“It appears that the only hope for a future for mashru lies in a reversion to the quality and materials of the nineteenth century and a determined targeting of the garment and furnishing fabric market, both in India and abroad."

-Dr. Rosemary Crill

Raw Mango’s relationship with Mashru is deeply layered. Our re-interpretation introduced a new development of the textile in Benares; namely working with solid colors and a return to pure silk (which had been replaced by rayon), and a subsequent renewed interest amongst the weaving community, one which has been growing over the last decade.

Not quite silk, and not quite cotton, Mashru is a brilliant, highly skilled inventive textile that presents a blurring of binaries, being both silk and cotton. With roots in the Arabic word 'Shari'a' meaning 'permitted by Islamic law', Mashru’s warp-faced satin weave allowed silk to be visible on the surface, giving the fabric its lustrous shine. Given the prohibition of wearing pure silk fabrics- citing sumptuary laws in the Quran that restrain luxury in their lifestyle- Mashru broke a rule within a system and emerged as a ‘permitted’ fabric for Muslim men to wear.. Mashru is a mixed fabric composed of smooth silk surface and soft cotton backing, thus making it possible for silk to be worn.

Mashru came to India through the silk route. It was originally woven in three parts of India: Gujarat, The Deccan and Uttar Pradesh. Mashru woven in Uttar Pradesh was called 'Mashru Purabi' or 'Eastern Mashru'. The colour palettes used to weave Mashru were mostly bright, often striped, and the textile was commonly dotted with motifs. One type of Mashru even used ikat. Despite its versatility, Mashru showed its deep Ottoman and Mughal influences.

Gujarat was the first weaving centre for Mashru in India, brought to India from the Ottoman Turkish Empire through commercial and cultural contacts during the Sixteenth century. Historical records of the textiles of the 14th and 15th century Gujarati textile merchants had several textiles with the word ‘misru’ in their names. The Gujarati mashru had characteristic bold stripes and dotted patterns bearing strong resemblance to Turkish and Syrian mashru.

On the other hand, Mashru made in the Deccan (Andhra Pradesh, Tanjore and Tiruchapalli in present day Tamil Nadu) had ikat patterns, as the area is also an ikat-weaving region. Mashru purabi were woven in the later nineteenth century and in comparison to the other weaving centers, these were more densely woven, less boldly patterned and coloured than the south Indian varieties. Today, most of them are housed in the V&A Museum, London and in the former royal collection of City Palace, Jaipur.

Some of the typical designs of Mashru include stripes, tie dyed ikat patterns, and woven patterns of small dots, between stripes or over a plain ground. It was also used for canopies, horse covers, torans and decorative door hangings. Mashru thrived on the economic well being of royal patrons of the society but suffered a loss of demand with the fall of the Indian Royals and the establishment of the British Empire. Consequently, pure silk