Textiles from Bengal: A Shared Legacy

Contents: Foreword by Rosemary Crill. Introduction to the Project by Darshan Shah. 1. Introduction. 2. Bengal and Beyond. 3. Raw Materials. 4. The World of The Bengali Textile Worker. 5. Design and Production. 6. Trade. 7. Consumption. Glossary. Index. Acknowledgements.

The famed Bengal textiles which once ‘clothed the world’ have received little scholarly attention. With the systemic destruction of Bengal’s textile industry, prompted by the Industrial Revolution in Europe, the muslins and Balucharis of Bengal were lost in obscurity. The partition of the Indian subcontinent and the consequent varieties of cultural and social identity in present-day India and Bangladesh have contributed to this neglect. This pioneering publication explores in depth the lost textile traditions of Bengal from the 16th to the 20th century and traces its impact on the historical and cultural aspects of the region.

This book is conceived as a dialogue between historians, anthropologists, art historians, textile practitioners and textile scholars who bring their diverse perspectives and expertise on the fundamental catalysts of change in the textile tradition of Bengal. The book serves as a public history, with engaging chapters presenting a unique perspective on the textiles of wider Bengal supported by superb illustrations of textiles, maps and trade documents from the past, most of which have never been published before. This volume will inspire the reader, reorient scholarly attention and provoke a rethinking of the nature and history of Bengal textiles.