Q1.
Do you understand all the terms used above to list and describe Indian textiles? If not, form groups of four or five and try to find out more, then compare your findings with the help of your teacher.
Answer
The paragraph you have just read uses two kinds of words: the fibres Indian textiles were made from, and the qualities that made them famous. Here is what each one means.
| Term | What it is | Where it comes from / how it is used |
|---|---|---|
| Cotton | A soft fibre from the seed pod of the cotton plant | India’s chief textile fibre; the cloth the chapter says was in demand in many parts of the world |
| Silk | A fine, shining fibre unwound from the cocoon of the silkworm | Woven in Bengal, Assam (muga and eri), Varanasi and the south |
| Wool | Fibre from the fleece of sheep, goats or yak | Kashmir, Himachal, Ladakh and Rajasthan — shawls, blankets, carpets |
| Jute | A long, coarse plant fibre, golden brown | Bengal and Assam; sacking, rope, matting |
| Hemp | A strong bast fibre from the stem of the hemp plant | Ropes, canvas, sacking and coarse cloth |
| Coir | Fibre from the husk of the coconut | Kerala especially; mats, ropes, brushes |
| Muslin | An extremely fine, light, almost transparent cotton cloth | The chapter’s ‘ultra-thin’ end of the range; Bengal muslin was famous across the world |
| Embossed | A design stamped on the cloth so that it stands out in relief (the book’s own margin note) | The ‘richly embossed’ end of the range — the opposite extreme from muslin |
| Intricate designs | Patterns with many fine, closely worked details | Woven, printed, dyed or embroidered |
| Texture | How a cloth feels and looks to the touch — smooth, coarse, raised, ribbed | The chapter’s point is the range of textures, from ultra-thin to richly embossed |
Why this vocabulary matters for the argument: the list is the evidence for the sentence that follows it. A country that could make everything from the thinnest muslin to heavy embossed fabric, in six different fibres, had a manufacturing sector of enormous depth and skill. That is what makes the next paragraph shocking — this whole sector was ruined not by better competition but by policy: heavy duties on Indian cloth entering Britain, minimal tariffs on British cloth entering India, and British control of sea trade and exchange rates.
Try this: bring one small sample of each fibre you can find at home — a cotton kerchief, a jute sack thread, a coir doormat fibre, a woollen sock — and pass them round the group. Feeling the difference between coir and muslin makes the phrase ‘textures ranging from ultra-thin muslins to richly embossed fabrics’ mean something.