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{{Short description|Type of coarse silk}}
'''Matka''' cloth was a kind of coarse [[silk]] from the [[Indian subcontinent]]. It was mainly produced with pierced [[Pupa#Cocoon|cocoons]]. A pierced cocoon is one from which the [[moth]] of the [[Bombyx mori|silkworm]] has emerged and damaged the cocoon. The [[silk]] from these cocoons is [[Hand spinning|spun]], not reeled. The fabric made from these yarns is known as "'''Matka cloth'''."

== Matka weaving ==
Matka cloth provided employment for poor women and less artistic weavers.<ref name="Mukerji1903">{{Cite book|last=Mukerji|first=Nitya Gopal|url=http://archive.org/details/monographonsilkf00mukerich|title=A monograph on the silk fabrics of Bengal|year=1903|publisher=Calcutta, The Bengal secretariat press|others=University of California Libraries|pages=22}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=L S S Omalley|url=http://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.281275|title=Baluchistan District Gazetteer Series Vol Iv And Iv A Bolan And Chagai Statistical Tables|year=1914|pages=131}}</ref> Matka was a silk for poor people and religious people, like the [[Jainism|Jains]], who preferred Matka silk. This is because it doesn't kill the insect to get the silk.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Watt|first=George|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hLk9AQAAMAAJ&dq=Matka+silk&pg=PA531|title=Indian Art at Delhi, 1903: Being the Official Catalogue of the Delhi Exhibition, 1902-1903|year=1904|publisher=J. Murray|pages=303|language=en}}</ref> The local method of weaving in the [[Bengal|Bengal region]] was termed "Matka."<ref name="O’Malley1916">{{Cite book|last=O’Malley|first=Lewis Sydney Steward|url=http://archive.org/details/dli.ministry.07427|title=Bengal District Gazetteers: Rajshahi|year=1916|publisher=Bengal Secretariat, Calcutta|pages=110}}</ref> The weavers of Matka lived in and around [[Dakra]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Bag|first=Sailendra Kumar|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vIDtAAAAMAAJ&q=Matka+cloth|title=The Changing Fortunes of the Bengal Silk Industry, 1757-1833|year=1989|publisher=S.K. Bag|pages=359|language=en}}</ref>

Matka cloth produced by [[Rajshahi silk|Rajshahi's]] weavers was of great repute and used to be in demand. A local Matka cloth named "Dakra Matka" was of such high quality that it was comparable to reeled silk. Weavers occasionally combine Matka silk with another type of silk called "Khamru" to create a more superior Matka cloth.<ref name="Mukerji1903"/><ref name="O’Malley1916" />

== See also ==

* [[Sericulture]]
* [[Silk waste]]
* [[Ahimsa silk]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:Woven fabrics]]
[[Category:Silk in India]]

Matka (silk) - Revision history

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