Types of Silk in India

May 26, 2020

Type of silk depends on 4 things: the species of silkworm, the tree whose leaves it eats, how its cocoon is processed into yarn and finally the technique by which the yarn is woven into a saree. India is the only country that commercially produces all four varieties of silk obtained from four types of moths. These are known as Mulberry, Tussar, Eri and Muga. Mulberry is also produced in other silk producing countries like China, Japan, Russia, Italy, South Korea etc., but Eri and Muga are produced only in India. The Tussar silk is often produced by the caterpillar of a wild silk moth that is found in rain forests of Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. Unlike mulberry silkworms, Tussar and Kosa silk (mainly produced in Chhattisgarh from a worm similar to silk worm) caterpillars are difficult to cultivate in captivity.
Once woven, silk is known by different names depending on the weave, style, design and place where it is woven.

Raw Silk vs Pure Silk:
Raw silk is the most natural form of delicate fiber of silk with no twist and is unprocessed form of silk. Raw is a filament silk from which the gum one of the elements of silk has not yet been separated. Pure silk has had the gum removed. Raw is produced by coarse spinning process, it is small even and slightly bumped. Raw silk is a versatile fabric, has a matte surface and nubby rough finish, made from the short fibers left after combing and carding, feels soft against the skin, and usually lighter in weight than silk. It is easily distinguished from other types of silk for the subtle flecks on it, which are natural particles of the cocoon. It doesn’t shine like many other silk fabrics, are long-lasting and resists wrinkling.

Raw silk

Muga raw silk sarees from Assam are known for retaining the texture and color throughout its lifespan. When it is spun, a golden based hue gets generated. Tropical Tussar raw silk has copperish hue in color. Mulberry raw silk is considered to be the softest and finest texture of all. Temperate Tussar raw silk are extremely popular, and also bears the similarities with Tropical Tussar silk. Eri raw silk sarees are pearly white in color and are rare and unique to find.

Muga Silk

In its natural state, raw silk’s color ranges from light beige to yellow. When dying raw silk, it is very difficult to perfectly match the color samples, but this contributes to the uniqueness of the fabric. Each individual raw silk piece will have slight differences. About 97% of raw silk is produced in the five Indian states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Jammu and Kashmir.

Now, some very interesting facts about raw silk,

It takes about 10 kg of cocoons to obtain 1 kg of silk
The strength of silk is equivalent to a metal wire.

Both Matka and Ghicha sarees are 100% silk, produced from ruptured cocoon filaments, much less expensive than the Raw silk or Tussar or Mulberry silk sarees. These recently references of names are misleading sales gimmicks as these are nothing but by products of silk.

Matka Silk: The wasteful remains of the Mulberry cocoon filament – gives Matka silk. The name ‘Matka’ or clay pot refers to the vessel where this waste is wound around or stored after removing the filaments for the Mulberry silk.