Abstract
The cotton industry has always occupied a honoured place in Indian industrial system. India is the accredited birthplace of cotton manufactures. Certain passages in Rig Veda, Mahabharata, Ramayana, Puranas, etc. indicate the antiquity and flourishing state of the industry from the prehistoric times (Govil 1950). Ray (1986) explains that ancient Indians were using dyes such as indigo, lac, turmeric, madder, resins and red ochre. Varahamihira (500 AD), in his celebrated Brihat Samhita, refers to mordants such as alums and sulphates of iron to fix dyes on textile fabrics. During the Buddhist period, the Indian cotton fabrics were exported worldwide, according to the records of various travellers and ambassadors a few centuries ago. The industry was fortunately not much affected by the wars and rebellions during the Muslim invasion, as this was relatively short, and was patronized by the Mughal emperors, who were lovers of luxuries and fine articles. Daca, Masulipatnam, Madras, Gujarat, Ahmedabad and Banares emerged as prominent textile centres. Indian cotton fabrics were known for their fine quality.
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Gopalakrishnan, B.N. (2018). History of Indian Textile Industry. In: Economic and Environmental Policy Issues in Indian Textile and Apparel Industries. SpringerBriefs in Environmental Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-62344-3_1
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