Dacca was the seat of a manufacture of muslins known by its name, and spoken of by the ancients as ` woven webs of air.' The principal varieties of plain muslins manufactured at Dacca were Mulmul-i-Khas, Ab-rawan, Shab-nam, Khasa, Jhuna, Sircar Ali, Tanzeb, Alabullee, Nyau-zook, Baddan Khas, Turandam, Sarbiitee, and Sarband, —names which either denote fineness, beauty, or transparency of texture, or refer to the origin of the manufacture of the fabrics, or the uses to which they are applied as articles of dress. The finest of all was the Mulinul-i-Khas (literally, muslin made for the special use of a prince or great personage). It was woven in half-pieces, measuring 10 yards in length and 1 yard in breadth, having 1900 threads in the warp, and weighing 10 siceas (about ounces avoirdupois). The finest half-piece seen weighed 9 siccas, priced 100 rupees. Some of the other muslins were also beautiful productions of the loom, asAb -rawa n, compared by the natives from its clear pellucid texture to running water. Shab-nam, so named from its resemblance, when it is wetted and spread upon the bleaching field, to the evening dew on the grass. Jhuna, a light transparent net-like fabric, made for natives of rank and wealth, worn by the inmates of zenanas and dancers, and apparently the cloth referred to in the classics under the figurative names of Tela areuarum, Ventus textilis. All these muslins were made in full pieces of 20 yards in length by 1 in breadth, but varying considerably in the number of threads in the warp, and consequently iu their weig,ht. Of figured fabrics, as striped Uooria, chequered Charkhanee, and flowered Jamclanee, there exists a considerable variety, both in regard to quality and pattern. The flowered muslin was formerly in great demand both in India and Europe, and was the most expensive manufacture of the Dacca Urung. There was a monopoly of the finer fabrics for the court of Dehli ; those made for the emperor Aurangzeb cost 250 rupees per piece. This muslin is now seldom manufactured of a quality of higher value than 80 rupees per piece.
For the rnasses of the people, the British manu facturer sends to India the plain and striped Dooria,Mulmul,Aghabani,and other figured fabrics, which have established themselves there, and which, both from their good quality and moderate prices, are acceptable to the numerous classes who Make use of them. Some of the chintzes of Masulipatam and of the south of India are as beautiful in design as they are chaste and elegant in colour.
Printed cloths are worn occasionally, as in Berar and Bundelkhand, for sarees ; and the ends and borders have peculiar local patterns. There is also a class of prints on coarse cloth, used for the skirts or petticoats of women of some of the poorer classes in Upper India ; but the greatest need of printed cloths is for the kind of bedcover called palempore (palangposh), or single quilts.
In the costlier cloths woven in India, the bor ders and ends are entirely of gold thread and silk, the former predominating. Many of the saree or women's cloths, made at Benares, Pytun, and Burhanpur, in Gujerat, at Narrainpet and Dhan warum in the Hyderabad territory, at Yeokla in Kandesh, and in other localities, have gold thread in broad and narrow stripes alternating with silk or muslin. Gold flowers, checks, or zigzag patterns
aro used, the colours of tho ground.s being green, black, violet, crimson, purple, and grey ; and in silk, black shot with crimson or yellow, crimson svith green, blue, or white, yellow with deep crimson and blue, all producing rich, harmonious, and even gorgeous effects, but without the least appearance of or approach to glaring colour, or offence to the most critical taste. They are colours and effects which suit the dark or fair complexions of the people of the country ; for an Indian lady who can afford to be choice in the selection of her wardrobe, is 84 particular as to what will suit her especial colour—dark or comparatively fair—as any lady of England or France. Another ex quisitely beautiful article of Indian costume for men and W0111C11 iS the do-patta or scarf, worn more frequently by Mahomedan women than Hindu, and by the latt,er only when they have adopted the Mahomedan lunga or petticoat ; but invariably by men in dress costume. Ily women this is generally passed once round the waist over the petticoat or trousers, thence across the bosom and over the left shoulder and head ; by men, across the chest only.
The do-pattas, especially those of Benares, are perhaps the most exquisitely beautiful of all the ornamental fabrics of India ; and it is quite im possible to describe the effects of gold and silver thread, of the most delicate and ductile description imaginable, woven in broad, rich borders, and profusion of gold and silver flowers or the ele ,gance and intricacy of most of the arabesque patterns of the ribbon borders or broad stripes. Dow such articles are woven at all, and how they are woven with their exquisite finish and strength, fine as their quality is, in the rude handlooms of the country, it is hard to understand. All these fabrics are of the most delicate and delightful colour,—the creamy white, and shades of pink, yellow green, mauve, violet, and blue, are clear yet sulxlued, and always accord with the thread used, and the style of ornamentation, whether in gold or silver, or both combined. Many are of more decided colonrs—black, scarlet, and crirnson, chocolate, dark green, and madder ; but whatever the colour may be, the ornamentation is chaste and suitable. For the most part, the fabrics of Benares are not intended for ordinary washing ; but the dyers and scourers of India have a process by which the forrner colour can be discharged from the fabric, and it can then be re-dyed. The gold or silver work is also carefully pressed and ironed, and the piece is restored, if not to its original beauty, at least to a very wearable con dition. Tho do-pattas of Pytun, and indeed most others except 13enares, are; of a stronger fabric. Many of them are woven in fast colours, and the gold thread—silver is rarely used in them—is more substantial than that of 13enares. On this account they aro preferred in Central India and the Dekban,—not only because they are ordinarily more durable, but because they bear washing or cleaning better. In point of delicate beauty, however, if not of richness, they are not comparable with tho fabrics of Benares.