Actress Alia Bhatt recently made headlines for her glorious ensemble at the Met Gala 2024, where she donned a Sabyasachi saree studded with countless precious and semi-precious stones. However, the Abu Jani Sandeep Khosla Ajrakh saree she wore on the red carpet at the Joy Awards 2024 must get the hype it deserves. The deep indigo and red of the saree were brightened with tasteful sequins embroidered along the edges. Ajrakh can be deemed the mother of Indian textiles, as found in ‘The Great Priest’, fondly mentioned in NCERT history books. The priest’s shawl is said to be a prototype of the Ajrakh we wear today. It is positively reassuring to see its comeback, but what of other textiles that were not lost to time but systematically forgotten?
Chintz, Muslin and Paisley, or rather Cheent, Mulmul and Boteh, represent just a few of the numerous crafts that were appropriated, exported, and ultimately decimated by the British. These time-honoured practices passed down through generations within various families now exist only as remnants of a bygone era. With the swiftness of a brain-eating parasite, the colonisers hollowed out the Indian textile industry, leaving it with only a fraction of its former glory.
Prior to the British exploitation of the textile industry, India held a 25 per cent share in fabric exports. However, the British pillaged this industry and commandeered Indian textiles for the use of European aristocrats who deemed them exotic.
It rather shocked me when, in the Emmy award-winning Netflix series The Crown, the exiled former King Edward VIII referred to the snobbery and ostentatiousness of the monarchy with the use of the metaphor ‘Chintz curtains’. It shocked me because Queen Mary of Teck quite famously had Chintz curtains in her bed chamber, such was the popularity of this beautiful fabric. The delicate and sophisticated depiction of flowers and foliage, as well as cotton, both alien to the European aristocracy in the 17th century, sent the demand for this fabric to great heights. God forbid the sophisticated aristocracy wear Indian designs! So to please their patrons, the Europeans started switching Indian designs with English flowers in order to appeal to the aristocracy.
Similarly, Paisley fell victim to the same. The tear-dropped or mango-shaped designs that one can find on Henna designs were a gift from Persia. Queen Victoria used to own Kashmiri shawls with Paisley designs, a symbol of exotic luxury. And much like other Indian textiles, they tried to duplicate the design in a Scottish town called Paisley. Ultimately forming a monopoly over this Indo-Persian art.
India, especially Bengal, held a craft particularly close to their hearts. The Dhaka muslin was said to be ‘baft-hawa’ or as light as woven air, and so much so that it caused quite a scandal in elite circles as ladies donned gowns that were positively transparent! The only thing more transparent and brazen was the imperialists’ attempt to destroy this craft and create a cheaper version of this luxurious fabric. Their efforts led to a decline in demand and the sad demise of Dhaka muslin. It’s like the dodo of the fashion world—extinct, thanks to colonisation!
While efforts are being made by the Government of Bangladesh to revive the lost art of weaving the Dhaka Muslin, India has come up with something just as interesting, if not more. The issue of water hyacinths choking various water bodies in Bengal and Bangladesh has led to the death of numerous ecosystems in several ponds, lakes, and rivers. Gaurav Anand, the director of an NGO known as ‘Swacchata Pukare’, has hit two birds with one stone, solving both environmental and job crises in one go. They form threads out of the fibre extracted from deadly water hyacinths, turning them into ‘Tant’ sarees.
All hope is not lost! There has been a shift in the practice of buying clothing from fast fashion brands, and people have been spreading awareness about the importance of buying local or shopping from small-scale businesses in order to minimise environmental issues and child labour and foster responsible waste management practices.
A textile design student at National Institute of Fashion Technology, Anamitra Golder, spoke at length about Indian textiles being environment-friendly and sustainable. “Indian textiles never go out of style, and they carry a historical aesthetic that adds value to your wardrobe. One should embrace this because using these textiles helps preserve and promote traditional craftsmanship, artisanal techniques, design, and traditional motifs that are unique to different regions of India.”
It is important to recognise the ongoing ingenious innovations happening every day in India, and while it is true that reminiscing over the past is the least productive of all solutions, the pain of losing valuable art and heritage at the hands of imperialism is a loss that one can only hope is restored.
The writer is an intern at The Statesman, and a student at Christ University, Bangalore