The History of Bengal (Vol. I: Hindu Period; Vol. II: Muslim Period 1200–1757) v1.c19.s7.5

v1.c19.s7.5

It is thus evident that as early as the time of Kauṭilya Bengal had attained to great eminence as a seat of textile manufacture. The records of the succeeding ages tend to show that she retained this eminence down almost to the beginning of the nineteenth century. It may be noted that the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, written in the first century A.D., includes “muslins of the finest sorts” among the exports of Bengal.² Referring to Ruhmī (which Elliot identifies with Bengal),³ the Arab merchant Sulaiman wrote in the ninth century A.D. that there was “a stuff made in this country which is not to be found elsewhere; so fine and delicate is this material that a dress made of it may be passed through a signet-ring.” Sulaiman adds that it was made of cotton, and that he was not speaking from hearsay, but had himself seen a piece of it.⁴ Marco Polo, who visited India in the thirteenth century, states that in his time Bengal still plied a lucrative trade in cotton goods.⁵ In the fifteenth century Ma Huan, the Chinese traveller, witnessed five or six varieties of textile goods being manufactured in this province.¹