Chautar
Chautar or Chaotaer (Cotton cloth) is an old cotton fabric of the Mughal period. The chautar was a mulmul variety, and the finest mulmul was termed as ''Mulmul Shahi'' in Hindi and Persian languages. It was produced in Eastern India.Way back, Chittagong was exporting this cloth.[1] [2][3][4]Conceivably then cloths were produced in smaller pieces only since the Chautar is described as a piece good. It has been recorded with specific dimensions, i.e., length 12.44 meters and width 77.75 centimeters. Chautar was compared with sansuo, which was a three shuttle cloth, type of fine cotton variety produced at Songjiang .[5]
Special mentions
- Ma Huan a Chinese voyager also referred Chautar.[1] In the 1431 expedition, he visited Bengal, Chittagong, Sonargaon, Gaur and Calicut. From Calicut, he was sent by Eununch Hong Bao as emissary to Mecca.
- Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak, one of the nine Jewels of Akbar's royal court, mentioned this fabric the Ain-i-Akbari.The Chautar was very much light and thin. They used it to strengthen the paper by inserting one layer between the two layers of paper.[6][7][8]
References
- Ray, Haraprasad (1993). Trade and Diplomacy in India-China Relations: A Study of Bengal During the Fifteenth Century. Radiant Publishers. p. 5. ISBN 978-81-7027-202-1.
- Risley, Sir Herbert Hope (1892). The Tribes and Castes of Bengal. Printed at the Bengal secretariat Press. p. 302.
- Wise, James (2016-11-10). Notes on the Races, Castes and Trades of Eastern Bengal. Taylor & Francis. p. 459. ISBN 978-1-351-99740-9.
- ''merchants from Bengal used to take with them twenty varieties of cotton cloth , steel , very rich bed ... 146 - 47 : chautar , sinabafa and beatila are varieties of cloth , each piece measuring 20 by 3 or 4 Portuguese yds ...'' Page 149 Husain Shahi Bengal, 1494-1538 A.D.: A Socio-political Studybooks.google.co.in › books Mamatājura Rahamāna Taraphadāra · 1999https://www.google.co.in/books/edition/Husain_Shahi_Bengal_1494_1538_A_D/3nRuAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=
- Ray, Haraprasad (1993). Trade and Diplomacy in India-China Relations: A Study of Bengal During the Fifteenth Century. Radiant Publishers. p. 89. ISBN 978-81-7027-202-1.
- Linschoten, Jan Huygen van (1874). The Voyage of John Huyghen Van Linschoten to the East Indies. From the Old English Translation of 1598 [by W. Phillip] The First Book, Containing His Description of the East. Hakluyt Society. p. 60.
- Verma, Professor of History (Retired); Verma, Som Prakash; Verman, Som P. (1994). Mughal Painters and Their Work: A Biographical Survey and Comprehensive Catalogue. Oxford University Press. p. 7.
- Verma, Tripta (1994). Karkhanas Under the Mughals, from Akbar to Aurangzeb: A Study in Economic Development. Pragati Publications. p. 63. ISBN 978-81-7307-021-1.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.