History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c23.s2.t1.15

v1.c23.s2.t1.15

However, in the Rāmāyaṇa, ramie or nettle cloth receives high praise for its fineness and beauty. Samples of ramie in Japanese collections are also of a high quality. The above reference may be taken to imply *Urtica heterophylla*, the *Horoo surat* of Assam, the Nilgiri nettle of South India and *herpah* of Bhutan. This plant, the bark of which yields an abundance of fine, white glossy silk-like fibres, grows in Burma, Assam, the Himalayan foothills up to Dehra Dun, Southern Konkan, Karnataka and coastal Kerala. The nettle cloth mentioned in the *Rāmāyaṇa* may have been derived from the fibre of this plant (Watt. I, p. 472; Royle, pp.366-367). Varrier Elwin noted that among the tribal groups of the North-East, the Monpas, Sherdukpens and Idu Mishmi wove fibres derived from *Boehmeria nivea* and other of nettle origin into a cloth which was made into jackets. These were so strong and stiff that they could serve as a kind of armour (Elwin, pp. 68-69, 131).