The essentials
India has one of the oldest textile traditions in the world. Cotton was used very early: cotton fibres have been found at Mehrgarh, and a fragment of cotton cloth dyed with madder comes from Mohenjo-daro. Indian cotton cloth was famous in ancient and medieval trade. The fine muslin of Bengal (especially Dhaka) was highly prized.
Indian dyers mastered mordant dyeing, using metallic salts to fix colours such as red from madder and blue from indigo (the word comes through Greek from "Indikon", meaning Indian). Techniques include:
- Block printing with carved wooden blocks.
- Kalamkari: designs drawn and painted with a pen (kalam), associated with Srikalahasti and Machilipatnam.
- Bandhani: tie-and-dye, especially in Gujarat and Rajasthan.
- Ikat: threads are tie-dyed before weaving; Patola of Patan is a double ikat in which both warp and weft are dyed.
- Brocades of Banaras and Jamdani of Bengal.
Writing technology: Ancient Indians wrote on palm leaves (talapatra), birch bark (bhurjapatra, especially in Kashmir and the north), cloth, wooden boards, stone and metal. Land grants were often engraved on copper plates. In south India, letters were incised on palm leaves with an iron stylus and then rubbed with soot or lampblack to make them visible; in the north, ink (mashi) and reed pens were common. Paper spread in India from around the 13th century. Manuscripts were stored carefully, sometimes with protective treatments against insects.
Key points
- Cotton: Mehrgarh; madder-dyed cloth at Mohenjo-daro.
- Mordants fix dyes; indigo and madder.
- Kalamkari, bandhani, ikat, patola, jamdani.
- Palm leaf, birch bark, copper plates; stylus and ink.
Exam tips
- Learn each textile technique with its region.
Common mistakes
- Confusing ikat (dyeing threads before weaving) with block printing (printing on woven cloth).