¹ The chrysalis stage inside the cocoon lasts fifteen days. The female moth lays between 600 and 800 eggs. The life term of the moth is between 5 and 10 days. Association pour l'Etude et la Documentation des Textiles d'Asie, henceforth A.E.D.T.A., Problème des Fibres dans les Textiles Anciens, Paris, mimeo, Bouvier, H., ‘La production de soie par les vers, évolution de la soie dans le monde au cours des derniers siècles et situation actuelle’, p. 21.Google Scholar

² Riley, C. V., The Silkworm, being a Brief Manual of Instructions for the Production of Silk (Washington, 1882), p. 16.Google Scholar

³ Bahadur, Rai B. C., The Silk Industry of Assam (Shillong, 1915), p. 1.Google Scholar

⁴ Indian Museum Bulletin, XII, 1–2, 1977,Google ScholarSarkar, D. C., ‘Sericulture and Silk Industry in India’, henceforth Indian Museum, pp. 37, 50.Google Scholar

⁵ Wardle, T., The Wild Silks of India (London, 1880), p. 21;Google ScholarWatt, G., Dictionary of the Economic Products of India, VI, part III (New Delhi, 1972), p. 176.Google Scholar For further details relating to types of worms cited see, Indica, Diamond Jubilee Volume, 23, 1986,Google ScholarVaradarajan, Lotika, ‘Silk—Identifications within the Indian Tradition’, henceforth cited as Diamond Jubilee, p. 190.Google Scholar

⁶ Exposure to the sun was the traditional method in Bengal, Reports and Documents connected with the Proceedings of the East India Company in regard to the Culture and Manufacture of Cottonwool, Raw Silk and Indigo in India (London, 1836), henceforth Reports and Documents, Appendix (C), p. 20.Google Scholar The cocoons of the Bengal multi-voltine worms could be stored between 6 to 8 weeks prior to reeling. The muga cocoon was much more perishable and cocoons had to be reeled either by the rearers or near the place of rearing. ibid., loc. cit.; Nanavaty, M. M., Silk, From Grub to Glamour (Bombay, 1965), pp. 209–10.Google Scholar

⁷ Retention of a minimum quantity of gum is necessary to prevent tangling. In case of insufficient boiling the thread snaps in course of reeling, if it is excessive there is an increase in the amount of waste silk. Indian Museum, p. 51.Google Scholar

⁸ It is possible that terms used by Europeans such as cabessa, head, bariga, belly, and pee, foot, may have had some relation to this factor. See Prakash, Om, The Dutch East India Company and the Economy of Bengal, 1630–1720 (Princeton, 1985), p. 55.Google Scholar

⁹ Because of the structure of the cocoon, after reeling there is always a residue of waste fibre. In multi-voltine Bombyx cocoons about 45% is floss. This material is spun. Spun fibre of the mulberry feeding worm, whether from a pierced cocoon or from waste fibre is called matka. In the case of the muga worm 25% to 50% may be spun. In tasar only about 1/10 of the filament can be reeled. Spun muga is called juthori, while for tasar terms such as kete, ghicha or jhuri are used. Indian Museum, p. 72;Google ScholarNanavaty, , Silk, pp. 201–2;Google ScholarChaudhury, S. N., Muga Silk Industry (Gauhati, 1981), p. 85.Google Scholar

¹⁰ There is a difference from the point of view of pattern, not technique between the terms damask and diaper. The earliest samples of diaper, associated with Syria, are dated to between the 1st and 4th centuries A.D. Vocabulary of Technical Terms, Centre International d'Étude des Textiles Anciens (Lyon, 1964), pp. 11, 13, damask, diaper q.v.; A.E.D.T.A., Rapport no. 2, Damask, Paris, mimeo, pp. 33, 48, 65, 71.Google Scholar

¹¹ The origin of velvet is unknown but it made an appearance in Italy in the 12th century. Gluck, J., Gluck, S. H., Penton, C. J. P.A Survey of persian Handicraft (Tehran, 1977), p. 206.Google Scholar However, there is a 9th century reference to a ‘velvet-like’ material made in Egypt. Sergeant, R. B., Islamic Textiles, Material for a History up to the Mongol Conquest (Beirut, 1972), p. 19.Google ScholarThe utility of this reference, in the absence of any technical detail, is of doubtful relevance. Organzine was introduced to Bengal by the British in the period 1776–1785. Reports and Documents, p. XXVI.Google Scholar For the technical definition of organzine see Burnham, D. K., A Textile Terminology, Warp and Weft (London, 1981), p. 93,Google Scholarorganzine q.v. Gauze, however, formed a part of the Indian repertoire. For gauze see ibid., pp. 62–4. gauze q.v.

¹² Watt, , Dictionary, p. 162;Google ScholarGhosh, C. C., Silk Production and Weaving in India (Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, 1949), p. 3.Google Scholar For additional eri host plants see Nanavaty, , Silk, p. 205;Google ScholarNotes on Eri Silk, Department of Sericulture and Weaving (Assam, Shillong, no date), p. 6.Google Scholar

¹³ Jolly, M., Chowdhury, S. N., Sen, S. K., Non-Mulberry Sericulture in India, Central Silk Board (Bombay, no date), pp. 65, 67;Google ScholarWatt, , Dictionary, p. 176;Google ScholarChoudhury, , Muga Silk Industry, pp. 19, 22–4.Google Scholar

¹⁴ Indian Museum, p. 56;Google ScholarWardle, T., On the History and Growing Utilisation of Tusser Silk (London, 1891), p. 22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

¹⁵ Watt, G., however, put forward the possibility that the home of B. mori may have been Manipur. Journal of the Society of Arts, no. 2733, LIII, 1905,Google Scholar Proceedings of Society, G. Watt commenting on the paper presented by Hodson, T. C., ‘Manipur and its Tribes’, p. 562. This appears unlikely. Mulberry silk rearing in Manipur was probably introduced from outside as it was exclusively practised by the Lois. The Lois were a depressed group. They were said to have come to Manipur from the west. All those expelled from caste were absorbed among the Loi group.Google Scholar The silk weavers were Kubos, so called because it was believed that they had originally migrated from the Kubo valley in Brown, Burma R., Statistical Account of the Native State of Manipur (Calcutta, 1874), p. 90;Google ScholarDun, E. W., Gazetteer of Manipur (New Delhi, 1975, reprint Calcutta, 1886), p. 12.Google ScholarCf. Hardiman, J. P., Silk in Burma (Rangoon, 1901), pp. 3–4.Google Scholar

¹⁶ See Diamond Jubilee, p. 191. The Chinese tasar worm, A. pernyi, is associated with Shantung province.Google ScholarSylwan, Vivi, Investigations on Silk from Edsen—Gol and Lop—Nor (Stockholm, 1949), p. 15;Google ScholarWatt, , Dictionary, p. 55;Google ScholarNanavaty, , Silk, p. 196.Google Scholar

¹⁷ Eri is obtained from two worms of the Saturnia group, Attacus ricini and Attacus cynthia. The first is multi-voltine while the second, a wild variety also found in China, is bi-voltine. Nanavaty, Silk, pp. 196, 204.Google Scholar

¹⁸ Diamond Jubilee, p. 191.Google Scholar

¹⁹ Temporini, H., Haase, W., (eds), Aufstieg und Niedergang der Romischer Welt, II (Berlin, 1978),Google ScholarRaschke, M. G., ‘New Studies in Roman Commerce with the East’, pp. 606, 608–12, 617, 619, 621–3, 637. Silk was mainly gifted to tributory missions.Google Scholar

²⁰ According to the Periplus, ‘There is a great inland city called Thinae from which raw silk, silk yarn and silk cloth are brought on foot through Bactria to Barygaza and are also exported to Damiricia by way of the river Ganges’. Damaricia has been identified as the country of the Tamils. Schoff, W. H., The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea (Delhi, 1974), reprint, pp. 48, 205.Google Scholar G. Mathew dates the Periplus to the late 1st century or early 2nd century A.D. Chittick, H. N., Rotberg, R. I. (ed.), East Africa and the Orient (London, 1975),Google ScholarMathew, G., ‘The dating and significance of the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea’, p. 156.Google Scholar

²¹ Silk Museum, Yokohama; Vieil, P., La Sériculture en Indo-Chine (Hanoi), p. 1.Google Scholar Burma, which also derived its tradition from China, obtained its silk from Bombyx arracanensis. Journal of Indian Art, henceforth J.I.A., X, nos 81–8, 1904,Google ScholarHardiman, J. P., ‘Silk in Burma’, p. 25.Google Scholar

²² Silkworms reared in northern and eastern China are bi-voltine. In South China, particularly Kwangtung province, they are multi-voltine. Nanavaty, Silk, p. 49.Google ScholarSaturniidae silk producers may also be categorized in the same way. In cold climates hibernating eggs are laid. Multi-voltine worms lay non-hibernating eggs. Indian Museum, p. 34.Google Scholar

²³ Kashmir has tree rather than bush mulberry as in Bengal. It is of interest that in eight places of Bhairava (Séiva) worship in Kashmir, Bhairava is worshipped as a mulberry tree. Moti Chandra states that during the reign of Sankaravarmana, the capital city, Patan, was a famous centre for silk weaving. Zain-ul-Abedin, A.D. 1420–70, and, at a later date, the Mughals, encouraged sericulture in Kashmir. Ganju, M., Textile Industries in Kashmir (Delhi, no date), p. 190;Google ScholarPrince of Wales Museum Bulletin, no. 7, 1959–1962,Google ScholarChandra, Moti, Agrawala, V. S., ‘A note on some cultural references in Srivara Pandita's Rājatarangini’, p. 40;Google ScholarSufi, G. M. D., Kashīr, II (New Delhi, 1974), p. 574;Google ScholarBriggs, John, History of the Rise of the Mahomedan Power in India till the year A.D. 1612, IV (Calcutta, 1910), p. 445. Despite these references Kashmir cannot be taken as the prime producer of silk in India.Google Scholar See Diamond Jubilee, n. 12. With regard to Karnataka, its silk tradition commences as late as A.D. 1795 when the B. meridionalis was introduced into Mysore from China. Nanavaty, Silk, p. 129.Google Scholar

²⁴ For further discussion see Diamond Jubilee, pp. 196–7.Google Scholar

²⁵ Chatterjee, S. K., Bolts and Aryans in their Indo-European Background (Simla, 1968), p. 2;Google ScholarChatterjee, S. K., Kirāta–Jana–Krti (Calcutta, 1974), pp. 26, 35–7;Google ScholarNath, R. M., The Background to Assamese Culture (Shillong, 1948), pp. 13–14;Google ScholarChatterjee, S. K., The Places of Assam in the History and Civilization of India (Gauhati, 1970), pp. 16–18, 22–3, 30, 32;Google ScholarChaudhury, P. C., History and Civilization of Assam (Gauhati, 1966), p. 340. Cf. n. 20 above.Google Scholar

²⁶ As for instance the Maitrāyanisamhita, 3. 6. 7, and the Taittiriyasamhita, 6. 1. 1–3, dated respectively to c. 4000 B.C. and 1600 B.C. See Ananthacharya Indological Research Institute Series, no. XV, Technology in India (Bombay, 1984),Google ScholarVaradarajan, Lotika, ‘Indian Textile Technology in the Pre-Industrial period’, henceforth Technology, p. 52 and n. 5.Google Scholar

²⁷ Diamond Jubilee, p. 194. In discussion, Krishna Riboud had expressed some reservations on the identification with silk. Krishna Riboud, based in Paris, is an established authority on the subject of silk of the Han period in China.Google Scholar

²⁸ Ibid.

²⁹ Beal, S., Si-yu-ki, Buddhist Records of the Western World (London, no date), p. 75.Google Scholar

³⁰ Sen, Madhu, A Cultural Study of the Nisītha Cūrni (Varanasi, 1975), p. 152. The Nisītha Cūrni is a work dated to the second half of the 7th century.Google ScholarSarkar, S. C. (Some Aspects of the Earliest Social History of India (London, 1928), p. 59, n. 2) has taken tarpeya to be tasar silk.Google Scholar This identification has been questioned by Gopal, L. (Journal of the Social and Economic History of the Orient, IV, 1961, ‘Textiles in Ancient India’, p. 69).Google Scholar

³¹ Gulati, A. N., The Patolu of Gujarat (Museums Association of India, 1951), p. 3.Google Scholar

³² Sastri, Pandit H., Nāma-lingānuśāsana or Amarakosa of Amarasimha (Varanasi, 1970), II, 6, 111, 113;Google ScholarKane, P. W., (ed.), The Harsha carita of Bānabhatta (Delhi, 1973, reprint, Bombay, 1918), p. 54.Google Scholar

³³ Jain, J. C., Life in Ancient India as Depicted in Jain Canons (Bombay, 1947), p. 130, n. 91.Google Scholar

³⁴ Ibid., p. 129. The Niśītha Cūrni refers to Kanagga cloth, made from the golden coloured yarn of certain insects. Sen, Madhu, Cultural Study of Niśitha Cūrni, p. 153.Google Scholar

³⁵ Ibid., p. 156; Jain, , Life in Ancient India, p. 130;Google ScholarKonow, Sten, Rāja-Cekhara's Karpūra Manjarī (Delhi, 1963 reprint, 1901), p. 232.Google ScholarGopal, L. (Journal of the Asiatic Society, Bombay, henceforth J.A.S.B., 39–40, 1964–1965,Google Scholar‘The textile industry in early medieval India c. A.D. 700–1200, p. 96) cites Krtyakalpataru in which a reference to trasara silk is to be found. The term tasar had entered Bengali vernacular literature between the 16th and 18th centuries.Google ScholarGupta, T. C. Das, Aspects of Bengali Society (Calcutta, 1935), p. 281.Google Scholar

³⁶ Macdonnell, A. A., Keith, A. B., Vedic Index of Names and Subjects, I (Delhi, 1958), p. 302, Tasara, q.v.Google Scholar

³⁷ Kangle, R. P., The Kautilya Arthaśāstra, II (Bombay, 1972), pp. 104–5; 2–11. 107–14,Google ScholarKane, P. V., (History of the Dharmaśāstra, II, Pt I (Poona, 1941), p. XI), dates the Arthaśāstra to between 300 B.C.—A.D. 100.Google Scholar Professor B. N. Mukherjee (University of Calcutta, oral) is of the opinion the work should have been composed prior to the 1st century A.D. According to Winternitz, M. (History of Indian Literature, III, (Delhi, 1985), reprint, p. 631) it cannot be dated earlier than the 3rd century A.D.Google Scholar

³⁸ Diamond Jubilee, notes 34–7.Google Scholar

³⁹ ibid., notes 31–3.

⁴⁰ Allen, B. C., Monograph on the Silk Cloths of Assam (Shillong, 1899), p. 15;Google ScholarWardle, T., Handbook of the Collection Illustrative of the Wild Silks of India (London, 1881), p. 56;Google ScholarWatt, G., Dictionary, p. 183.Google Scholar

⁴¹ See Watt, , Dictionary, p. 57.Google Scholar Tavernier, c. 1666, noted of the silks produced in Assam that a lye was made from the ashes of fig leaves which made the silk as white as snow. In Kasimbazar the ashes of plantain, Musa paradisiaca were utilized to very good effect. Crooke, W., (ed.), Travels in India by Jean-Baptiste Tavernier, I (Delhi, 1977), reprint, pp. 3 and n. 2, 220–22.Google Scholar

⁴² J.A.S.B., 39–40, 1964–1965, Gopal, ‘Textile Industry’, p. 95;Google ScholarWatt., , Dictionary, p. 20;Google ScholarGhosh, , Silk Production, p. 62;Google ScholarReports and Documents, p. 40.Google ScholarThe cocoon of B. fortunatus has been described as being small in size and golden yellow in colour. Watt, Dictionary, p. 12. This worm is no longer in evidence in Bengal.Google Scholar

⁴³ The colour of tasar varied from brown to various shades of tan. Nanavaty, Silk, p. 201.Google Scholar

⁴⁴ J.A.S.B., VI, 1837,Google ScholarHugon, T., ‘Remarks on the Silkworms of Assam’, p. 22;Google Scholarcensus of India, 1891, Assam, I, Report (Shillong, 1892), p. 270;Google ScholarStack, E., Notes on some Industries of Assam from 1884 to 1895 (no place, no date), pp. 21, 23;Google ScholarRai, B. C.Bahadur, Basu, Silk Industry of Assam, pp. 2–3;Google ScholarArt and Life, Bulletin no. 9, 1969–1970, Art Study Centre, Varanasi, Gupta, R. Das, ‘Medieval Assamese Textiles as Depicted in Paintings’, p. 19.Google Scholar

⁴⁵ In Manipur also pāt silk appears to be of non-local origin as those engaging in its manufacture lost caste. See n. 15 above.Google Scholar

⁴⁶ Kane, , History of the Dharmaśāstra, II, pt I, p. 672;Google ScholarMukarji, N. G., A Monograph on the Silk Fabrics of Bengal (Calcutta, 1903), p. 66;Google ScholarJ.I.A., V, 1895, nos. 38–45, Baboo G. Mookerji, ‘Silk Industries of Murshidabad’, p. 2.Google Scholar

⁴⁷ Jacobi, H., trans., Gaina Sutras, pt I (Oxford, 1884),Google Scholar The Sutra, Akaranga, II, 5. 1, p. 157;Google ScholarJamkhedkar, A. P., Vasudevahimdi: A Cultural Study (Delhi, 1984), pp. 104–5;Google ScholarTakakasu, J., A Record of the Buddhist Religion (Delhi, 1982, reprint London, 1896), pp. 58–9.Google Scholar The Jain preference for matka silk appears to have been a later development. See Watt, G., Indian Art in Delhi, 1903 (Calcutta, n. d.), p. 303.Google Scholar

⁴⁸ Gupta, T. Das, Aspects of Bengali Society, pp. 278–80;Google ScholarRoyle, J. Forbes, The Fibrous Plants of India (London, 1855), pp. 242–3;Google ScholarTechnology, p. 54 n. 13.Google Scholar

⁴⁹ Wardle, T., Royal Commission and Government of India, Silk Court (London, 1886), p. 119. According to T. Wardle, the fibre could be used as a substitute for silk.Google Scholar

⁵⁰ Watt, , Dictionary, I, p. 472;Google ScholarRoyle, Forbes, Fibrous Plants, pp. 366–7.Google ScholarThe Europeans frequently used the word herba in references to wild silk. (Indian Antiquary, XXIX, 1900, R. C. Tunple, ‘Extracts from the log of a voyage along the coast of India in 1746’, p. 339). Perhaps there was some confusion with Urtica heterophylla called herpah in Bhutan.Google Scholar