Muslin, the fine fabric that once used to epitomise the dexterity of Bengal’s weavers and was highly coveted by the lovers of finer things in life, is on its way to be reincarnated after remaining in obscurity for more than a hundred years. Drik, a renowned creative organisation, is trying to recover the lost glory and under its guidance and patronage, a group of weavers have woven something that has all the traits of the Muslin. On a recent visit to Drik’s office, The Independent was shown a 12-feet saree. Saiful Islam, Chief Executive Officer of Drik, said it was the fruit of their three-year-long effort.He said that the saree has a thread count of 300 per inch – a hallmark of a Muslin cloth. The thread count is the number of horizontally and vertically interwoven threads per square inch. As the theory goes, higher the thread count, the softer and costlier will be the piece of fabric. Islam said a group of weavers manually wove the saree last year. “These weavers are descendants of the original muslin weavers. We traced them and engaged them for weaving the saree,” he said. Keeping the tradition in mind, the saree was woven in a village in Rupganj near the Shitalakkha river where the best-quality muslin used to be woven in the past. Saiful, however, refused to reveal the identity of the weavers, saying that the Muslin saree would be officially revealed in February next year. Until then, the identity of the weavers will not be disclosed. About the saree, he said that the yarn used was imported. “This is the best quality yarn made from the best quality cotton. Earlier, the country used to produce high-quality cotton, but that type of cotton is no longer produced here,” said Saiful. The Drik official said that the saree has all the traits of fine Muslin. “The number of threads you can squeeze in a specified area depends upon the fibre that’s used. Thinner the fibre, higher will be the thread count and better will be the quality. This saree has a thread count of 300. It indicates that it has the fineness of Muslin,” he said. Historian and museum curator, Firoz Mahmud, said that that muslin is a light cotton fabric, finely woven and typically white in colour that was first imported from the Middle East to Europe in the 17th century. It derives its name from Mosul city in modern-day Iraq. Dhaka and Masulipatnam (in South India) were the two most important centres for the production of muslin. He said that at its best, muslin would be so light and fine that one yard of the fabric weighed barely 10 grams and six yards of the fabric could pass through a ring of the index finger.“For weaving the famous Dhakai muslin, weather and cotton were the two big factors. Earlier, the best quality muslin was woven on the banks of the Shitalakkha river from locally produced White Corpus cotton,” said Mahmud. “Now neither do we have that environment on the bank of the Shitolokkha river nor the country produces White Corpus cotton,” he said, adding that it’s hard to weave high-quality muslin with imported cotton yarn. Dr. Hosne Ara Begum, Head of the Department of Yarn Manufacturing at the Bangladesh University of Textile Engineering, said that muslin cloth must have a thread count of over 250. “Higher the thread count, softer will be cloth. Muslin was legendary because a 50-metre-long piece of muslin fabric could be squeezed into a match box,” she said, adding that the cloth that has been produced by the weavers for Drik has a thread count of 300, giving it the fineness of muslin. Shahida Khatun, Director of Bangla Academy and folklore researcher, told The Independent that the design patterns on muslin fabric were hand woven, but had the look and feel of printed cloth. “The weave pattern of Drik Muslin is not as fine as original muslin is supposed to feel and look. But I applaud the effort of Drik for trying to revive the lost glory of Bangladesh,” she said.
