"A 100 yards of it can pass through the eye of the needle, so fine is its texture, and yet the point of the steel needle can’t pierce through it easily. It is so transparent & light that it looks as if one is in no dress at all but has only smeared the body with pure water"
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This is how the 14th-century Sufi poet and scholar Amir Khusrau described the almost invisible but highly valued cotton fabric, Dhaka muslin, in his text Nihayatul-Kamaal (The Height of Wonders) in the 1320s. Under the Mughals, the weavers received royal patronage.
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It was referred to in poetic terms like abi-rawan (flowing water), baft-hawa (woven air) and shabnam (evening dew). It became one of the most lucrative exports with the best valued at 1600 silver pence - the longer the length and lighter the weight, the higher the price.
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With the advent of the Europeans in India, the muslin industry further expanded. The fabric changed the fashion tastes in the West, especially with Empress Josephine, the first wife of Napoleon, popularizing it in France.
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