A Contemporary Mughal Patka : Recreating a Technology

Abstract: Contemporary and Mughal imply a contradiction, exemplifying the significance of a textile purchased by The Textile Museum while still being woven on a loom in Delhi, India, in 1993. Its rectangular format with two end panels references a Mughal patka , or sash, while its multiple compound weave structures and use of gold-wrapped silk yarns represent an attempt to reconstruct lost technologies of courtly Mughal textiles. The row of irises in each end panel reflects the influence of Safavid textiles. This style also characterizes silk weavings of the Mughal court. The production of this patka demonstrates the applied scholarship of Rahul Jain (b. 1963, Delhi) executed by Anwar Ahmad, a master weaver at the ASHA workshop, established by Jain in 1993 in Delhi. The author seeks to situate the ASHA workshop’s production—numbering now several hundred weavings held in museums and private collections in the US, UK, France, and India—neither as a craft revival nor a commercial development effort but rather as an experimental endeavor and a dedicated knowledge project in pursuit of renewed understanding of what had become a nearly extinct group of Mughal textile technologies. Jain’s visionary efforts include detailed analysis, deep thinking, historical reflection, and the engineering of redeveloped drawlooms that enable the production of contemporary textiles with multiple compound weave structures—including samite , taqueté , lampas, and velvet—in styles reflective of the Mughal era, incorporating influences appropriate to foreign relations of the time.