Today cotton is an integral part
of textiles in India. Nearly four million handlooms are engaged in
weaving fabrics of nearly 23 different varieties of cotton. It was a
piece of cotton stuck to a silver vase and some spindles discovered in
excavations which revealed that the spinning and weaving of cotton was
known to the Harrappans, nearly five million years ago.
References to weaving are found in the Vedic literature. Method
of spinning, the various materials used etc. are also mentioned in these
ancients scripts. The history of Textiles is told many times over in the
epics, the Puranas, the Graeco- Roman sources of Indian history, and the
classical Tamil Sangam Literature. Various techniques of weaving,
designing, needle work etc have survived through the centuries
The foundations of the Indian textile trade with other countries began
as early as the second century BC. Kalyan, a port, is place in that time
from where textiles were exported. A variety of fabrics, including
cotton brocade, is mentioned in Chinese literature as Indian products
exported to China.
A
hoard of block printed and resist dyed fabrics, mainly of Gujrati
origin, found in the tombs of Fostat, Egypt, are the proof of large
scale Indian export of cotton textiles to the Egypt in earlier times.
They were exported in the early medieval times. Some of these motifs
were found similar to those mentioned in the Western Indian manuscripts
in the 13th century. There are others which have resemblence to the
block printed fabrics, in Gujrat.
The silk fabric, was a popular item of Indian exports to Indonesia
around the 13th century, where these were used as barter for spices.
Towards the end of the 17th century, the British East India Company had
begun exports of Indian silks and various other cotton fabrics to other
countries. These included the famous fine Muslin cloth of Bengal, Bihar
and Orissa. The trade in painted and printed cottons or chintz, a
favorite in the European market at that time, was extensively practised
between India, China, Java and the Phillipines, long before the arrival
of the Europeans.
Before the introduction of mechanised means of spinning in the early
19th century, all Indian cottons and silks were hand spun and hand
woven, a highly popular fabric, called the khadi.
