Textiles from India: The Global Trade

For hundreds of years, textiles from India have travelled the globe, clothing the world, from kings and queens to the common man. Indian textiles have been traded in Europe, America, Africa, and the far east, often passing into ritual and religious custom. They have included the most exclusive and expensive festive fabrics as well as the common cloth used for daily wear. This fascinating global history from the medieval period up to the present day is excitingly captured in this lavishly illustrated collection of wide-ranging essays by scholars from four continents. So we read about shawls from Kashmir making their way across Asia; brocades especially woven in Benaras for Buddhist rituals in Tibet, the Muslins of Bengal, block prints and Chintz, perennial favourites in Europe; and the unique Indian embroideries at Hardwick Hall, England in a major contribution to the study of this fascinating aspect of India’s cultural and economic history.