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== Introduction ==

== Introduction ==

There were vast regions of India which specialised in specific types of fabrics. Each of these areas developed techniques of weaving, bleaching, dyeing and painting etc., which were indigenous to the region, and also had its own characteristic designs, motifs and symbols. For example, in Western India alone, Sironj in Rajasthan and Burhanpur in Khandesh were major centres of cotton painting; cheap printed cottons came from Ahmedabad; woollens including the extra-ordinary Cashmere Shawls were produced in Kashmir; true silks were worked as patolas at Patan in Gajarat and so on.

There were vast regions of India which specialised in specific types of fabrics. Each of these areas developed techniques of weaving, bleaching, dyeing and painting etc., which were indigenous to the region, and also had its own characteristic designs, motifs and symbols. For example, in Western India alone, Sironj in Rajasthan and Burhanpur in Khandesh were major centres of cotton painting; cheap printed cottons came from Ahmedabad; woollens including the extra-ordinary Cashmere Shawls were produced in Kashmir; true silks were worked as patolas at Patan in Gujarat and so on. These dispersed and diverse techniques were so optimised that textile produced in Britain through the technologies of industrial revolution could hardly match the Indian textiles in quality or price.<ref name=":1">Dr. M.D. Srinivas & Dr. J.K. Bajaj, [http://iks.iitgn.ac.in/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Indian_Tradition_in_Science_and_Technology_an_overview-MDSrinivas_JK-Bajaj.pdf The Indian Tradition in Science and Technology: An Overview].</ref>

These dispersed and diverse techniques were so optimised that textile produced in Britain through the technologies of industrial revolution could hardly match the Indian textiles in quality or price. Till the early 19th century, mill produced fabric had to be protected from Indian competition by the imposition of duties of 70 to 80 percent on the cottons and silks imported from India, or by positive prohibition. The historian H. H. Wilson noted that without such prohibitory duties and decrees, ‘the mills of Paisley and Manchester would have been stopped in their outset and could scarcely, have been again set in motion even by the power of steam’.<ref name=":1">Dr. M.D. Srinivas & Dr. J.K. Bajaj, [http://iks.iitgn.ac.in/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Indian_Tradition_in_Science_and_Technology_an_overview-MDSrinivas_JK-Bajaj.pdf The Indian Tradition in Science and Technology: An Overview].</ref>

== Use of Ethnology to Document Technology ==

The absence of substantial material remains need not be a deterrent in the documentation of a traditional technology. Since material artifacts and a living craft tradition are both subject to an inner logic which shapes the nature of innovation accepted and the norms which guide selectivity in obsolescence, a wide data base of ethnological evidence which lends itself to selective usage can be used to identify the constituents of a tradition which existed at a remote period of time in India.

== Introduction and Methodology ==

Accordingly, in the book 'History of Technology in India', Lotika Varadarajan and Krishna Amin document the history of Indian Textile Technology with the help of the vibrancy of craft tradition both in terms of techniques, processes, tools and implements as well as that of hereditary skills transmitted across generations.  

In the absence of substantial material remains of Indian textile technology(1) in the pre-Islamic period we have depended more on the vibrancy of craft tradition both in terms of techniques, processes, tools and implements as well as that of hereditary skills transmitted across generations. The task of identifying the constituents of a tradition which existed at a remote period of time in India, is, therefore facilitated by the existence of a wide data base of ethnological evidence which lends itself to selective usage. The criteria for selection can be rationally explained as material artifacts and a living craft tradition are both subject to an inner logic which shapes the nature of innovation accepted and the norms which guide selectivity in obsolescence. This topic will not be taken up here as it involves aspects of a wide ranging methodological enquiry beyond the scope of the present exercise. For the purposes of this article, development in the area of textile technology will be broken down into its components of fibre, natural dye and loom structure.

(1) The term textile is derived from Latin, texere, to weave. It refers to woven (i.e. interlaced warp-weft) fabrics. The term, fabric, is a generic term for all fibrous constructions Emery, "The Primary Structures of Fabrics", 1980p.XVL) For definition of cloth see Emery, pp.86, 208-210.<ref name=":0">A. K. Bag (1997), [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.205662/page/n395/mode/2up History of Technology in India] (Vol.I), New Delhi: Indian National Science Academy.</ref>

(1) The term textile is derived from Latin, texere, to weave. It refers to woven (i.e. interlaced warp-weft) fabrics. The term, fabric, is a generic term for all fibrous constructions Emery, "The Primary Structures of Fabrics", 1980p.XVL) For definition of cloth see Emery, pp.86, 208-210.<ref name=":0">A. K. Bag (1997), [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.205662/page/n395/mode/2up History of Technology in India] (Vol.I), New Delhi: Indian National Science Academy.</ref>