Page:The Industrial Arts of India.djvu/193

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are also loom-made. The principal garments made up by cutting and sewing are the bodice [cho/i] for women, who sometimes also wear a petticoat : and drawers [ pijavia , literally “ leg-cloth ” from Sanscrit pada, Hindi pai , foot, so books say ; but possibly from the Sanscrit word identical with the Greek Trvyrj , e.g. % in Venus Kallipygos], worn both by men and women ; and the undress coat, an°arka ; and full-dress coat, jama , worn only by men ; and caps which go by all sorts of names, such as topi taj y and others.

Among piece goods the first place is given to Dacca muslin, abrawan , or “ running water ” ; bafthowa , “woven air”; subha - navi , “ evening dew,” all plain white webs, the poetic names of which convey to the reader a truer idea of their exquisite fine- ness and delicacy, and of the estimation in which they are held, than whole pages of literal description. These fine muslins are all classed under the generic term of mulmul khas or “ king’s muslins.” Plain muslins are made not only at Dacca and Patna and other places in Bengal, but also at Hyderabad in the Da- khan, and at Cuddapah and Ami in Madras. Striped muslins, or donas, are made at Dacca, Gwalior, Nagpur, Hyderabad, Ami, and other places. Checkered muslins, or charkana y are chiefly made at Dacca, Nagpur, Arni, and Nellore ; and figured mus- lins, jamdaniy at Dacca. Dr. Forbes Watson describes them as the chef-d'oeuvre of the Indian weaver. At Calcutta embroidered muslin is called chikatt [“ needle ” work]. Muslins woven with colored thread, and striped, checked, and figured, are made at Benares, Arni, Nellore, and Chicacole in Madras ; printed mus- lins at Trichinopoly, and gold and silver printed muslins at Jaipur, and Hyderabad in the Dakhan. “The process,” Dr. Forbes Watson writes, “by which this mode of decoration is accomplished is by stamping the desired pattern on cloth with glue ; the gold or silver leaf, as the case may be, is then laid on, and adheres to the glue. When dry, what has not rested on the glue is rubbed off.” In Persia, in the rare Ispahan chintzes, I am