Muga silk
Muga silk is a variety of wild silk geographically tagged to the state of Assam in India. The silk is known for its extreme durability and has a natural yellowish-golden tint with a shimmering, glossy texture. It was previously reserved for the use of royalty.
In the Brahmaputra Valley, the larvae of the Assam silkmoth feed on aromatic Som and Sualu leaves. Muga silk can be dyed after bleaching. This silk can be hand-washed with its lustre increasing after every wash. Muga silk, like other Assam silks, is used in products like saris, mekhalas and chadors.
History
Sericulture in Assam is an ancient industry without a precise time of origin. Assam was well known for the production of high quality silk since ancient times. The craft of weaving goes along with the production of silk. It grew to such sophistication in Assam that it was known all over India and abroad. The first reference to Assam silk was probably in Valmiki's Ramayana. In the Kishkindha Kanda of Ramayana, it is stated that one travelling towards the east has to first pass through Magadha, Anga, Pundra and then the Kosha-karanam-bhumi. Kautilya’s Arthashastra, a political literature of the 3rd century BC, makes references to the highly sophisticated silk clothing from Assam. Kautilya mentions the production of Suvarnakudyaka along with Vangika and Paundrika, all of which were types of Kauseya and Cina-patta. The fact that Kamrupa produced Suvarnakudyaka is confirmed by the 8th century writer Kumārila Bhaṭṭa who, in his commentary of Arthashatra, said that the Muga silk was a product of Kamrupa. As per the Arthashatra, the fibres of Suvarnakudyaka were of 'the colour of butter', 'as red as the sun', and of the best quality. Due to this description of colour, the type of silk can be easily identified as Muga. The Arthashatra also refers to four trees which the silkworms feed on. Out of this, Vakula and Naga-vriksa belong to the genus Ericales and Magnolia which the Muga silkworm Antheraea assamensis is known to feed on; while Likucha and Vata belong to the genus Moraceae which the Pat Silkworm feeds on. The text also states that the fibre was spun while the threads were wet, indicating that the production method was still the same at that period.The knowledge of sericulture probably arrived with the Tibeto-Burman groups which arrived from China around the period of 3000-2000 BC. Moreover, there was another trade of Silk through the Southwestern Silk road which started from China, passed through Burma and Assam, finally getting connected to the main silk road in Turkministan. There are various other records to show that Silk came to India through Assam. As per the Sanskrit text Harshacharita, during the coronation ceremony of King Harshavardhan, king Bhaskarvarman of Kamrupa gifted many precious items to the North Indian king. Out of this the most important ones include the silk items and other precious jewels. These included a white silk umbrella, sacks of woven silk and silken towels.. It is also mentioned in the text that the silk fibres were so even and polished that it resembled Bhoj-patra.There are also references of Assam silk in the records written by Huen Sang where he has written the use and trade of silk in Kamrupa during the rule of king Bhaskar Varman. Ram Mohan Nath in his book "The Background of Assamese culture states that: "The Kiratas,".
Genetic research on silkworms show that Assam silk originated in two specific regions of Assam. One was Garo Hills in the ancient Kamrupa kingdom and the other was Dhakuakhana in the ancient Chutiya kingdom.
As per the Naoboicha Phukanar Buranji, Muga was adopted in the Ahom courts at later period. As per the text, one of the Ahom kings upon the advise of his ministers took the decision of introducing Muga, Paat clothing and employed a thousand Muga producers and weavers from the Chutia community to weave royal garments in the capital.
Before that the Ahoms are said to have worn black-coloured clothes. In the Assam Buranji, the Ahoms are mentioned as "Lunda-Munda Kula Kapur pindha luk" in
the 16th century, which denotes they wore black cotton clothes till the 16th century similar to the other Tais of Yunnan and Burma. Due to this adoption of the clothing style of native rulers, Muga production received patronage from the Ahom dynasty in the later period of their rule. Royalty and senior mandarins were prescribed clothing made of the silk. Ahom kings were known to keep many costly muga sets in the royal storehouse for presentation to distinguished visitors to their court. Queens were personally involved in training weavers. The fabric was also a chief export of the Ahoms.
Although Silk was cultivated and woven by women all around Assam, the silk clothes of a particular place named Sualkuchi achieved much fame during the Kamarupa as well as Ahom rule. Sualkuchi is said to have been established in the 11th Century by King Dharma Pala of the Pala dynasty that ruled western Assam from 900 AD to about 1100 AD. Dharmapala, the story goes, brought 26 weaver families from Tantikuchi in Barpeta to Sualkuchi and created a weavers' village close to modern-day Guwahati. Silk was given royal patronage during that period and Sualkuchi was made an important centre of Silk weaving. The Hand-loom industry of Sualkuchi encompasses cotton textile, silk textile as well as Khadi cloth which are, in fact, traditional cloth endowing high social and moral value in and outside the state. However, Sualkuchi is well known for silk textiles both mulberry and muga silk. In fact muga, "the golden fibre" is produced only in Assam and it has also tremendous export potentiality. Such activities are intimately linked with the culture and tradition of the Assamese people since long past.
Muga silk was recognized as a protected geographical indication in 2007, and was granted a GI logo for trademark purposes in 2014. The logo has been registered with the Assam Science Technology and Environment Council.
The Central Silk Board of India has been granted the authority to inspect muga silk products, certify their authenticity and allow producers to use the GI logo. This board is also involved in R&D and infrastructure development for Assamese silk, including muga, through the Central Muga Eri Research & Training Institute in Jorhat, Assam.
In 2015, Adarsh Gupta K of Nagaraju's research team at Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics, Hyderabad, India, discovered the complete sequence and the protein structure of muga silk fibroin and published it in Nature Scientific Reports.
India produced 158 tonnes of muga silk in FY 2014–15, out of which 136 tonnes were produced in Assam. India's total silk output in the same period amounted to 28,708 tonnes.