Muslin (মসলিন) is one type of very fine cotton fabric, which is known worldwide as Dhakai Muslin. Local artisans in Dhaka city and surrounding areas used to make muslin with a very thin cotton yarn named Phuti Karpas. The origin of the word ‘Muslin’ is unclear. It is thought that the word ‘Muslin’ is derived from Mosul, an ancient trading center in Iraq. During the Mughal period, after the capital of Bengal was shifted to Dhaka, the popularity of Dhakai Muslin increased. The Mughal emperor and aristocrats patronized the expansion of muslin industry in Dhaka. In those days, fine muslins were purchased in huge quantity by provincial governors, emperors, high officials and elite class people.
Dhaka used to produce a wide variety of muslin fabrics. Very fine and high-quality fabrics were woven specially for the emperors, viziers, nawabs and elite class people while thick and heavy fabrics were woven for the poor. Depending on the fine quality, transparency, source of production and use, Dhakai Muslin was named Malmal (মলমল), Jhuna (ঝুনা), Rongo (রঙ্গ), Abrawan (আবিরাওয়ান), Khash (খাস), Shubnam (শবনম), Alaballee (আলাবালি), Tanzeb (তনজিব), Nyansookh (নয়ন-সুখ), Jamdani (জামদানি) etc. Among various types of Muslin, Jamdani is still used by people. The name of the finest Muslin was Malmal. These are quite expensive, and it would take the weaver a long time, even up to six months, to weave this type of fabric. It was made exclusively for the nawabs and royal figures.
It is said that garments made of Muslin were so fine that a 50-meter-long muslin could be packed easily in a matchbox. In the nineteenth century, after the establishment of British rule in India, 70-80 percent tax was levied on locally made garments whereas only 2-4 percent tax was levied on imported garments made in Britain. As a result, local weavers lost their interest in making muslin fabric. It is said that the British colonial rulers cut off the thumb fingers of the weavers to stop the production of muslin.
Muslin is a glorious monument of the rich ancient tradition of Bangladesh. In the first century AD, during the golden era of the Roman empire, the aristocratic Roman women loved to show off their bodies wearing the muslin made in Dhaka. The book titled “Periplus of the Erythraean Sea”, written in the same century contains special information about muslin. Here, the thick muslin is mentioned as molochina (মলোচিনা), wide and smooth muslin as monachi (মোনাচি) and the best muslin as Gangetic or Gangajali muslin (গেনজেটিক বা গঙ্গাজলী). Interestingly “Gangajali” (গঙ্গাজলী) or “Gangar Jol” (গঙ্গার জল) saree was mentioned in the twentieth-century ballad of Sonai Bibi. For example,
“Oh
Brother! the sari she wore. (পরথমে পাইড়াইল শাড়ি ভাইরে)
Called
Gangar Jol. (শাড়ি নামে গঙ্গার জল)
When
you try to hold it (নুখেতে নইলে শাড়ি)
It
would slip away from your grasp (আরও করে টল্মল রে)
If
you put the sari in water (পানিতে থইলে গো শাড়ি)
It
will disappear (শাড়ি পানিতে মিলায়)
If
you put it in the dry place (শুখেনায় থইলে শাড়ি ভাইরে)
Ants will carry it away.” (পিঁপড়ায় টাইন্যা লইয়া যায় রে)
Here, we can find a striking resemblance between the description of muslin narrated by foreigners in the first century and the description given in the local ballad, which has been orally passed down. That means the memory of muslin for two thousand years has remained alive in the consciousness of the people of secular Bangladesh. While searching the history of muslin, we can find the mention of Dhakai Muslin in the writings of many historians from Herodotus, Strabo of the ancient time to Ptolemy and Pliny.
Researcher Wood and other scholars have found that Dhakai Muslin was able to gain special fame in ancient Assyria and Babylon. Wilford commented: Dhakai Muslin is mentioned in a Babylonian textile encyclopedia. Dhakai Muslin was used in the luxuries of ancient Egyptian civilization. Archeologists found a mummy wrapped in blue colored muslin produced in Bangladesh. In the second century BC, Dhakai Muslin was sold in Greece. Yate said Dhakai Muslin was sold in Greece in the second century BC.
We can come to know the fine quality of muslin from different events of history. For example, Pliny complained that Roman beauties used to reveal their curvaceous figure through the cover of transparent muslin. Not only that, because of wearing a special type of Muslin called ‘Jhuna’ malmal, the Greek youths were severely criticized by the local philosophers and satirists. Besides, a corrupt priestess dressed in Jhuna Malmal was sharply criticized in an ancient Tibetan book titled ‘Kulva’. Even after wearing seven-yard-long Abrawan muslin, princess Zeb-un-Nissa was reprimanded by her father King Aurangzeb for he thought that his daughter did not wear anything. Stories like this from different continents and ages serve as testimonials of the weaving quality and fine nature of muslin.
The fineness and beauty of Bangladesh’s muslin and textiles have fascinated many foreign tourists. In the ninth century AD, the Arab traveler and geographer, Sulayman al-Tajir, in his book titled ‘Silsilat al-Tawarikh’ has narrated that in a kingdom called Rumi (most probably present-day Bangladesh), the fabric was so fine and delicate that one can pass a 40-yard-long and 2-yard-wide fabric very easily through a ring. Ibn Battuta, a Moroccan tourist from Africa, came to Bangladesh in the middle of the fourteenth century. He saw the best muslin being made in Sonargaon. Seeing this, he became amazed and commented that such a high-quality garment may not be found anywhere else in the world. In the fifteenth century, the Chinese traveler Ma Huan witnessed the making of Malmal and other types of muslin in Sonargaon. Then, in the sixteenth century, the English traveler Ralph Fitch, Portuguese traveler Duarte Barbosa and the 18th-century Dutch traveler Stavorinus witnessed the making of muslin in some special areas of Bangladesh and praised the delicate and fine weaving of muslin.
Not only foreign travelers but also Robert Orme, the government-employed historian of the British Company, expressed his astonishment for the fine nature and highly intricate weaving of the muslin. He was able to witness the weaving and tradition of muslin during his stay in Bangladesh in 1750. He wrote, “How the people of this place can weave such fine fabrics is a mystery to me because they do not have the machinery necessary for such intricate weaving.” Robert Orme also observed all the fine and delicate fabrics made for the emperor and his harem and said, “So great the quality of the fabrics that it will cost ten times more than the fabrics made in Europe.” In his explanation, he mentioned that the unique skill of the Bengal weavers made it possible to weave such fine quality fabrics. He further said that the weavers of this region did not have the expertise in machinery, but they had the flexibility and the sensibility. Women’s cooking hand of this country was softer and more beautiful than the hand of any European beauty. The 1789 report of the East India Company said, “The weavers of Bengal without any machine make very beautiful and fine garments with some very simple equipment invented by them.”
It is worth mentioning that in old days in Bangladesh, alongside muslin or other fine garments, a large number of cheap garments that are thick and heavy were also made. Cheap or thick and medium quality garments were exported to many countries in Asia and North Africa before the arrival of the European companies. But fine textiles were mainly exported to Agra, Lahore, Multan, Persian Gulf and the Red Sea region. European companies also exported some fine fabrics along with ordinary garments. But they did not export expensive muslin fabrics made for the royal families because there was no buyer.
According to researchers, the oldest center for making muslin was Kapasia, now surrounded by the Bhawal forest. In the middle age, Sonargaon became the main production center of Dhakai Muslin, and in the modern era, fine muslin was produced across 1960 square miles surrounded by Padma, Brahmaputra and Meghna. In this region in 1841, muslin was produced in 4168 looms. Dhaka (ঢাকা), Sonargaon (সোনারগাঁও), Demra (ডেমরা), Titbaddhi (তিতবদ্ধী), Baliapara (বালিয়াপাড়া), Napara (নাপাড়া), Maikuli (মৈকুলি), Bacharak (বাছারক), Charpara (চরপাড়া), Bashteki (বাশটেকি), Nabiganj (নবীগঞ্জ), Shahpur (শাহপুর), Dhamrai (, ধামরাই), Siddhirganj (সিদ্ধিরগঞ্জ), Kachpur (কাচপুর) etc. were the main centers for making muslin.
A special kind of fine yarn was needed for making muslin. This kind of yarn was not imported from anywhere else. Rather, boirati and phuti karpas were cultivated in riparian areas of Meghna and Shitalakshya rivers of Bangladesh. Girls aged from sixteen to thirty with the help of their sensitive fingers used to make fine yarn from that karpas cotton. But yarn made from phuti karpas cotton produced on the banks of the Meghna river was the main material for making high-quality muslin. Relatively low-quality muslin was made by boyrati karpas yarn.
After the production of yarn from cotton, the yarn was woven after passing the stages of Natan, Tana Hotan, Sana Bandha, Narad Bandha, Bu-Bandha etc. But even after weaving is completed, muslin passed through three levels before it was taken to the market for sale. These included washing clothes, trimming and refining yarn, and ironing, dyeing, and needlework. Finally, a bundle of cloth was tied. The interesting thing is that for the production and marketing of muslin there were different professionals at each step. At each stage, different persons or professionals would perform the task. For this weaving and selling muslin was a kind of social profession with a balanced arrangement of skills at each level.
In late 2020, Muslin fabric got Geographical Indication (GI) certificate thanks to the effort of the Bangladesh government. Therefore, it has secured its recognition as a Bangladeshi product. Because of the serious effort and timely initiative of the present Awami League government, the traditional fabric has revived from its extinction.
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