DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.636#0476
466 Caste in relation to Trades and Industries.
absolutely unrivalled. With a loom, of the simplest con-
struction, formed of a few rough sticks and reeds, he pro-
duces something which no European machinery can equal;
for the mysteries of his craft have been transmitted from
father to son for thousands of years. The names given to
different kinds of these muslins, such as 'woven air/ 'web
of the wind/ ' evening dew,' ' running water,' indicate the
extreme fineness and subtlety of their texture. A whole
dress of the finest quality may easily be passed through a
small finger ring, and a piece thirty feet in length may
be packed in a case not much bigger than an egg shell—
yet such a piece may take a workman at least four months
to fabricate, and be worth forty pounds.
It is recorded that a cow-keeper was once prosecuted by
a weaver because one of his cows had eaten up three dresses
of this muslin accidentally left on the grass. The cow-keeper
pleaded before the Judge that the muslin was too fine to
be distinguished by a hungry cow, and his plea was accepted.
Again, a story is told of a young lady who appeared at the
court of a Muhammadan Emperor in much too transparent
garments to be thought respectable. When accused of ex-,
hibiting rather too much of the surface of her body in a
questionable manner, she indignantly repudiated the charge,
on the ground that she had carefully enveloped her entire
person in seven folds of Dacca muslin.
It would be easy to dilate on other examples of the higher
artistic genius of India. We are astonished at the Indian
workman's mastery over his materials. Even in the more
common work great regard is paid to beauty of form and
right proportion, and great taste in the arrangement and
distribution of the ornament. Seldom has the border of a
shawl or other woven cloth too much or too little detail.
Seldom is a flowery pattern overdone, too full or too scanty,
too large or too small. As to the jewelry, this of all Indian
arts is the most ancient and most elaborated; for what would
absolutely unrivalled. With a loom, of the simplest con-
struction, formed of a few rough sticks and reeds, he pro-
duces something which no European machinery can equal;
for the mysteries of his craft have been transmitted from
father to son for thousands of years. The names given to
different kinds of these muslins, such as 'woven air/ 'web
of the wind/ ' evening dew,' ' running water,' indicate the
extreme fineness and subtlety of their texture. A whole
dress of the finest quality may easily be passed through a
small finger ring, and a piece thirty feet in length may
be packed in a case not much bigger than an egg shell—
yet such a piece may take a workman at least four months
to fabricate, and be worth forty pounds.
It is recorded that a cow-keeper was once prosecuted by
a weaver because one of his cows had eaten up three dresses
of this muslin accidentally left on the grass. The cow-keeper
pleaded before the Judge that the muslin was too fine to
be distinguished by a hungry cow, and his plea was accepted.
Again, a story is told of a young lady who appeared at the
court of a Muhammadan Emperor in much too transparent
garments to be thought respectable. When accused of ex-,
hibiting rather too much of the surface of her body in a
questionable manner, she indignantly repudiated the charge,
on the ground that she had carefully enveloped her entire
person in seven folds of Dacca muslin.
It would be easy to dilate on other examples of the higher
artistic genius of India. We are astonished at the Indian
workman's mastery over his materials. Even in the more
common work great regard is paid to beauty of form and
right proportion, and great taste in the arrangement and
distribution of the ornament. Seldom has the border of a
shawl or other woven cloth too much or too little detail.
Seldom is a flowery pattern overdone, too full or too scanty,
too large or too small. As to the jewelry, this of all Indian
arts is the most ancient and most elaborated; for what would