The British Effect on South Indian Weaving

Last updated on: May 25, 2019 at 8:48 pm by Sunil Daman

The British Effect on South Indian Weaving 2019-05-25T20:48:59+05:30 Sunil Daman

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

This post is a look at how the British Raj decimated the South Indian weaving community. In the next post I will be looking at some of Tamil Nadu’s textiles and how they have declined in the last two centuries.

Since ancient times, textiles were important trade items exported from India. For example at Poompuhar, also called Kaveripoompattinam, located at the mouth of the Kaveri, fine cotton textiles, silks, painted and printed cottons, carpets and cushions were traded in vast quantities to Southeast Asia and ancient Rome. In Rome, Indian textiles were supposedly purchased for their weight in gold.

However, the Industrial Revolution gave rise to the English textile industry, and with the British conquest of the subcontinent, punitive measures were taken to reduce the competitiveness of Indian textiles and give British industry a boost.

By combining political and financial power, the British East India Company was able to raise its profit margins at the expense of weavers’ wellbeing.

In South India for example, prior to the entry of the Company, weavers had great leeway and bargaining rights with respect to merchant intermediaries. After British conquest however, the Company maintained a monopoly on textile purchase and later on, even placed tariffs on locally produced cloth, undermining the market power, mobility and the contractual flexibility of weavers.

By the 1800s, the Indian market was dominated by machine-made cloth from Manchester and Lancashire. A series of famines in India then sounded the death knell for Indian weaver. Lord Bentinck, the Governor of India in the 1830s, said that “the bones of the weavers are bleaching the plains of India.”

India

textiles

Previous Post

May 11, 2019

Kasturba Gandhi: The Mahatma's Shadow

Next Post

May 21, 2019 The Textiles of Tamil Nadu's Temple Towns

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category books Devi worship India jk videos Master's Talks quotes Sadhguru Videos sanatana dharma travel Uncategorized Videos Yoga and meditation

Select a Month June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 November 2019 October 2019 May 2019 April 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 March 2016 February 2016 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

I am an animal that chews the cud and has split hooves. What am I?

Select your answer to see how you score.

A clean animal An unclean animal A protected animal A sacrifical animal