Woven Air: The Legend of Dhaka Muslin and the Art of Jamdani
Fabled muslin so fine it was named after running water and evening dew. The story of Bengal's 'woven air', how it vanished, and how the art of Jamdani keeps its spirit alive.
Travellers to Bengal could hardly believe their eyes. They wrote of a cotton cloth so fine that a whole length of it could be drawn through a finger ring, so light that it seemed to float, so transparent that it was named after dew and running water. This was Dhaka muslin, once the most celebrated fabric in the world.
The cotton that grew by the river
The secret of Dhaka muslin began in the soil. Along the banks of the Meghna river grew a rare cotton called phuti karpas. Its fibres were short and delicate, and spinning them into thread took extraordinary skill. Spinners, most of them women, worked with fine spindles, often in the humid early hours when the air kept the fragile thread from snapping.
The finished threads were so fine that weaving a single piece could take months. Its fame spread across the ancient world: Roman-era trading accounts already mention fine muslins from the lands of the Ganges.
Cloth named like poetry
The finest muslins were given names as delicate as the fabric itself:
The very finest grade, woven for emperors and their courts.
So sheer that, laid in a stream, it was said to vanish from sight.
Spread on the grass, it was said to look like dew on the lawn.
A name that captures its weightlessness perfectly.
Woven air, running water, evening dew: muslin was named like poetry.
A much-repeated legend tells of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb scolding his daughter for appearing in court without proper clothing. She replied that she was wearing seven layers of muslin. True or not, the story shows how fine the fabric was believed to be.
How muslin disappeared
By the 19th century, the great muslin tradition was in decline. Cheap machine-made cloth from British mills flooded the market, colonial trade policies worked against Indian weavers, and the royal courts that had been muslin's greatest patrons faded away. Over time, even phuti karpas itself was lost, and with it the secret of the finest muslin. In recent years, researchers and weavers in Bangladesh have worked to trace the lost cotton and recreate this legendary cloth.
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1st century CEKnown to Rome
Traders' accounts describe fine muslins from the Ganges region.
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16th to 18th centuryImperial favourite
Mughal courts prize Dhaka muslin above almost every other cloth.
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19th centuryDecline
Machine-made imports and lost patronage push the craft to the edge.
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2013Jamdani honoured
UNESCO recognises the traditional art of Jamdani weaving.
Jamdani: the heir of muslin
Muslin's spirit lives on in Jamdani, one of the most exquisite weaves of Bengal. In Jamdani, the weaver inserts extra threads by hand, one motif at a time, as the cloth is woven. Flowers, vines and geometric forms seem to float on a sheer, light ground, without a single stitch of embroidery.
In 2013, UNESCO inscribed the traditional art of Jamdani weaving on its list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Across the border in India, Jamdani is woven in West Bengal, and a lovely variation, Uppada Jamdani, is woven in Andhra Pradesh.
The English word "muslin" is often linked to Mosul, a trading city in present-day Iraq, but in India the finest muslins were always associated with Dhaka and Bengal.
Love light, breathable sarees? Our cotton and linen silk collection is made for warm days and long celebrations.
- Sonia Ashmore, Muslin (V&A Publishing, 2012)
- UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage: Traditional art of Jamdani weaving (2013)
