2.1 Cotton and India “There is no record of a time when the people of India did not grow cotton, weave and dye cotton cloth and wear patterned cotton garments. A fragment of a madder-dyed cotton cloth has been found at Mohenjo-Daro, establishing knowledge of cotton weaving and the process of mordant dyeing five thousand years ago. It was in cotton that the genius of the Indian weaver, printer and embroiderer was to find its richest and boldest expression. The manner in which this genius expressed itself was determined by the configuration of the land itself.
To discover the sources of their inspiration and to comprehend the inherent significance of the vast field of Indian fabrics, they should be seen in context, against the social and historical background from which they have emerged and on the dark-toned bodies of the people for whom they were made. For in India, textiles have rarely been concerned with fashion or individual separateness and uniqueness: rather, garments have always been only one part of a complex ritual of life, one aspect of a preordained milieu in which man is born, grows to stature, and dies� (Jayakar 17-18).
Use of bow instruments for carding cotton from early 20th century India.
14