Cotton with a thread count of 150 to be normal quality fabric,
-higher thread count makes softer/finer cloth

-legendary fabric Muslin
-a 50 miter fabric could be squeezed into a match box!!!!

Bengal Muslin-The forgotten art of world
fine hand made weave fabric.

The Approximate Technology -
Muslin thread was spun in intensely humid conditions, usually in the morning and evening,
and then only by young women, whose soft fingers worked with water bowls around them
to moisten the air, or else beside riverbanks or on local boats.
They often sang as they spun, and if the river was shrouded in fog, passing travelers
brought back tales of muslin being made by mermaids singing in the mist.
Even the seeds for the next planting season were specially treated to keep them ready to
germinate.
After being carefully selected and dried in the sun, they were put in an earthen pot in
which ghee (clarified butter) had been kept. Its mouth was sealed airtight, then it was hung
from the ceiling of the hut at the height of an average individual over the kitchen fire to
keep it moderately warm.

The most delicate, the very lightest of fibers were spun into muslin thread, and this was
obtained by using a dhunkar, a bamboo bow tautly strung with catgut.
The special bow for muslin cotton was small, and only women did the work—presumably
because a light touch was needed. When it was strummed (dhun also means a light raga in
classical Indian music) in a distinctive way,
The lightest fleece from the cotton pile separated from the heavier fibers and rose into
the air.
One theory is that the strumming, by vibrating the air over the cotton pile, reduced its
pressure enough to allow the very lightest fibers to be pulled upward.
It was these finest of fibers—a mere eight percent of the total cotton harvest—that went
into the making of the finest muslin.
Indeed, Dhaka muslin was woven out of air

Thriving only along riverbanks near
Dhaka and to its south, Gossypium
arboreum var. neglecta, known locally as
phuti karpas, was spun to create threads
that maintained tensile strength at
counts higher than any other cotton
species.

Is Muslin lost?
-Dhakai Muslin was one of the purest, simplest, most gentle and most perfect fabrics in
the world, which is lost.
-weather and cotton were the most important factor to make the Muslin-no more
-the skilled worker and women –no more
-Brahmaputra/Shitalakkha river (environment) and white (Phuti)Corpus cotton –no more
This is happened after the defeat in Battle of Palashi:1757

How the Muslin technology forgotten?
In one word we can say –yes. after the defeat of Siraj Ud Daulla 1757.
In eighteenth century, the Bengali muslin industry was ruthlessly suppressed by various
colonial policies,
The East India Company policy, which favored imports of industrially manufactured
textiles from Britain.
Then the brutality to muslin weavers was intense.
William Bolts, a legendary merchant noted in 1772 that there were instances where
“thumbs were cut off” in order to stop the production of wind silk (Muslin).

Since young I have been hearing from people – family members, teachers, etc. –
talk about how the British cut off the hands or thumbs and tongues of Bengal
weavers in order to stop and destroy the production of Muslin, the famous
textiles of Bengal.
The torturing was designed to prevent weavers from undertaking weaving and
the cutting off of tongues were said to have been for the purpose of preventing
the weavers from passing on the knowledge of weaving through words of
mouth.

The E.I.C appointed local spy – Gomosta, they worked like Mirzafor for getting the prize
from ECI. They played crucial role for torturing the local weavers
Also the British systematically destroyed the muslin production by levying a 70–80% tax
on domestic muslin fabrics.
The East India Company also destroys – the white (Phuti)Corpus cotton tree
The East India Company wanted to sell their own cotton goods, and they destroyed the
local industry.
As a result, the quality of muslin suffered greatly and its finesse was nearly lost in two
centuries.

The new age Muslin: Jamdani
Only jamdani, known as “figured muslin” due to the flower and abstract motifs woven
on it, survived to the present times.
Its breathability, the open weave and lightweight fabric of muslin allows for airflow,
reducing the risk of overheating.

In our culture, Jamdani still famous and used in traditional occasion's like marriage

The use of Muslin in modern edge
-for Baby cloth
-for Bandage / medicine
-backing of cloth
-filtering etc
That’s all for the Muslin

Surprisingly still no Drama or Film made on Bengal Muslin history!!!!
300 years back

Muslin the forgotten art of bengal

The Muslin festival 2016, Dhaka National Museum
How did they do it? How did they make a storied cloth that, when wet
with evening dew, became invisible against the grass below?
German scholar Annemarie Schimmel put it well when she wrote of
their “Supreme ability to create amazing works of art with tools
which appear extremely primitive today.… Who today could weave
the fabric described as ‘woven air’?”

I believe that Muslin &
Jute - The Golden Fiber of Bangladesh
Will return back with upgrade technology and will play a vital role in our economy.
Additional:

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Muslin the forgotten art of bengal

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