A Historical Journey Of Muslin Pride

sharing tales of the golden heritage from ancient Bengal, which were a part of Roman, French, and English Aristocrats in different ages

Suntonu Bhadra
ILLUMINATION-Curated

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On the left: by Francesco Renaldi, An Indian Girl with a Hookah (image courtesy: Wikimedia Commons), on the right: Muslin men (image courtesy: Wikimedia Commons)

As part of my cultural and historical aspects of ancient Bengal, this is the first installment on a material renowned to the world’s aristocrats and emperors for several thousand years. They had used this material to showcase the elegance and beauty of gorgeousness. Muslin (মসলিন), a pride of ancient Bengal, which was so translucent, so soft, derived the notion that it was made out of the air or contained the air’s vapor.

What is Muslin?

It is a plain weave cotton fabric, almost transparent, silky, ultra-light, and glossy material, and required intensive labor work, skills, and patience.

‘A hundred yards of it pass through the eye of the needle, so fine is its texture, and yet the point of the steel needle can’t pierce through it easily. It is so transparent and light-weight that it looks as if one is in no dress at all but has smeared the body with pure water.’- 14th-century Sufi poet and scholar Amir Khusrau (in Nihayatul-Kamaak, ‘The Height of Wonders). (Quote Link)

Thread-counts that mattered.

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