Fine cotton fabrics called Muslin were reknowned for their ultra fine
texture. Some historians suggest that muslins were first made at Mosul (a city
in Iraq). They were widely made in India, from where they were first imported to
England in the late 17th cent. Poets of the Mughal durbar likened our muslins to
baft hawa (woven air), abe rawan (running water) and shabnam (morning dew). A
story goes that Emperor Aurangzeb flew into a fit of rage when he one day saw
his daughter princess Zeb-un-Nissa clad in almost nothing. On being severely
rebuked, the princess explained that she had not one but seven jamahs (dresses)
on her body. Such was the fineness of the hand woven fabrics.