A History of Agriculture in India v2.c83.s1.4

v2.c83.s1.4

JUTE fibre is obtained from the bark of the two cultivated species of the genus *Corchorus*, viz. *C. capsularis* and *C. olitorius*, of the family Tiliaceae. There is evidence of trade in jute cloth in the sixteenth century in Bengal. In the *Ain-i-Akbari* there is mention of sack-cloth (*tat*), which Jarret identifies with jute from the district of Rangpur. Poor people used sack-cloth for clothing. In contemporary Bengal literature, *Kavikankan Chandi* by Mukundaram Chakravarty, dated to *c.* 1575, there are references to gunny bags made of jute. In Bengali poetical works of the seventeenth century, sack-cloth made out of jute is mentioned as an article of trade.