Silk Industry In Murshidabad

 

Silk Industry in Murshidabad

 Safiul Islam

 M.A in History (Final Year)

 Aliah University

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• MURSHIDABAD  :

Murshidabad, the first capital of British India, had been a land of Bengal Nawbabs. In the Mughal period it was the capital of Bengal.The town of Murshidabad is on the left bank of the Hooghly River  or main channel of the Ganges. In 1704, Murshid Quli Khan the Diwan of Bengal under Aurangzeb transferred the capital from Dacca (now Dhaka in Bangladesh), and renamed the city Murshidabad after his own name. The history of Murshidabad district can be traced back to ancient times. The geographical area of Murshidabad district can be broadly divided into two parts: the eastern part and the western part. The eastern part of the district which lies to the east of the river Bhagirathi is known as Bagri derived from perhaps Bakradwip and the western part of the district which lies to the west of Bhagirathi is known as Radh. During the 5th century AD some portion of the modern Murshidabad district i.e. Northern Radh and Bagri belonged to the Territory of Gupta Empire. In the 7th century AD King Sasanka ruled over the whole of Radh including some portions of Vanga like Bagri. The capital city of King Sasanka’s empire Karnasubarna is now connected through Karnasubarna (formerly Chiruti) railway station which is the part of Kandi Sub-Division of the district and located at the Katwa-Azimganj Railway line under the Eastern Railway. Yuan Chwang (Hiuen Tsang), the legendary Chinese pilgrim had given a detailed account about this old city along with that of the entire kingdom. The Murshidabad District is well known for Producing Silk of Excellent Quality. Those were the good days, when the Foreigners took place in Bengal Specially in Murshidabad and established various Factories in Cossimbazar and other places.

• History of Silk & Origin :

Silk, the queen of fabrics and the fabric for the queens,Silk is a natural fibre of animal origin and can properly be treated as an Agro-Bio-Industrial commodity.Silk fabric was first developed in ancient China, possibly as early as 6000 BC and definitely by 3000 BC . Silk is the most beautiful and considered as Queen of all textiles .It has been originated in China and came to India through trade (silk route).India also stated producing silk and export silk and silk fabrics to other countries. One of the most famous silk canter’s of that time is Murshidabad (West Bengal).

                The silk industry has been the principal non-agricultural industry in Murshidabad for the last three century.  It was this which attracted the East India Company to the district, Silk where its enterprise was stimulated by competition with the Dutch, French and Armenians. The centre of the industry was Cossimbazar, where the Company started a factory at about 1658. At first the operations were on a small scale: according to Bernier, the Dutch employed 700 or 800 persons in their factory at Cossimbazar, and the English and other merchants as many more. It soon began to develop with European capital and organization. In 1670 a factor "Well Skilled in Silk” was sent out from England to Cossimbazar, and in 1681, when the Chief was Job Charnock the future founder of Calcutta, out of £230,000 sent out by the East India Company as "investment" to Bengal, £140,000 was assigned to Cossimbazar. From this time forward the Company made unremitting efforts to foster Sericulture and extend the trade in silk, until by 1776 ''Bengal silk drove all competitors, except Italian and China silks, out of the English market. The value of the trade to this district may be realized from the fact that, in the time of Ali Vardi Khan, raw silk to the value of 871 lakhs was annually entered in the Custom House books at Mursbidabad. This is exclusive of the European. Investments, which were not entered there, as being either duty free or paying duty at Hooghly. As regards the European investments, we find that, in 1763, out of a total of 40 lakhs required as" advances for investment," the Cossimbazar auranga or filatures demanded 9 lakhs, or as much as any other two agencies excepting Calcutta itself. Colonel Rennell again wrote (cir. 1779) as follows:-" Ccssimbazar is the general market of Bengal silk, and a great quantity of silk and cotton stuffs are manufactured here, which are circulated throughout great part of Asia ; of the unwrought silk, 300,000 or 400,000 lbs. weight is consumed in the European manufactories." The filatures and machinery of the Company at this time were estimated to be worth twenty lakhs of rupees. Another important centre was Jangipur, where silk filatures were established as early as 1773; it was described by Lord Valentia in 1802 as "the greatest silk station of the East Indian Company with 600 furnaces and giving employment to 3,000 persons.'' The Company continued its operations until 1835, when it gave up its- commercial monopoly. After this, large European firms, such as Messrs. Watson & Co., James Lyall & Co., Louis Payen & Co. and the Bengal Silk Company, came into the field.

Silk is Cultivated in many District of Bengal like Birbhum Malda and Specially in Murshidabad. In Murshidabad there were lot of silk reeling and weaving centre some of them are situated in Berhampore Cossimbazar Jiaganj and Chak-Islampur, The village Chak-Islampur known as a big silk reeling and weaving centre of Murshidabad from the days of East India Company played a very important role in the economic development.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Silk Merchants of Chak-Islampur, Berhampore and Meerzapur attempted in their own way to keep the Industry alive. Among them Chandrakanta Saha, Lalitmohan Saha, Ranjit Kumar Biswas, all of Chak-Islampur. And Suren Sarkar, S.S. Bagchi and Durgasankar Bhattacharjee, all of Berhampore were the pioneers in this fight for existence. They engaged some reelers, spinners and weavers of the villages of Chak-lslampur, Harharia, Dangapara, Chhayaghori and some other neighbouring places in the producing of Silk and Matka fabrics and other allied work under their supervision. The silk industry was at death’s door after the First World War was over. Under these circumstances Saha Brothers e.g. Shri Chandrakanta Saha and Lalitmohan Saha, the famous silk merchants of village Chak, whose silk business spread to Benaras, Delhi, Karnatak and other places outside Bengal.

Now a days in Chak-Islampur more than 40% of people are involved with Silk Weaving. Khadi Gram Uddyog Bhaban is the oldest center of Silk Production in Chak-Islampur, there are also many new silk production centers in Chak-Islampur some of them are Ganai Handloom Pvt. Ltd, Bharoti Handloom, Dey Khadi Center and Khadi Kendra. Among of these Centre’s Khadi Gram Uddyog Bhaban is the famous Silk Production Center.

• Silk Weaving in Murshidabad today :

Now a days Murshidabad continues to be home to some of the important silk weaving clusters in the state producing fine silk sarees shirts and plain silk fabric. Government initiatives to support handloom weavers help to make them more competitive relative to other silk producing regions in India. The silk sarees from Murshidabad are very fine, light-weight and easy to drape. They are adorned with a variety of printed designs, both modern and traditional, and are good for formal as well as casual wear. Batik-painted designs are also popular on these silk sarees. A special type of silk sarees from Murshidabad are the garad silk sarees, which are very fine, white or off-white sarees with a plain body and simple coloured borders and pallav. Baluchari is one of the most attractive designs Sharee. the earliest recorded history of baluchari sarees goes back over 200 years to the 18th century Nawab of Bengal, Murshid Quli Khan, who brought this art from Dhaka (in present day Bangladesh) to a small village named Baluchar on the banks of the river Bhagirathi in Murshidabad (in West Bengal). Baluchari derives its name from ‘balu’ (meaning sand) and ‘char’ (or river bank).  This first era of baluchari weaving had themes that revolved around the lives of the nawabs. Not only that there are many types of designed Shree which is also very important.

References

1. Census of India 2011, West Bengal District Census Handbook Murshidabad, Series 20, Part XII; Motif.
2. Brief Industrial Profile of Murshidabad District, West Bengal, of India Ministry of MSME, MSME Development Institute Kolkata ; Page – 3.
3. Census of India 2011, West Bengal District Census Handbook Murshidabad, Series 20, Part XII; Page –9.
4.Biswas, Noorani; Murshidabad Silk (Project Work) ; Page -1. 
5. O’MALLEY, L.S.S, Bengal District Gazetteers, Murshidabad, The Bengal Secretariat Book Depot, 1914; Page 126-127.

6. Sources From Internet &  Field work.

7. Oral Report, Visit Islampur Khadi Gram Uddyog Bhaban.

8. www.wikitravel.org/en/murshidabd.

9. Bengal Handloom, www.westbengalhandloom.org.

(This article specially  for Itihas Baithaki)