Silks

Mention silk and two names immediately spring to mind – the famed Benares silks from the north and the equally fabled Kanchipuram weaves from the south. Yet there are many others of exceptional quality to be found in India, at centers in Surat, Chander, Murshidabad, Mysore, Assam, Tanjore, Dharmavaram etc.

The largest sector around which the silk industry operates is in the demands of the sari. The sensuous touch of the fabric, its flowing elegance and alluring sheen all contribute to an age old mystique that has captivated the feminine heart. No surprise then that great talent has been expended over the ages in melding numerous artistic techniques into the fabric to yield it unique regional flavours. Silk saris often have zari work incorporated into it. Zari is a method of weaving fine gold and silver strands alongside the silk yarn to created exquisite patterns and designs.

The raw material that goes into the production of silk yarn is derived from one of four silkworm sources. Curiously India has the distinction of being the only country that produces all of these four items. Mulberry silk from Karnataka and Kashmir, Tusser from the forests of central and north eastern India, Eri and Muga from Assam. All four varieties of silk are derived from silkworms, the best known of which is the mulberry silkworm named after the tree on whose leaves it feeds. The other three feed on oak bark and non mulberry leaves and produce what is called wild silk. Popular history credits Empress Si-Ling, the wife of Emperor Huang-Ti, who in 2600 BCE invented the mulberry silk production process.

Silkworms are produced from eggs laid by moths. It takes 1,500 silkworm eggs to hatch into larve, spin their cocoons and yield them, to make one gram of thread (or approximately 40,000 cocoons per ounce of thread!) The thread from a single cocoon is reported to be one-and-a-half kilometers (one mile) long!