উপমহাদেশিয় গাঁইয়া তাঁতিদের অবদান - আমরা জানিও না কি বিপুল বিশাল গর্বের অংশিদারি বয়ে নিয়ে চলেছি

লেখাটা বড় হবে; এড়িয়ে যাবেন

সেই প্রাচীন কাল থেকে কয়েক শতক আগে পর্যন্ত উপমহাদেশের তাঁতিরা বিশ্বজুড়ে কি ধরণের কৃষ্টিগত প্রভাব ফেলেছিল তাঁর বর্ণনা দেওয়া গেল কয়ের স্তবকে - যদিও তা যথেষ্ট নয়। আমাদের গর্বের বাংলার তাঁতিরাও সেই গর্বের যোগ্য অংশিদার ছিলেন। ইওরোপিয় রীতিতে ভোক্তার শুধু দিনগত পাপক্ষয়ের জন্যে পণ্য সৃষ্টি নয়, বিপুল এশিয় জনগোষ্ঠীকে দৈনন্দিন্দিনতার বাইরে বেঁচে থাকার আত্মিক ক্ষুত পিপাসা মেটানোর পথ দেখিয়েছিলেন তাঁরা। আমরা জানিও না কি বিপুল বিশাল গর্বের অংশিদারি বয়ে নিয়ে চলেছি সে বর্ণনার দুতিনিটে স্তবক নিচে দেব - Thus, utility alone did not drive this commerce; rather, cultural attributes integral to the cotton textiles themselves appealed to rich and poor, male and female. Indeed, Indian cottons were imbued with different meanings by different societies and peoples. Desire, not necessity, directed trade with these South-East Asian customers; desire rooted in the cultural contexts of those societies where the requirements of self-definition, hierarchical display, ,and ritual gift giving shaped the flow of cottons. In whatever context, whether to sustain customary cultural forms or to feed powerful new consumer forces, culture shaped markets।

Certain commodities consistently found eager consumers. Indian cotton textiles were widely traded along the established medieval networks from the China Sea through central Asia, from Cairo to Canton. More varied in quality than Chinese and Indian silk, and usually less costly, cotton textiles came in a range of qualities that included the most gossamer muslins and heavyweight cotton checks. The Indian materials travelling along these channels fed consumer needs in disparate regions of the world, gradually transforming their material culture. This commerce persisted over many hundreds of years and we may never discover all its complex facets, although surviving records confirm its longevity. Diaphanous muslins were treasured in classical Rome, and centuries later in medieval Old Cairo a wider array of printed and plain cottons from Gujarat 'Yere routinely sold. In the same period, merchants from the Coromandel Coast carried cottons eastward to Indonesian and Chinese markets.

The significance of this commerce is immense, both in terms of the wealth created as well as the cultural conversation it fostered across great distances. K. N. Chaudhuri notes that 'long-distance trade subsumes an exchange of information on cultural values and interpretations, social systems, technology, and artistic sensibilities', adding that this trade 'transcends far beyond its immediate economic value and hence by association long-distance trade is instrumental in the creation of a language of signs with an immense range of significance'.

Trade made manifest the desires of generations and of civilizations, whether from our perspective we might describe these wants as ephemeral or profound. Indian printed and painted fabrics also facilitated iconographic communication in a largely unlettered world, where signs and designs resonated with diverse peoples steeped in visual literacy. Through the diffusion of these printed patterns-incorporating flora, fauna, geometric and heraldic forms-a multifaceted discourse enriched the visual and material aesthetics of much of the world, a process Andrew Sherratt defined as 'consumption as communication and performance'.

Within Asia, Indian merchants supplied large and diverse communities. The Indonesian archipelago, for example, had a long-standing appetite for blockprinted cottons, the patterns of which held social and ritual significance. Traded for spices in many parts of this region, Indian cottons were an essential cultural medium in gift exchange in South-East Asia. John Guy notes the 'importance of non-utilitarian uses to which Indian textiles were put in Southeast Asian societies ... the sheer volume of the trade ... far exceeded the needs of the region, given that much of the clothing of the people was provided by inexpensive locally woven goods'.

- রিওলো-পার্থসারথির স্পিনিং ওয়ার্ল্ডএর, BEVERLY LEMIRE এর প্রবন্ধ, REVISING THE HISTORICAL NARRATIVE India, Europe, and the Cotton Trade, c.I300-I800এর