21 February –5 March 2012 ISSN No. 2222-968-5 REGD. DA no. 327 NEWS&VIEWS + KINGSHUK = V.36/N0.5/2012 NEWS&VIEWS + KINGSHUK=V.36/N0.5/2012 1 REGD. DA no. 327 NEWS&VIEWS + KINGSHUK = V.36/N0.5/2012 The Jamdani fashion & hand loom bro- cause of their complicated designs, were cade woven cotton fabric weaving tradition always considered the most expensive pro- of Bengali origin, which historically was ductions of the Dhaka looms. referred linking with muslin, fabulously The word Jamdani is of Persian origin, from rich in motifs. Jamdani is believed to be a 'Jam' meaning flower and 'Dani' meaning a fusion of the ancient cloth-making tech- vase or a container. Though mostly used niques of Bengal (perhaps 2,000 years for SARIS (Indian Traditional Dress), Jam- old) with the muslins produced by Bengali dani is also used for scarves, home textile, Muslims since the 14th century. Jamdani is clothing and handkerchiefs. Four kinds of the most expensive product of Dhaka fine cloth used to be made in Bengal and looms since it requires the most lengthy Pundra in those days, viz khouma, dukul, and dedicated work. In the 14th century, pattrorna and karpasi. From various histori- Ibn Batuta profusely praised the quality of cal accounts, folklore and slokas, it may be cotton textiles of Sonargaon of Bangla- assumed that very fine fabrics were avail- desh. Towards the end of the 16th century able in Bengal as far back as the first dec- the English traveler Ralph Fitch and histo- ade before Christ. Cotton fabrics like dukul rian Abul Fazl also praised the muslin. and muslin did not develop in a day. Dukul According to a 1747 account of muslin ex- textile appears to have evolved into muslin. port, fabrics worth Re 550,000 were Jamdani designs and muslin developed si- bought for the Emperor of Delhi, the multaneously. The fine fabric that used to Nawab of Bengal and the famous trader be made at Mosul in Iraq was called mosuli Jagath Sheth. The same year European or mosulin In his 9th century book Sril Silat traders and companies bought muslin -ut-Tawarikh the Arab geographer Solaiman worth Re 950,000. According to James Wise, Dhaka mentions the fine fabric produced in a state called Rumy, muslin worth Re 5 million was exported to England in which according to many, is the old name of the territory 1787. James Taylor put the figure at Re 3 million. We do now known as Bangladesh. not know exactly when jamdani came to be adorned with The earliest mention of the origin of Jamdani and its de- floral patterns of the loom. It is, however, certain that in velopment as an industry is found in Kautilya's book of the Mughal period, most likely during the reign of either economics (about 300 AD) where it is stated that this Emperor Akbar (1556–1605) or Emperor Jahangir (1605 fine cloth used to be made in Bengal and Pundra. Its –1627), the figured or flowered muslin came to be mention is also found in the book of Periplus of the Eri- known as the jamdani. Forbes Watson in his most valu- trean Sea and in the accounts of Arab, Chinese and Ital- able work titled Textile Manufactures and Costumes of ian travelers and traders. the people of India holds that the figured muslins, be- Bureau Head office: BANGLADESH Bureau offices: ITALY, EU & SWITZERLAND Bureau offices: UK, USA & CANADA 57 D.O.H.S. (OLD) Dhaka 1206 Bangladesh Via Ernesto Pelloni 5, 6900 Lugano, Switzerland 380 Brunswick Avenue, Fl-2nd Trenton, NJ 08618, USA Base TEL: +8802 8715838 M: 88 01821100313 M: + 41765412005 Cell:+609-414-0413 E: [email protected], [email protected] E: [email protected], [email protected] E: [email protected], [email protected] Rukunuddin Ahmed > CEO & Editor-in-Chief Editor & Publisher< Y. A. Shanchoy, Switzerland USA Bureau Chief < Mujibuddin Ahmed, USA Daisy Ahmed >Managing Editor Editor-in-Chief < Rukunuddin Ahmed, Italy Publisher< Rukunuddin Ahmed Fatima Ahmed Jayantee > Syndicate Editor Feature Editor < Faizun Nahar Shanchita, Italy UK Bureau < Sayed Chowdhury, Media Mohal Ltd. Mohammad Ibrahim > News Editor Art & Design Director < Shafiqul Kabir Chandan, Milan Mariam Ahmed > Business Reporter English Version Editor < Sanowar Hossain Milon 2 NEWS&VIEWS + KINGSHUK=V.36/N0.5/2012 The Arduous art of weaving JANDANI For fashion aficionados, always on industry. A number of factors con- meals or prayers. The work itself is the lookout for something new, the tributed to this decline. Use of ma- very laborious and requires extreme development of local fabrics is wel- chinery in the English textile indus- concentration. come news. It means that designers try, and the subsequent import of These expert weavers can create the have more material, literally speak- lower quality, but cheaper yarn from design mentally during the weaving ing, to experiment with and create Europe, started the decline. Most of the saris. There is no mechanical clothes that are not desperate copies importantly, the fall of Mughal power technique involved. Jamdani weav- of Bollywood fashion, but originals in India, deprived the producers of ers have remained largely illiterate that set their own trend. In order to Jamdani of their most influential pa- or semi-literate. However, despite make sure that this kind of develop- the lack of any primary education in ment of local fabrics continues, we its formal sense, the mental faculties as consumers have a responsibility of the weavers are as sharp as to try to consciously buy Bangla- mathematicians. How so ever com- deshi products when we think of go- plex the pattern might be, it is im- ing shopping. Supporting this indus- printed in the minds of the master try will not only boost the demand weaver and passed down from gen- for Bangladeshi fabrics locally but eration to generation through ap- internationally too. prentices who eventually -- through The designs and colors of Jandani years of toil -- become master weav- also changed with time. Originally, ers. There are no written documents the motifs used to be made on gray for the innumerable motifs used in fabric. Later on fabrics of other col- Jamdani. The motifs are repeated ours were also used. In the 1960s, with remarkable precision and there jamdani work on red fabric became is hardly any inconsistency in the very popular. The Victoria and Albert design. Nothing is sketched or out- Museum of London has a fine collec- lined. The weavers just know the tion of jamdani with work in white exact number of times to do a cer- on white fabric. The production tain stitch to combine the yarns to methods have also changed. Previ- come up with a particular motif. ously, popcorn, rice or barley was Jamdani industry, which is nothing used for starch. Before making jam- less than “high art”, can only survive dani, the designers used to dye their if the market is expanded within yarn and starch it. For dye they used Bangladesh and outside. Jamdani flowers and leaves of creepers. For needs to be made more popular quality jamdani they used yarn of among the privileged classes while 200 to 250 counts. These days ensuring that the quality and artistry weavers buy fine yarn from the mar- of the weave is maintained. Unless ket and use chemical dyes instead of the demand for Jamdani saris, herbal dyes. Finally, time has also dresses and furnishing materials influenced the designs. Keeping up (the fabric is now also being used for the modern demand, present day making curtains) is increased, weav- jamdani saris have on their ground ers will continue to suffer in terms of designs of rose, jasmine, lotus, trons. lower wages. Worse still, is that their bunches of bananas, bunches of gin- Presently, the Jamdani industry is children will not find it feasible to ger and sago. Recently, there is a struggling to survive in approxi- enter into a profession that pays so trend of embroidering Jamdanis or mately 150 villages of Rupganj, little in return. For those who prefer putting „‟paars‟‟ on saris. However, Sonargaon and Siddhirganj, under to follow the conventions, boutique many traditionalists are vehemently Dhaka district. Barely an hour and houses and big outlets in the country against this trend, claiming this is half drive from Dhaka, situated on have created a series of churidar destroying a tradition. the bank of the river Shitalakhya is kameezes, colourful punjabis, fotuas Muslin and Jamdani reached their the village Ruposhi -- popularly and saris by Jandani fabrics. pinnacle of excellence during the known as the Jamdani village. As A two millennia old heritage, with its Mughal period (16th to 19th cen- you enter the village, you come highly evolved aesthetics, faces ex- tury). In this period Jamdani was across weavers who are busy at the tinction unless it can be popularized used extensively in “angarakhans” or looms, creating -- probably the most and promoted across the world. attire for both women and men. At exquisite handloom weaves in the Jamdani is not just a heritage of the same time, the use of Jamdani world. Men, women and children of Bangladesh, it is truly a global artis- fabric was seen in women's dresses the village are all involved in some tic inheritance that needs to be pre- in Europe's capitals of fashion. From stage of the production process. served and promoted. the middle of the 19th century, there Most adult weavers work as long as was a gradual decline in the Jamdani 18 hours a day with breaks for NEWS&VIEWS + KINGSHUK=V.36/N0.5/2012 3 The Jamdani style of cotton weaving belongs exclusively to Bengal.