History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c23.s4.1

v1.c23.s4.1

The loom has been defined by Dorothy Burnham as, “any device for weaving on which the warp may be arranged and openings for the passage of the weft formed through it by a shedding mechanism” (Hoffmann, p.7). The predominant loom in India has been the pitloom of the horizontal counter-balance treadle type (*Fig.4.*). Broadly speaking, on the basis of ethnological evidence, the evolution of the Indian loom could be postulated as follows: at the first stage the loom may have had shed sticks and heddles (*Figs. 3a, 3b.*). Next came the introduction of the reed (*Fig.4*), shaft, treadle and, perhaps, the barrell dobby²⁶ (*Fig. 5.*).