It was Delhi-based textile and art expert, Alka Raghuvanshi who put the thought in my head.
Chanderi in Mughal Miniatures?
“If you look at old miniature Mughal paintings, the diaphanous skirt and veil looks like a Chanderi fabric,” she said. “As we all know, the best Chanderi fabrics are nearly transparent. You put them in a bucket of water and they disappear.”
It is a lovely image. Imagine soaking your Chanderi saree into a bucket of water and watching it dissolve under your very eyes.
Many Mughal miniatures feature such translucent fabrics. They are believed to be muslin. But here is a thought: Could these translucent fabrics in the Mughal miniatures be heritage Chanderi weaves?
Have a look at this images from the Victoria & Albert Museum’s collections and make up your own mind.
Kakubha Ragini: Diaphanous clothes on a lady in the forest with peacocks
Could this saree be a translucent Chanderi
The clothing of royalty
She is bare-breasted and her gauzy peshwaz with its rows of chevron lappets down either side of the bodice is open wide, allowing her lover to be able to cup her right breast in his hand. She, in turn, is holding up a small jewelled glass to him as he embraces her with his other arm. The princess is wearing golden paijama decorated with a half-drop pattern of leaves and a patka decorated with a scroll of red flowers tucked into her waistband. The skirt of the transparent peshwaz is paned in gold. She wears a transparent, gold-edged dupatta over her head and shoulders with floral decorated ends.
The principal lady wears a transparent, long-sleeved peshwaz (overdress) with a gold paned skirt under a high waist, above which there are double rows of pink-edged white lappets round the neck opening. She wears an orange paijama (trousers) with gold dotted and floral motifs and a golden patka ornamented with bands of pink, blue and pale orange flowers. Over her head and hanging down over her shoulders on either side she has a gauzy yellow, patterned dupatta (scarf) edged in gold
Lady in a diaphanous peshwaz, and odhni-veil.
Kakubha Ragini: She is dressed in an orange ghaghra (skirt) and a tight-fitting choli (bodice) with a bare midriff ornamented with body jewellery of crossed paired strings of pearls set with a red stone in the middle. She has finger and toe rings on her bare feet. She grasps the edge of her transparent gold-dotted odhani (veil) which is draped across her loose hair and attached to the waistband of a golden overskirt which leaves visible a central panel of the orange skirt beneath.
From Kashmir to Kolikhanda Cotton
Agar Firdaus bar ru-e-zamin ast, hami ast o- hami ast o- hami ast.”
“If there is heaven on earth, it is here, it is here, it is here”
Emperor Jahangir
Now, here is the thing. Jahangir waxed poetic about his beloved Kashmir, but if there is one thread (no pun intended) that permeated all of the famous Mughal miniatures that he commissioned and patronized, it wasn’t the lakes and valleys of Kashmir but gossamer translucent weaves that resemble the Chanderi sarees of this edition.
“Chanderi sarees are really the clothing of royalty,” says Alka. “It is a glamourous royal weave.”
Lots of weavers concur. As S.K. Somani-ji of Gopilal & Sons says, the royals from several parts of North India commissioned and bought Chanderi sarees for their functions. The Scindias of Madhya Pradesh continue to do so till this day.
Part of the reason for these “woven air” textiles is the high-quality extra-fine yarns that crucially, don’t go through the degumming process that is traditionally done to prevent breakage during weaving. Since Chanderi yarn is not degummed, it retains its lustre and texture.
For the wearer, heaven on earth indeed.
