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This is a beautifully produced book about a fascinating and unusual
subject - Baluchar silks. It was published to coincide with an
exhibition of these lovely fabrics, usually saris or shawls, from the Tapi
Collection at Surat. 'Baluchar' in the Bengali language means a
sandbank, an odd name for a particular type of silk. But one has to
remember that the Bhagirathi which separates the little town of
Murshidabad from its sister town on the left bank, is a capricious river
that has been known to change course in historic times. In doing so, it
has thrown up sandbanks which have become amalgamated over time
into the fertile soil of the twin towns, or has slipped back into the river.
The area round Murshidabad was particularly suited for mulberry trees,
the habitat of the domesticated silk-worm moth. It produced a creamy
silk which took and held dyes beautifully although it is the
extraordinary richness of the woven patterns which distinguish
Baluchar silks. The deep sari borders typically show figures in
procession, or individually framed in small alcoves. Many of them are
of course Indian people - rajas shown in profile, holding a flower, men
and women smoking hookahs, carriages pulled by prancing horses and
so on. But there are Europeans here too, woven into the fabric.
A fine example has a European couple in early 19th century dress
seated in a carriage , the man holding what looks rather like a beer
bottle. In another three English soldiers stand guard around a large
cannon and in a third, a steam locomotive puffs happily along the
woven border with its carriages and European engine driver. Passenger
trains were operating from the early 1850s, presenting as the writers
say , a new and exotic subject for Murshidabad weavers. There is
tantalisingly almost no written evidence about the origin of Baluchar
silks and it is only from internal evidence like the woven train that
approximate dating can be made. It seems to have started about 1750,
possibly earlier, and this coincides with the heyday of Murshidabad,
before it lost its place as the capital of Bengal to British Calcutta.
Stylistically there are links with Gujarati saris, and the suggestion is made that Jain merchants from India's west coast brought patterns to
Bengal when they emigrated to the rich Murshidabad court. Baluchar
saris were exhibited at the Paris Exhibition of 1855 and the Royal
Jubilee Exhibition in Manchester in 1887. Fashions change however,
and the plainer 'Bombay sari' was introduced by upper-class,
westernised Bengali women, which meant the multi-coloured Baluchars
were subsequently seen as over-ornate and old - fashioned. By 1894
there were only six naqsha (pattern) looms left in Murshidabad and
only one man who knew how to set them up. Thirty-four pieces,
mainly saris, are illustrated here in colour, with explanatory notes. A
lovely book.
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