The earliest surviving evidence of Indian textiles dates back to 4000BC. Excavations have proven that people of the Indus Valley wove cotton and dyed them indigo. It has also come to light that civilizations like Egypt, Rome, and China imported fabrics from India, and traditional Indian textiles have always been the country's main export goods.
India's cultural and geographical diversity, climate, and natural resources have been contributing generously to enrich the legacy of the country's textiles, from raw materials to weaving, dying, and embellishing.
Some of the most popular fabrics of traditional Indian textiles are:
Khadi: Hand spun and hand woven, natural material, that suits all Indian climates.
Pashmina: From Kashmir, pashmina is a fabric made of the finest goat wool and embroidered by hand. Pashmina is expensive because of the delicate wool and arduous embellishments.
Chanderi: Chanderi blends sheer fine cotton fabric with silk threads and gold or silver zari.
Banarasi: From Banaras, Uttar Pradesh. Has fine gold or silver brocade work on silk with Mughal-inspired motifs like flowers, fruits, and leaves.
Kanchipuram: Kanchipuram, from Tamil Nadu, is three-ply pure silk with heavy zari borders and sophisticated patterns.
Mysore Silk: Mysore silk of Karnataka, with narrow zari borders, is known for its simple, minimalistic look.
Paithani: From Aurangabad, Maharashtra, Paithani uses zari on silk. Birds like peacocks and other floral motifs are common on Paithani fabric borders.
Kinnauri Shawls: Kulu, Himachal Pradesh, is home to Kinnauri shawls woven from wool. Weavers use five colors of threads to symbolize the five elements of nature to embroider the shawl.
Jamdani: Word meaning of Bengal's Jamdani is flower vase, and it was patronized by the Mughals. This fine muslin textile is woven with cotton and gold threads.
Celebrated prints and embroidery of traditional Indian textiles:
Ikat: A dyeing technique that uses resist dyeing, intentional bleeding, and geometrical patterns. Pochampally, ikat has won Pochampally of Telangana the status of UNESCO world heritage site.
Sambalpuri: A type of handwoven ikat from Sambalpur, Odisha.
Patola: From Patan, Gujarat, is double woven ikat in silk.
Muga Silk: Garo tribe of Assam weaves Muga silk and embroiders it in vibrant hues.
Kasavu: Kerala Kasavu technique uses fine gold or silver threads to weave borders to fine cotton or silk.
Kalamkari: Hand-painted or hand-blocked cotton. Srikalahasti and Machilipatnam are the two types of Kalamkari in India.
Ajrakh: A printing technique from Gujarat and Rajasthan using block prints and natural dyes.
Bagru: Indigo-dominated dyeing and hand blocking, again from Rajasthan.
Bandhani: From Gujarat and Rajasthan, bandhani is a tie and dye fabric where the fabric is tied in tiny knots and dyed. The knotted parts remain undyed.
Chikankari: A Persian-origin embroidery on cotton, muslin, and organza fabrics in cool pastel shades.
Phulkari: Native to Punjab, phulkari is flower embroidery with silk threads.
Bhagalpuri, Lepcha, Kota, Mangalgiri, Sangneri, etc., are some of the other traditional textiles of India.
The future of the Indian textile industry
The textile industry provides direct and indirect employment to millions. Indian fabrics have always been globally in demand. However, today, due to factors like high competition, not having access to the latest technology, internal policies, etc., the industry is struggling to meet global standards.
Traditional Indian textiles is a medley of the finest silk, airy light cotton, delicate wool, natural dyes like indigo, unique dyeing, and hand printing techniques. Let us hope that we can come up with remedies to find the lost past glory of Indian textiles.
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