Swamy,
1. In an earlier post on Indian Dress thread, I had quoted from sri bramha vaivartta purANa:
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->vishwakarma cha Sudrayaam veeryaadhaanam chakAr Ha
tato vabhoovuh putraaste navaite shipakarinah
mAlAkArah karmakArah shankhakArah kuvindakah
kumbhakArah kansakArah Sadete shilpinAm varah
sutradhAr chitrakArah swarnakarastathaiva cha
patitaste bramha shApad ajatyA varna sankarAh
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
In brief, above means:
Vishwakarma conceived, through a sUdrANI, 9 sons. These, he then trained in 9 different silpakalA-s (crafts), namely:
gardening,
ironsmithy,
shankhakar (shell-making),
kuvinda (weaving),
clay pot making,
brass moulding,
carpenting,
sculpture/painting, and
goldsmithy.
(Interestingly, it says the last 3 of the above 9 jAti-s, will eventually be fallen due to certain curse of bramha, and become ajatiya varna-sankara.)
Above reference at least tells us that weaving as profession was well established by the time this purANa was written down.
2. Acharya Hazari Prasad Dwivedi has done a lot of research in the history of weavers - particularly how Indian weaving jAti got islamized as a chunk, and so quicky. Please read his classic 'Kabir' (Hindi).
3. Dr. Kalyanaraman is doing some maulik research about cotton in the Saraswati civilization. He writes:
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Cotton in Sarasvati civilization
What was found in Mohenjodaro was gossypium arboreum. Fibres of cotton , Gossypium arboreum, were found adhering to a silver vase at Mohenjo-Daro (Turner and Gulati, 1928), and several faiences and vessels from Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa had impressions of woven textile (Marshall, 1931). http://www.hindunet.org/saraswati/Agriculture1.doc
Of course, the acharya (so-called priest-king) wore a uttareeyam leaving his right-shoulder bare; the uttareeyam was embroidered with trefoil designs.Â
The Mesopotamian imports from Meluhha were: woods, copper (ayas), gold, silver, carnelina, cotton. Gudea sent expeditions in 2200 B.C. to Makkan and Meluhha in search of hard wood. Seal impression with the cotton cloth from Umma (Scheil, V., 1925, Un Nouvea Sceau Hindou Pseudo-Sumerian, RA, 22/3, pp. 55-56) and cotton cloth piece stuck to the base of a silver vase from Mohenjodaro (Wheeler, R.E.M., 1965, Indus Civilization) are indicative evidence. Babylonian and Greek names for cotton were: sind, sindon. This is an apparent reference to the cotton produced in the black cotton soils of Sind and Gujarat .
http://www.hindunet.org/saraswati/html/vedictech.htm
See the Elamite spinner at http://www.hindunet.org/saraswati/spindle.htm
For hieroglyph interpretations see at: http://www.hindu-tva.com-a.googlepages.com/
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Now, cotton and weaving are fairly ancient and arguably indegenous. Spinning Wheel?
1. In an earlier post on Indian Dress thread, I had quoted from sri bramha vaivartta purANa:
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->vishwakarma cha Sudrayaam veeryaadhaanam chakAr Ha
tato vabhoovuh putraaste navaite shipakarinah
mAlAkArah karmakArah shankhakArah kuvindakah
kumbhakArah kansakArah Sadete shilpinAm varah
sutradhAr chitrakArah swarnakarastathaiva cha
patitaste bramha shApad ajatyA varna sankarAh
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
In brief, above means:
Vishwakarma conceived, through a sUdrANI, 9 sons. These, he then trained in 9 different silpakalA-s (crafts), namely:
gardening,
ironsmithy,
shankhakar (shell-making),
kuvinda (weaving),
clay pot making,
brass moulding,
carpenting,
sculpture/painting, and
goldsmithy.
(Interestingly, it says the last 3 of the above 9 jAti-s, will eventually be fallen due to certain curse of bramha, and become ajatiya varna-sankara.)
Above reference at least tells us that weaving as profession was well established by the time this purANa was written down.
2. Acharya Hazari Prasad Dwivedi has done a lot of research in the history of weavers - particularly how Indian weaving jAti got islamized as a chunk, and so quicky. Please read his classic 'Kabir' (Hindi).
3. Dr. Kalyanaraman is doing some maulik research about cotton in the Saraswati civilization. He writes:
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Cotton in Sarasvati civilization
What was found in Mohenjodaro was gossypium arboreum. Fibres of cotton , Gossypium arboreum, were found adhering to a silver vase at Mohenjo-Daro (Turner and Gulati, 1928), and several faiences and vessels from Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa had impressions of woven textile (Marshall, 1931). http://www.hindunet.org/saraswati/Agriculture1.doc
Of course, the acharya (so-called priest-king) wore a uttareeyam leaving his right-shoulder bare; the uttareeyam was embroidered with trefoil designs.Â
The Mesopotamian imports from Meluhha were: woods, copper (ayas), gold, silver, carnelina, cotton. Gudea sent expeditions in 2200 B.C. to Makkan and Meluhha in search of hard wood. Seal impression with the cotton cloth from Umma (Scheil, V., 1925, Un Nouvea Sceau Hindou Pseudo-Sumerian, RA, 22/3, pp. 55-56) and cotton cloth piece stuck to the base of a silver vase from Mohenjodaro (Wheeler, R.E.M., 1965, Indus Civilization) are indicative evidence. Babylonian and Greek names for cotton were: sind, sindon. This is an apparent reference to the cotton produced in the black cotton soils of Sind and Gujarat .
http://www.hindunet.org/saraswati/html/vedictech.htm
See the Elamite spinner at http://www.hindunet.org/saraswati/spindle.htm
For hieroglyph interpretations see at: http://www.hindu-tva.com-a.googlepages.com/
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Now, cotton and weaving are fairly ancient and arguably indegenous. Spinning Wheel?