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| A woman in fine Bengali muslin; Dhaka, 18th-century |
The fabric is believed to have originated in Ancient Bengal. For millennia, it was considered one of the finest luxury textiles, and adorned royalty and nobility across Asia. In antiquity, the muslin trade stretched from the Roman Empire to China. During the 17th and 18th-centuries, Mughal Bengalemerged as the foremost muslin exporter in the world, with Mughal Dhaka as capital of the worldwide muslin trade.During the Roman period Khadi muslin was introduced in Europe and a vast amounts of fabrics were traded to Europe for many centuries.It became highly popular in 18th-century France and eventually spread across much of the Western world. During British colonial rule, the Bengali muslin industry was ruthlessly suppressed by various colonial policies,which favored imports of industrially manufactured textiles from Britain. Brutality to the weavers of muslin was so intense, William Bolts described it in his book as "Instances have been known of their cutting off their thumbs"[clarification needed].[4] As a result the ancient muslin of Dhaka disappeared for ever. Currently, multiple varieties of muslin exist, but these are not the same muslin, which used to be produced in Dhaka before the British rule.
