Banaras (now Varanasi) has long been famous for its Brocades and
Sarees. The exquisite fabric was produced by wearing with warp &
weft threads of different colours and often of different material. It
appears from ancient texts that in the early days, gold and silver
threads used to be made to such a fine quality that they could be woven
into fabric of pure gold or silver. We find evidence of several kinds of
textures of cloth since Rig Vedic times and, one can easily figure out
the cloth of gold (Hiranya Vastra) as a distinguished type belonging to
the above mentioned metallic fabric. The use of Silkora mixture of silk
and cotton, in the wearing of the brocade seems to have been a fairly
recent innovation. Though it is difficult to say, when the art of
brocading started in India, especially in Varanasi, we find mention of
the use of this kind of fabric, right from the Vedic period upto the
Buddhist period. It is said that when Lord Buddha attained Nirvana, his
mortal remains were wrapped in a Banarasi material i.e. brocade which
radiated dazzling lights of yellow, red and blue.
Banaras Is the Athens of India. – – Francois Bernier Banaras figures
as an outstanding centre of textile manufacture in the very. early stage
of Indian Culture. In the neighbourhood there were great cotton growing
regions and probably this spurred the textile industry in the city,
which during the early period was the capital of an important province.
Geographically commanding a situation on a national highway and situated
on the Ganga, connecting all important Indian state capitals of the
time in the Gangetic Valley, Banaras in the first millennium BC, rose to
the status of an important centre of art, culture and education.
Banaras cotton was famous for its fine and soft texture. A tradition
goes that the Buddha’s dead body was wrapped in a Banaras manufactured
textile. Banaras was similarly reputed for its silk and wool. We also
hear that textiles formed one of the important cargo to west- bound
ships of the time, an unbroken tradition which survived down to the
late-.Mughal period. Banaras must have contributed to this famous
export-trade, as is supported by the Jataka stories about
Banaras
merchants crossing deserts and seas. We also come across the traditional
Vedic term hiranya (brocade) surviving in this period; however, due to
absence of any definite evidence we can only presume that Banaras, with
its several types of silk manufacture, specialized in this branch as
well. Testimony of Kautilya’s – Arthashastra is cited for other
varieties of silk manufacture in the Maurya period, including the
Kausheya (also known from Panini’s Ashtadhyai Sutra. Valmiki’s
Ramayana). The Ramayana also offers an important reference to brocade as
Ravana, the Lankan king, is described donning a golden fabric (i.e.,
brocade). Chinese silk also seems to have been popular in the period.
Banaras is known in the Pali literature as a reputed centre of textile
manufacture, famous for its Kasikuttama and Kasiya. The Majjhimanikaya
refers to Varanaseyyaka, known for its fine texture. The Kasika
Suchivastra was probably some kind of embroidery. Kashi continued to
flourish as a regional capital under the Nandas, the Mauryas and the
Shungs and we can safely ascribe to it its non-broken tradition of
textile industry during those glorious epochs.Patanjali (second century
B.C.) leaves no doubt about the Kashika textile in the Shung period; it
was more expensive and probably of better quality than the similar
material of Mathura manufacture.During the Gupta period (ca. 3.50 to 500
AD) Banaras seems to have once more risen to the status of a provincial
capital under Kumaramatya Janardana, whose personal and official seals
have been discovered in abundance from remains of ancient Banaras. As
known from other seals from the same site, Banaras was a centre of
trade, with its elaborate guild-systems of traders in the Gupta period,
but no seals relating to its textile-manufacture or textile trade has
come to light so far. However, its old glory in the realm of textile
manufacture is re-affirmed by the Dilyalvadana, a Buddhist Sanskrit text
of the same period, which makes references to such fabrics known as
Kashikavastra, Kashi Kashikamsu and so on. Banaras fabrics gained
India-wide fame, particularly in the quality of dhotis and dupatta,
which were so exquisite that a pair could cost one hundred thousand
karshapanas. However, it is curious to note that not a single reference
to silk manufacture in Banaras is known from the text.
