factories.

Murshidabad, Ahmedábád, and Trichinopoli. Their gorgeous hues and texture may be inferred from the following names:Shikargah, 'hunting-ground;' chand-tara, 'moon and stars;' mazchar, 'ripples of silver;' murgala, 'peacock's neck. Printed silks are woven at Surat for the wear of Pársí and Steam silk- Guzerati women. Quite recently, mills with steam machinery have been established at Bombay, which weave silk fabrics for the Burmese market, chiefly lúngyis, tamains, and patsoes The silk manufactures exported from India consist almost entirely of the handkerchiefs known as bandannas and coraks, with a small proportion of tasar fabrics. The trade appears to be on the decline, the total exports having decreased from 2,468,052 yards valued at £238,000 in 1875-76, to 1,481,256 yards valued at £147,000 in 1877-78. But in 1878-79, the value had again risen to £195,897; and the returns for 1874-77 were unusually high.

Embroidery.

Camel's hair.

Embroidery has already been referred to in the two preceding paragraphs. The groundwork may be either silk, cotton, wool, or leather. The ornament is woven in the loom, or sewn on afterwards with the needle. The well-known chega, which has recently come into popular use in England for dressing-gowns, is made of patu or camel's hair, embroidered in Kashmir, the Punjab, and Sind. The still better known Kashmir and more valuable Kashmir shawl, made either in Kashmir shawls. itself or at Ludhiana, and a few other towns of the Punjab, is composed of pashmina, or the soft wool of the so-called shawlgoat, which is a native of the Himalayan plateaux. Muslin is embroidered with silk and gold thread at Dacca, Patná, and Delhi. Sind and Cutch (Kachchh) have special embroideries of coloured silk and gold. Leather-work is embroidered in Guzerat. In some of the historical capitals of the Deccan, such as Gulbargah and Aurangábád, velvet (makhmal) is gorgeously embroidered with gold, to make canopies, umbrellas, and housings for elephants and horses, for use on State occasions. Not only the goldsmith, but also the jeweller lends his A jewelled aid to Indian embroidery. A chadar, or shawl made by order of a late Gáekwár of Baroda, is thus described by Dr. Birdwood: 'It was composed entirely of inwrought pearls and precious stones, disposed in an arabesque fashion, and is said to have cost a kror of rupees (say 1 million sterling). Although the richest stones were worked in it, the effect was most harmonious. When spread out in the sun, it seemed suffused with an iridescent bloom, as grateful to the eye as were the exquisite forms of its arabesques.'

Leatherwork.

shawl.

of manu

facture.

Carpets and rugs may be classified into those made of Carpets and rugs, cotton and those made of wool. The former, called satranjis and daris, are made chiefly in Bengal and Northern India, of cotton; and appear to be an indigenous industry. They are usually white, striped with blue, red, or chocolate, and sometimes. ornamented with squares and diamonds. The woollen or pile of wool. carpets, known as kalin and kalicha, are those which have recently attained so much popularity in England, by reason of the low price at which the out-turn of the jail manufactories can be placed on the market. The pile carpet is indigenous to Persia and Túrkistán, where the best are still made. The art was probably introduced into India by the Muhammadans. 'The foundation for the carpet is a warp of strong cotton or hempen threads; and the peculiarity of the process consists in dexterously twisting short lengths Process of coloured wool into each of the threads of the warp, so that the two ends of the twist of wool stick out in front. The projecting ends are then clipped to a uniform level, and the lines of work are compacted together by striking them with a blunt instrument' (Birdwood). The historical seats of the industry are in Kashmír, the Punjab, and Sind; Seats of and at Agra, Mírzápur, Jabalpur, Warangal in the Deccan, carpetMalabar and Masulipatam. Velvet carpets are also made at Benares and Murshidábád, and silk pile carpets at Tanjore and Salem. At the Exhibition of 1851, the finest Indian rugs came from Warangal, the ancient capital of the Andhra dynasty, about 80 miles east of Haidarábád. Their characteristic feature was the exceedingly numerous count of the stitches, about 12,000 to the square foot. "They were also perfectly harmonious in colour, and the only examples in which silk was used with an entirely satisfactory effect' (Birdwood). The price was not less than £10 per square yard. The common rugs, produced in enormous quantities from the jails at Lahore, Jabalpur, Mírzápur, Benares, and Bangalore, sell in England at 7s. 6d. each.

weaving.

work and

Gold and silver, and jewels, both from their colour and their Goldintrinsic value, have always been the favourite material of smiths' oriental ornament. Even the hill tribes of Central India and jewellery. the Himalayas show skill in hammering silver into brooches, and armlets, and necklets.

Imitation of knotted grass and Hill-work. of leaves seems to be the origin of the simplest and most common form of gold ornament, the early specimens consisting of thick gold wire twisted into bracelets, etc. A second archaic type of decoration is to be found in the chopped gold

Cube

jewellery of Guzerat.
solid or hollow, in the

This is made of gold lumps, either form of cubes and octahedrons, strung jewellery. together on red silk. Of artistic jeweller's work, the best known examples are those from Trichinopoli, Cuttack, and Kashmir. Throughout Southern India, the favourite design is that known as swámi, in which the ornamentation consists of figures of Hindu gods in high relief, either beaten out from the surface Trichino- or fixed on to it by solder or screws. The Trichinopoli work poli. proper, which has been to some extent corrupted to suit English taste, includes also chains of rose gold, and bracelets of the flexible serpent pattern. The silver filigree work of Cuttack. Cuttack, identical in character with that of ancient Greece and of Malta at the present day, is generally done by boys, whose sensitive fingers and keen sight enable them to put the fine silver threads together with the necessary rapidity and accuKashmir. racy. The goldsmith's work of Kashmir is of the kind known as 'parcel-gilt,' and is further distinguished by the ruddy colour of the gold used. Its airy shapes and exquisite tracery, graven through the gilding to the dead white silver below, softening the lustre of the gold to a pearly radiance, give a most charming effect to this refined and graceful work' (Birdwood). The hammered repoussé silver work of Cutch (Kachchh), although now entirely naturalized, is said to be of Dutch origin. Similar work is done at Lucknow and Dacca The goldsmith's art contributes largely to embroidery, as has already been mentioned. Gold and silver thread is made by being drawn out under the application of heat. The operation is performed with such nicety, that I rupee's worth of silver will make a thread nearly 800 yards long. Before being used in the loom, this metallic thread is generally twisted with silk. For the manufacture of cloth of gold (sonári) or cloth of silver (rupiri), the wire is beaten flat, so as to form the warp to a woof of thin silk or cotton. A third kind of metallic ornamentation is practised at Jaipur in Rájputána and Haidarábád in the Deccan, by printing muslins with patterns of gold and silver leaf.

Cutch.

Precious stones.

Precious stones are lavishly used by Indian jewellers, who care less for their purity and commercial value than for the general effect produced by a blaze of splendour. 'But nothing can exceed the skill, artistic feeling, and effectiveness with which gems are used in India both in jewellery proper and in the jewelled decoration of arms and jade' (Birdwood). The general character may be learned from the following description of a hair-comb in the Prince of Wales'

collection, made at Jaipur: The setting is of emerald and ruby Jaipur enamel on gold, surmounted by a curved row of large pearls, all on a level, each tipped with a green glass bead. Below is a row of small brilliants, set among the elegantly designed green and red enamelled gold leaves which support the pearls. Then a row of small pearls, with an enamelled scroll-work set with brilliants between it and a third row of pearls; below which comes a continuous row of minute brilliants forming the lower edge of the comb, just above the gold prongs.'

But in

The chief duty of the village smith is, of course, to make Indian iron-work. the agricultural implements for his fellow-villagers. many towns in India, chiefly the sites of former capitals, ironwork still retains a high degree of artistic excellence. The manufacture of arms, whether for offence or defence, must always be an honourable industry; and in India it attained a high pitch of excellence, which is not yet forgotten. The magnetic iron-ore, found commonly in the form of sand, yields a charcoal steel which is not surpassed by any in the world. The blade of the Indian talwár or sword is sometimes Cutlery. marvellously watered, and engraved with date and name; sometimes sculptured in half-relief with hunting scenes; sometimes shaped along the edge with teeth or knotches like a saw. Matchlocks and other fire-arms are made at several towns in the Punjab and Sind, at Monghyr in Bengal, and at Vizianagram in Madras. Chain armour, fine as lacework, and said to Chain be of Persian derivation, is still manufactured in Kashmír, armour. Rájputána, and Cutch (Kachchh). Ahmednagar in Bombay is famous for its spear-heads. Both fire-arms and swords are often damascened in gold, and covered with precious stones. In fact, the characteristic of Indian arms, as opposed to those of other Oriental countries, is the elaborate goldwork hammered or cut upon them, and the unsparing use of gems. Damascening on iron and steel, known as kuft, is chiefly Dama. practised in Kashmir, and at Gujrát and Sialkot in the Punjab. scened The process consists of encrusting gold upon the surface of the harder metal. Damascening in silver, which is chiefly done upon bronze, is known as bidari work, from the ruined capital of Bidar in the Nizám's Dominions, where it is still chiefly carried on.

steel.

The village brazier, like the village smith, manufactures the Brass and necessary vessels for domestic use. Chief among these vessels copper. is the lotá, or globular bowl, universally used in ceremonial ablutions. The form of the lotá, and even the style of orna

mentation, has been handed down unaltered from the earliest The lotá. times. A lotá now in the India Museum, which was disinterred from a Buddhist cell in Kullu, and must be at least fifteen centuries old, represents Prince Siddhartha going on a high procession. Benares enjoys the first reputation in India for work in brass and copper, producing not only vessels for domestic and ceremonial use, but also images and religious emblems. In the south of India, Madura and Tanjore have a similar fame; and in the west, Ahmedábád, Poona, and Násik. At Bombay itself, large quantities of imported copper are wrought up by native braziers. The temple bells of India are well known for the depth and purity of their note.

Temple bells.

Bidari

ware.

Indian pottery.

localities the braziers have a speciality, either for a peculiar alloy or for a particular process of ornamentation. Silver is sometimes mixed with the brass, and in rarer cases gold. Bidari work, or the damascening of silver upon bronze, has already been alluded to. In this case, the metal ground is said to be an amalgam of copper, lead, and tin, made black by dipping in a solution of sal-ammoniac, saltpetre, salt and blue vitriol. At Moradábád, in the North-Western Provinces, tin is soldered upon the brass, and incised through in floriated patterns, which are marked by filling in the ground with a black composition of lac. At Purniah in Bengal, a variety of bidari ware is made of zinc and copper, damascened with silver, the processes of which are described at length in my Statistical Account of Bengal. The brass or rather bell-metal ware of Murshidábád, known as khágraí, has more than a local reputation, owing to the large admixture of silver. The demand for enormous quantities of brass-work at the lowest possible price for the London market, is rapidly deteriorating both the designs and the workmanship of the Benares articles. The native braziers are almost compelled to degrade their industry, when they find that the most vulgar patterns, deeply but hastily carved, command a ready sale; while their old faithful work can scarcely find an English customer.

Next after the loom of the weaver, the potter's wheel is the characteristic emblem of an ancient civilisation. From time immemorial, the potter has formed an essential member of the Hindu village community. Pottery is made in almost every village, from the small vessels required in cooking to the large jars used for storing grain, and occasionally as floats to ferry persons across a swollen stream. But although the industry is universal, it has in few Provinces risen to the 1 Vol. xv. pp. 355-357.