Banaras was a great centre of textile-trade as well as a market for Kashmir shawls. Dacca muslin and its own manufacture: "it has a very considerable silk, cotton and woollen manufacture of its own." These included some expensive type of probably zari and brocades. Mrs. Colin Mackenzie, a traveller to Banaras in1847 AD, records some, interesting information about the zari and brocade textiles. An Indian prince who visited their party wore "wide trousers of cloth of gold", or brocade. This seems to be very popular among the gentry of Banaras, which is corroborated by her later account and also b)' the surviving examples of that period.

Mrs. Mackenzie furnishes a very interesting account of the shops which dealt in the zaribrocade. "This was the house of one of the richest manufacturers at Banaras. Half of the room was raised one step. Here we sat while bales of the most magnificent gold and silver stuffs, called "Kinkob" were unrolled before us. I do not suppose any European brocades equal them. They are used by the natives for trousers some of the muslins spotted with gold and muslin shawls and scarves with gold and silver borders for about thirty rupees were beautiful..." The above account not only gives a picture of the trade but also informs us about the price which these stuffs fetched in those times, assuming that the prices offered to Mrs. Mackenzie were meant for fabrics of high quality. She also informs us how brocade was popular in the ladies' dress as she narrates her visit to the Rajah of Sattara.

The dress of the ladies included, "a very short red jacket with short sleeves ...a red drapery embroidered or spriggled with gold enveloped the whole person ...the jacket was (made of) cloth of gold...a singing woman, with stiff outstanding petticoats of red gold, was introduced." These stray information leave no doubt about the popularity of the brocades used as material for both male and female costumes. The men also had their coats made of brocade. This seems to be the popular costume-type all over the country in the nineteenth century, specimens of which are preserved inBharat Kala Bhavan and other collections; some of them are being reproduced in this book. Soon after, Dr. J. Forbes Watson published his monumental work, The Textile Manufacturers and the People of India. This seems to be the first authentic and systematic record of the facts relating to the textile industry in the nineteenth-century India. He quotes Captain Meadows Taylor, who observes:"a piece of silver of about the length and thickness of man's forefinger gilded or of pure gold was beaten and drawn through successive holes in a steel plate an line wire was literally as thin as a hair". This was the kalabattu. Water adds that the gold or silver thread, badla, was twisted around silk thread and woven.

The women who manufactured the gold and silver thread were called batavaiya(those who twisted into the shape of kalabattu).The brocades were meant forcholi sleeves etc. or for the entire piece for the choli. Watson reproduced a sample of the kimkhabfrom Banaras in his Vol.7. It was a silk gauze and gold showing diagonal stripes and flowers in gold on a mauve ground, which was and is a very popular shade for the ground (angan).Unfortunately, the price of the stuff js not quoted; the textile was 13' 8" long and 2' 10" wide. However, it is strange that Watson did not furnish any account of the zari sarisand scarves which seem to have been very popular in the nineteenth century and are still very popular. The official catalogue of 1 he Crafts Exhibition, Delhi (1902-03) IndianArt at Delhi by Sir George Watt throws immense light on the Banaras kimkhabs,and zaris. The process of manufacture is recorded in the following statement: "The small needle-like spool (simple pencil of bamboo, actually called 'needle' by the weavers) is by the hand carried in and out of the exact number of threads of the warp that may be necessary in the production of the pattern". Thus, loosely it was called 'loom-embroidery'. Sir George further informs that Banaras has been the chief centre of brocades or kimkhabs.

The zari work was known in Banaras as pot-than. He distinguishes the various sub-types, e.g., baftas, amarusand even the gold and silk gauzes or abrawanswhich were brocades in only varying degrees of the use of gold thread; the brocades in pure silk were known as amarus, those with gold wire or thread (kalabattu)in addition to silk were kimkhab,sometimes a speck of golden thread orkalabattu illuminiated a particular feature of the pattern in the amaru. Kimkhab came very near to borderings, braidings and trimmings. The kimkhabs included pure cloth of gold or silver, the brocades with greater portion of the surface in kalabattu" which were too heavy to be worn and therefore, were chiefly used for curtains and trappings.

A business family, connected with the trade in Banaras, informed that for trappings and curtains the gold or silver thread (kalabattu) was made of much heavier material known as ekpara, dopara, tinpara, chaupara and even chhapara brocade. These various grades were determined on the basis of the number of kalabattu threads repeated in a given spare; for example, the ekpara represents ten such kalabattu threads in a running inch. Thus, even the chaupara was supposed to be a very heavy material popularly used for trappings of elephants etc. It was only rarely that the chaupara was used. The curtains were also heavy fabrics and they were double-sided weaving ( do-rukha). Similarly, very close weaving was known as khes

.The other factor which determined the price of the kimkhabwas the degree of gilding on the kalabattu 'thread', which was determined as ekratia, doratia, tinratia, chauratia and so on; i.e., containing one or more ratis (one rati = nearly 7.5 gm.) in the kalabattu thread which had its unit as one thousand or twelve hundred yards etc. (the hazargaja or barahsaugaja). Originally, the manufacture of kalabattuwas an indigenous industry but later on it was imported from France. The "Gold Mohour" brand French gilded wire or thread (i.e., kalabattu) was most popular among the Banaras weavers. Thickness of the textile is mainly. due to the silk threads used in the 'enamel' work. The colour pattern in the 'enamel' work was technically known asalfi. The very fine kimkhab work was known as ektara.

he Banaras weavers recollect that Surat manufactured very fine gold' thread' (kalllbattu) which was used for very fine type of work.It is also learnt that formerly the two localities of Banaras, viz. Madanpura and Alaipura monopolised the manufacture of the zari and brocades respectively. However, in the present times both the centres in Banaras manufacture both the varieties. The third variety of brocades, according to Sir George, known as bartas or pot- thans, had only certain portions of the pattern in gold or silver thread (kalabattu) while the abrawan (a Persian term) meant a silk gauze or muslin with certain portions of the pattern shown in kalabattu.

The exhibition displayed some important and beautiful kimkhabs from Banaras and Ahmedabad. The garments represented a riding coat and a long coat jalidar (mesh pattern enclosing rosettes) and lahariyadar (wavy lines) pattern respectively. They were bordered with gold embroidery and pearls; The gudari pattern anga showed uniform patches of several colours and beautiful pale border. Watt observed that due to many factors, the kimkhab industry was on decline in the early twentieth century. The taste changed considerably during the nineteenth century with the advent of the British rule and the manufacturers were forced to change according to the new patron's taste. The Banaras brocades witnessed a major change due to a special and interesting factor. Watt recorded that a weaver happened to visit London. The state of Banaras weavers, the manufacture of zari textiles and its trade are very well-recorded in the District Gazetteer of 1909.

Most of the workers (in weaving and cognate crafts) were Muslims, yet there were high-cast Hindus also, total about 12,000 people." All the raw material is imported from Bengal, Central Asia and even China (via Bombay). China silk is a yellow colour and fine quality. The Central Asian is known as sangaland this is either wardwani or white or bashiri or yellow (from Samarkand and Bukhara). The Central Asian import is dwindling because the cost is enhanced by the necessity of sorting the threads which are of varying thickness".. "Of Late Italian silk has been largely imported from Como and elsewhere and is used for the well known 'Kashi silk' and similar fabrics". Many of those were dyed by celebrated artisans, some exported to Lucknow by Nawab Wazirs. But aniline dyes imported from Europe replaced vegetal dyes. Brocades were exported to Europe the patterns are often merely geometrical. The kimkhabs are very heavy in texture and are seldom used for fabrics.

A lighter fabric, both in material and ornamentation is the pot-than or bafta work, which in colouring and pattern differs but little from the former. Where the kalabattu work in gold or silver is omitted the brocade is known as amaru and this is much in demand among those who cannot afford the high prices demanded for kimkhab work.Similarly, in every sphere of lndian art and industry cheap and decadent European influence was felt. The colours used in the Banarasi brocades were indigenous and showed a preference to dazzling and variegated tones. The import of European chemical pigment, however, considerably influenced the local taste, still in certain cases it could not substitute some of the very popular colours.

But the European customers or the Westernised Indian patrons cared for more sophisticated or sombre colour- schemes. This vitally changed the entire out look of the Banarasi manufacturers, their colour-sense was irretrievably lost and consequently led to the decline in taste. This state of affairs continues in some proportions. Certain weavers, induced by the traders, still produce incredibly bad motifs, most inspired by cheap Edwardian or Georgian prints.