Introduction:
As a young girl growing up in an Indian family in California, my interest in the culture of India revolved around a large wooden cabinet in my parents’ bedroom. Every Saturday, I sat cross-legged on my parents’ bed, waiting for my mother to enter the room and select a sari for the evening. Each time she opened the heavy cabinet doors, I stared with astonishment at the incredible array of vibrant color, silken fabric, and delicate embroidery contained within. As an American kid, I spent most days in a world of blue jeans, khaki shorts, and cotton T-shirts. But as the child of two Indian parents, I knew that the chaos of color within the cabinet represented a culture and history from halfway across the world. I also knew that the saris my mother appreciated the most were made of silk from my family’s hometown of Mysore, in the state of Karnataka, India. Today, all I have to do is open my parents’ wooden cabinet and lift out a Mysore silk sari to feel the living Indian history that runs through my family tree.
Even without the pull of family ties, Mysore silk is beautiful and intricate, the type of fabric you can wear in any setting. Although Mysore silk is little-known in the United States and Europe, Indian women have draped themselves in its luxurious folds for hundreds of years. Countless sari shops throughout South India offer an incredible selection of Mysore silk in hundreds of vibrant colors. Here, we take a look at the history of Mysore silk, the process of its production, and the 10 best places to buy this lovely fabric in Mysore and the surrounding region.
The Origins of the Silk Industry of India
Although Mysore silk has been a part of the typical South Indian woman’s wardrobe for hundreds of years, the exact start of the silk industry within India is unknown. In recent years, archaeological researchers have found evidence suggesting that the production of silk in India dates back to the ancient city of Harappa in the Indus Valley of North India, approximately between 2450 B.C. and 2000 B.C. However, even if the origins of silk production in India are unclear, it is well known that the development of Mysore silk was heavily influenced by the silk industry of the province of Bengal, in northeastern India.
The commercial manufacture of silk, known as sericulture, is believed to have started in Bengal in the early 1500s, under the Hussain Shahi dynasty. Sericulture steadily grew as a rural occupation throughout the 1600s, as many Bengali peasants turned to this craft as the primary means of sustenance for their families. At this stage, Bengali sericulture was largely a home-based industry. Bengali peasants cultivated mulberry trees directly on their land, raised silkworms, and harvested cocoons several times throughout the year. The spinning of the silk from the cocoons, known as reeling, was also done in-house by the families of Bengali peasants, or outsourced to visiting silk reelers, who arrived in the villages during the harvest season. The peasants then sold the reeled silk, known as Putney, to foreign and Indian merchants. Bengali silk became an increasingly important source of profits to foreign silk traders, especially the Dutch and the British. Eventually, commercial agents of the East India Company of the British Empire settled in Bengal to directly manage the trade of Bengali raw silk.
The East India Company and the Silk Trade of India
The East India Company’s role in the silk trade of India is a tale of local talent and emerging globalization. Its impact upon the Indian silk industry is better understood through a brief overview of the history of the East India Company itself. In 1600, the East India Company was founded by a group of British merchants for the purpose of trading with the East Indies. Despite receiving monopoly privileges on all trade with the East Indies from the British Empire, the East India Company was unable to significantly expand its trade in the area due to significant resistance from the Dutch. This resistance led the East India Company to turn its attention away from the East Indies and toward the Indian sub-continent. After a military victory against the Portuguese, who were their main trade competitors in India, the East India Company gradually expanded its trading operations on the sub-continent by building factories, acquiring tax exemptions from the Mughal Emperor, and establishing trading posts along the east and west coasts of India. In addition to silk, the trading interests of the East India Company grew to include cotton, tea, opium, and spices.
After establishing a physical presence in Bengal, the East India Company began to directly intervene in the production of Bengali silk, in order to increase its marketability and profits. In 1710, the East India Company introduced a new variety of mulberry silkworm in Bengal. While this new mulberry silkworm produced a higher quality of silk, the British found that the actual process of silk reeling in Bengal still did not produce the type of Putney that the East India Company needed in order to effectively compete with the silk manufacturers of Italy and France. One of the main problems with the homegrown Bengali method of reeling silk was that it did not cross the thread of the cocoons. This resulted in a heavier silk thread product, which was not as marketable in Europe. The threads ultimately produced by Bengali peasants were also spun from different types of silk cocoons, leading to an inconsistency in silk quality.
In order to overcome these production problems, the East India Company initially attempted to buy the silk cocoons directly from the Bengali peasants, so that they could weave the thread themselves and also pay less for an unfinished product. However, Bengali peasants were able to still charge nearly the same amount for the silk cocoons as they were for the actual Putney, due to many socio-economic influences in Bengal. To begin with, many Indian merchants were still interested in buying Putney itself. This kept the price of Putney high, and also provided little incentive for Bengali peasants to only sell silk cocoons or even to charge less for them. Outside forces also had an impact on the price of silk cocoons in Bengal. The warriors of the Marathas, a Hindu tribal people from central India, invaded Bengal several times in the 1740s. These invasions are believed to have disrupted agricultural production in Bengal, helping lead to a severe famine in 1768, which was then followed by extensive flooding in 1787. All these drastic events resulted in a devastating drop in the Bengali rural population, resulting in a labor shortage in the Bengali silk industry and a concomitant rise in the price of raw silk products in the region.
Thus, as the East India Company was unable to pay a cheaper price for Bengali silk cocoons, it decided to try a different approach. The East India Company decided to directly control the silk reeling process in Bengal by shifting silk reeling away from Bengali homes into British-run factories, in order to efficiently introduce advanced silk reeling technologies from Europe. In 1769, the East India Company introduced an improved method of reeling silk from the cocoon of the silkworm, known as the Piedmontese silk reeling machines. The Piedmontese silk reeling machines were from the region of Piedmont in Italy, which was one of the largest producers of silk in Europe. In 1771, the East India Company imported newer breeds of silkworm from China, which were able to produce larger quantities of a higher quality of silk. In 1772, the British established a silk factory, known as a filature, in the town of Murshidabad in Western Bengal, which was rapidly followed by even more filatures. Thus, within the span of a decade, the East India Company managed to transform the Bengali silk industry from a home-based Bengali craft to an industrialized labor force using international silk reeling technologies. Bengali rural silk workers were shifted from being stand-alone family based entrepreneurs to salaried employees of British-run silk factories.
The Development of the Mysore Silk Industry
As these changes were taking place in Bengal in the late 1700s, the ruler of the Mysore province, Tipu Sultan, the “Tiger of Mysore”, noticed the high quality and exquisite finish of the silk produced by Bengal artisans. He also knew that British proceeds from the Indian silk trade were very profitable. A shrewd and savvy ruler, Tipu Sultan likely understood that the trade interests of the British Empire depended largely upon the local talent of Indians who made these industries possible. Indian artisans, tradesmen, weavers, silk winders, farmers, and commodities agents were all responsible for delivering quality goods to British traders. The British even depended on Indian bankers and merchants to finance factory development and raise capital for new trading ventures. Tipu Sultan also knew that for a rebellion to be successful against the British, he had to develop local Mysore trade sufficiently enough in order to generate income for his state.
Thus, in 1785, Tipu Sultan dispatched his men to Bengal in order to learn the advanced techniques of sericulture from local artisans and silk weavers. Upon their return, Tipu Sultan established 21 silk cultivation factories throughout the Mysore region, including the surrounding areas of Devanahalli, Channapatna, and Ramanagaram. Tipu Sultan had these factories produce an imported yellow multivoltine silkworm, which today is classified as the “Pure Mysore” strain.
The Mysore silk industry continued to slowly grow over the next century. This growth was helped by a combination of natural disaster and increased demand. From 1866 to 1875, an outbreak of Pebrine disease hit the silk industry of Bengal and Kashmir. Pebrine disease, caused by microscopic parasites, causes silkworms to be covered in brown spots and prevents them from spinning silk cocoons. The Mysore silk industry largely escaped this outbreak of disease, and was able to expand further due to the lack of silk production in North India. Worldwide demand for Indian silk increased greatly during this time period, bringing healthy profits to the Mysore region.
The Mysore silk industry took another leap forward through the efforts of a famous Indian industrialist, named Jamsedji Nusserwanji Tata. In 1893, Tata visited Japan and noticed the advanced methods used in the production of silk, known as sericulture. He invited a skilled Japanese sericulture expert and his wife to come to India to provide their technical expertise. Based on their guidance, Tata established a silk farm in 1902 in the Mysore region. Tata wanted to use this farm to create a solid career path for the rural population of South India by teaching poorer Indians the techniques of modern sericulture. The farm, known as the Tata Silk Farm, began with a small factory of 10 silk reeling basins and a garden planted with different types of mulberry trees. The farm eventually grew into a training center, helping hundreds of Indians from Mysore, Travancore, and Madras learn modern sericulture techniques.
In 1912, the Maharajah of Mysore, Naladi Krishnaraja Wodeyar, established a silk weaving factory in Mysore. As dedicated patrons of Indian art and music during their reign, the Wodeyar family recognized the important role that Mysore silk played in the livelihood of Mysore residents. The Wodeyar family also knew that Mysore silk was an important symbol of social status in the region. The factory initially was meant to only produce silk garments for the royal family and senior members of the armed forces, to symbolize their high rank. Indeed, even the community of weavers during this time was established in accordance to strict caste rules. Silk weavers occupied a higher level in the social hierarchy of Mysore than cotton weavers and other fabric manufacturers.
The silk industry in Mysore continued to grow with the establishment of a Department of Sericulture in 1913. Another silk factory, sponsored by the Mysore royal family, was established in Channapatna in 1914. A Japanese sericulture expert named Yonemura helped the silk factory develop high-yielding varieties of silkworms and new sericulture technology. He also assisted in the creation of a variety of pure Mysore silk that was distinguishable from other European strands. In 1921, another silk factory was established in Mysore with twelve Italian silk-reeling basin machines. From 1925 to 1927, the Mysore government helped develop an Indian silk reeling basin machine that was simply designed, inexpensive, and easily used by small-scale artisans. A motorized spindle, used to spin silk from cut cocoons, was also introduced to the Mysore silk factories.
The arrival of World War II helped expand the Mysore silk industry greatly. All cocoons produced in Mysore were taken to a state-run company named Mysore Silk Filatures Ltd., and used to produce parachutes for the Indian Air Force and other military branches of the British. The increased production of cocoons was subsidized by the government. After the war, the techniques used for silk reeling and cocoon harvesting began to improve. Unfortunately, the need for silk had also dropped drastically. The generous subsidies from the government to ease the high cost of the extra production of cocoons came to an end. The Mysore region struggled to sell the extra cocoons in the markets. Eventually, the government had to take over all the silk factories directly and continue running them at a loss, in order to provide employment to the large number of rural families who were dependent on the production of Mysore silk for their livelihood. As the economy recovered from the war, the demand for Mysore silk slowly began to increase once again.
Mysore Silk and Modern India
Today, Mysore silk is recognized throughout India as an indispensable part of the Karnataka woman’s wardrobe. Mysore silk saris are typically worn by South Indian women to important social events, such as Hindu festivals, wedding celebrations, and family gatherings. They are viewed as a symbol of the traditions and old-fashioned family values of South India. Even the purchase of a Mysore silk sari is a family ritual for many South Indians. Often, the entire family will accompany a South Indian lady to the sari shop to help her pick the right shade and pattern. The silk sari is then lovingly preserved and passed down from generation to generation as a family heirloom.
Although Mysore silk initially developed as a symbol of status for the wealthy and elite in Karnataka, advances in silk production technology quickly made Mysore silk available to middle-class women in South India by the 20th century. In the initial stages of the silk industry in Karnataka, a silk weaver would take a full month to weave a complete Mysore silk sari. Today, due to the introduction of electric power looms, a silk weaver can create a Mysore silk sari within one day. As Mysore silk saris became more readily available to the general public due to technological advances, the market demand for these products quickly increased. Today, over 660 million rupees worth of Mysore silk saris are sold in India on a yearly basis by the Karnataka Silk Industries Corporation (KSIC), the state government agency that regulates the production of Mysore silk in Karnataka.
The design of the Mysore silk sari has also evolved throughout the centuries. In olden days, Mysore silk saris were always created in the exact same size: 5.5 meters by 45 inches, with a weight of 65 grams per meter, or between 400 to 600 grams (15-21 ounces) per sari. These older saris were dyed in natural pigments and woven into intricate, subtle patterns featuring mainly birds or fruit motifs. Today, however, the designs of Mysore silk saris are far more varied, with over 100 colors and an infinite number of design combinations to pick and choose from.
Many modern Mysore silk designers also incorporate different types of embroidery in an attempt to appeal to younger generations of Indian women. For example, contemporary Mysore silk saris frequently have an intricate type of Karnatakan embroidery known as kasuti stitched onto the sari pallus, which is the portion of the sari that drapes over a woman’s shoulder. Mysore silk saris may also have bandhini patterns, which are splashy tie-dye designs originating in the North Indian states of Rajasthan and Gujarat, and are frequently present on both cotton and silk textiles in those regions.
While these advances in design have continued to keep the sales of Mysore silk high, many retailers and silk manufacturers nevertheless worry about an eventual decline of interest in these historic products. Today, young Indian women frequently wear Western clothes or North Indian salvar kameez to work and to school, while saving saris for special occasions. This change in dress preferences suggests that Mysore silk will face increasing competition in the upcoming years from both Western fashion trends and North Indian fashion trends.
The Creation of Mysore Silk Thread
The creation of a Mysore silk sari is a complex, multi-step process that begins with the cultivation of the silkworm and ends with the weaving of the actual sari. In general, silk is usually divided into two main types: mulberry silks and non-mulberry silks. Most mulberry silks, including Mysore silk, are created from a type of silkworm known as the Bombyx mori. The eggs of the silkworm are kept in a warm, controlled environment for approximately 2 weeks until they hatch. After hatching, the silkworm larvae feed on the harvested leaves of the mulberry bush, and undergo several molting phases over the next several weeks. The larvae then create and enclose themselves in cocoons that are made entirely of silk and produced from their salivary glands.
After these initial steps are complete, the cocoons are taken to a government-run silk market by the farmer. In Karnataka alone, the state government runs 62 silk markets. The largest silk market in Karnataka is in the district of Ramanagaram, where the average transaction is usually 30 tons per day. From the markets, the cocoons are carried away to local reeling sheds, where they are sorted and boiled, in order to kill the silkworm larvae and preserve the silk thread. After boiling, a thin silk thread is picked from each cocoon and linked to a pin, which is connected to a wheel that winds the thread from the cocoon. The thread that is initially drawn from the cocoon is then doubled and quadrupled, by attaching it to four different spindles. These threads are then twisted into a strong multi-ply thread, using a few hundred spindles.
10 Places to Buy Mysore Silk Saris
In the state of Karnataka alone, there are hundreds of sari shops with an endless variety of Mysore silk products. In this section, we list 10 shops recommended by the KSIC for the purchase of Mysore silk saris in the region. But note that there are many private shops that have an excellent selection as well, even if I haven’t listed them here!!
1. KSIC – JSR Jubilee Showroom
44/45 Leo Compex, Residency Road Cross
Bengaluru – 560 025
2. KSIC – BSNSR Basaveshwara Nagar Showroom
35A, 1st Floor, 464, 2nd Floor, Veena Complex
Siddaiah Puranik Road, 3rd Stage, 3rd Cross,
Basaveshwaranagar, Bengaluru – 560 079
3. KSIC-JBSRAsiaticBuilding
Beside Janatha Bazaar
K.G. Road, Bengaluru – 560 009
4. KSIC – RMSR Reshmalaya
Bengaluru 560 – 025
5. KSIC – GBSR 198, BSR Arcade, Ground Floor
Gandi Bazaar Main Road
Bengaluru 560 004
6. KSIC – MLSR 25/6 5th Cross,
JyothiPlaza, Mallswaram Circle
Bengaluru – 560 003
7. KSIC – JNSR 21/1 8thC Main Road
4th Block, Jayanagar
Bengaluru – 560 011
8. KSIC – UBSR Shop No: 6 & 7, Ground Floor , ‘J’ Block
J C Road, UnityBuilding
Bengaluru – 560 002
9. KSIC – FSR Factory Showroom
Silk Weaving Factory
Mananthody Road, Mysore
10. KSIC-NZSR New Zoo Showroom
No. 959, Zoo Main Road
Indiranagar, Mysore
