Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c5.s2.t8.3.2

v1.c5.s2.t8.3.2

Wang Dayuan's *A Brief History of Island Countries* from the Yuan period recorded that Banavasi in India (southeast of Karwar, in Karnataka) made fine cotton cloth. Textiles made in Bengal included bi cloth, gaoni cloth, douluo cotton etc. Other areas including Bhandari are recorded as making textiles such as "douluo" cotton, "badan" cloth, big hand towels, cotton cloth, big flower towels, silk cloth, "pisang" cloth, fine cloth, cotton piece goods etc. *The Travels of Marco Polo* recorded that Indian Malabar (the south-western coast of India) made black pepper, ginger, cinnamon bark and cotton cloth, and Chinese merchants went to India by ship and brought fabrics, precious metals and traditional medical materials with them, taking back local specialties. *Juan* 5 in Mao Ruizheng’s *Record of the Interpreters of the August Ming* wrote that tribute offered by Kulam (Kollam in present-day Kerala) in the fifth year of Yongle (1407) included a pearl umbrella, white cotton cloth and black pepper. Again, it was mentioned that tribute offered by western countries included a black and yellow tiger and a douluo cotton quilt in the 21ˢᵗ year of Yongle (1423). Ma Huan’s *Overall Survey of the Oceans Shores’* in the Ming Dynasty recorded that Bengal produced five or six types of fine cloth, including bi cloth and turmeric cloth. During the reign of Zhengtong of the Ming Dynasty, Bengal offered white bi cloth and douluo cotton as tribute.