Murshidabad Silk Weaving
Fine mulberry silk from a former nawabi capital, painted, printed and woven into light sarees.
Murshidabad district in West Bengal is a major producer of Bengal mulberry silk, from cocoon rearing and reeling through to weaving. Its looms make fine, lightweight silk sarees — plain, striped, or with woven borders — much of which is then hand-painted or block-printed with florals, paisleys and figurative designs, and plain silk fabric that is sent for printing and garment work. The district was also the original home of the figured Baluchari saree.
Craft at a Glance
Origin
Murshidabad, West Bengal
Also Known As
Murshidabad silk, Bengal mulberry silk, Islampur–Mirzapur silk
Craft Type
Mulberry silk reeling and handloom weaving
Practising Community
Silk rearers, reelers and weaver communities of the district, organised through cooperatives and the state silk board
Materials
Mulberry silk yarn; acid and metal-complex dyes for the woven cloth; and fabric paints and pigment or reactive print colours for the painted and printed decoration.
Known For
Lightweight Murshidabad silk sarees, often hand-painted or block-printed, and plain silk fabric for further work
Where It's Made
Islampur, Mirzapur, Jangipur and Beldanga in Murshidabad district, West Bengal
Time to Create
Three to six days per saree; longer with hand-painting
GI Status
Not GI-registered; Baluchari, which originated in this district, is separately GI-tagged
Process Steps
Rearing and reeling
Mulberry silkworms are reared on leaf and the cocoons are reeled into raw silk yarn.
Degumming and dyeing
The raw silk is boiled to remove the gum and dyed in the required colours.
Warping and beaming
The dyed warp is laid for several sarees and wound onto the loom, with border threads at the edges.
Weaving
The body is woven on a fly-shuttle loom, plain or with stripes and woven borders.
Hand-painting (where used)
The finished saree is stretched and painted with brush and fabric colours in floral or figurative designs.
Block printing (where used)
Alternatively, the silk is block-printed with carved wooden blocks in repeating patterns.
Fixing and finishing
Painted and printed colour is heat-set, and the saree is washed, checked and folded.
Technique Glossary
Reeling
Unwinding the continuous silk filament from a softened cocoon onto a reel to make raw silk yarn.
Cossimbazar
The historic silk-trading town near Murshidabad where the East India Company ran a major silk factory.
Degumming
Boiling raw silk to remove the sericin gum, leaving soft, lustrous fibre ready to dye and weave.
Hand-painting on silk
Decorating finished silk cloth with brush-applied fabric colours.
Block printing
Stamping a repeating design onto cloth with carved wooden blocks and dye or pigment.
Fly-shuttle loom
A handloom with a shuttle propelled across the warp by a cord, faster than throwing it by hand.
Baluchari (origin)
The figured narrative silk saree that originated in Murshidabad's Baluchar village before its revival at Bishnupur.
A Craft Through Time
18th century
The nawabi silk capital
Murshidabad is the seat of the Bengal nawabs and a world centre of the silk trade, exporting through Cossimbazar.
18th century
Baluchar weaving
The figured Baluchari saree is woven at Baluchar village in the district under nawabi patronage.
19th century
Decline
Colonial policy, flooding and competition collapse the silk export and the district loses its figured weaving.
20th century
Reeling and weaving continue
Mulberry rearing, reeling and plain-silk weaving persist, supported by the state silk board and cooperatives.
Late 20th century
Painted and printed silk
Hand-painted and block-printed Murshidabad silk sarees become a mainstay of the district's output.
Present
A silk-producing district
Murshidabad remains a major source of Bengal mulberry silk, its lightweight decorated sarees widely sold.
Did You Know?
Murshidabad's Cossimbazar was one of the biggest silk-trading towns in the world in the eighteenth century — the East India Company's silk 'factory' there employed thousands of reelers and buyers.
Every craft has a story. Every story begins with tradition.