SANJAY GARG FESTIVE | 2015

The word ‘Mashru’ comes from the

Arabic word ‘shari a’ that means

“permitted by Islamic law.” Mashru

was developed around the sixteenth

century to allow Muslim men to

exercise some agency within a rigid

sartorial system that prohibited luxury

in their lifestyles; in this system, silk

was equated with leisure and decadence.

Not quite silk, and not quite not, Mashru

was a brilliant, highly skilled invention

that presented a blurring of binaries in

being both silk and cotton. The warp faced

satin weave allowed silk to be visible on the

surface, giving the fabric its desired shine.

Mashru broke a rule within a system, and

emerged as a legally ‘permitted’ fabric for

men to wear. Mashru came to India through

the silk route. It was originally woven in three

parts of India: Gujarat, The Deccan and

Uttar Pradesh. 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.

Photographed by: Prarthna Singh