Silken dreams of a Sultan

The credit for promoting sericulture and the silk industry in the Mysore Kingdom goes entirely to Tipu Sultan.

He began his quest for silkworms and for people skilled in the art of rearing them in 1785. Letters instructing his commercial consul at Muscat on the Persian Gulf to obtain the silkworms and experts have been found.

He also sent men to Bengal to bring worms and wrote detailed instructions in September 1786 from the military camp he was then conducting, for the reception of the worms at Srirangapatna. The silk industry was developed in Mysore by obtaining silk worms from Bengal and Muscat, and encouraging the plantation of mulberry trees.

Dedicated efforts

While records of Tipu’s efforts towards the development of sericulture remain scattered, a few records and inscriptions available here show the keen interest, devotion and determination he had for the development of silk industry. In fact, he had even procured silkworms from China. As per some records, it was the seeds from China that became the parent of the pure Mysore race. Even today, the mulberry variety he had introduced is known as Sultani Kaddi .

Following is the verbatim instruction Tipu Sultan sent to officials about the development of sericulture, “Our economic and commercial policies must be based on growth and dynamism. It is not enough merely to improve our methods of production of the traditional items. We must diversify into new fields of activity suited to the richness of our soil. Let me mention two or three avenues in which real progress is possible.”

“I have given detailed instructions for the establishment of silk industry in Mysore. Silkworms and men well-versed in the art of rearing them have already arrived from foreign lands to train our people. Eighteen centres have been set up for development of the industry. Many more are needed. Every kind of encouragement is being given to plantation of mulberry trees. I would like you to take direct interest in this developmental activity. I want Mysore to be the foremost amongst silk producing nations.” This must have been Mysore’s first sericulture development project. After Tipu’s period, the silk industry became a little dormant.

“The industry is said to have been revived in 1802 by a member of the Mastan family, the great grandfather of F M Abdul Quddus of Channapatna, who in 1932, prepared an account of his family’s involvement with the industry since that time. The revival, it is clear, had the support of Purnaiya, Tipu’s finance minister and subsequently regent and chief minister after the coronation of Krishna Raja Wodeyar.

It is interesting to note that the town of Closepet, now Ramanagaram, which he founded in 1800, became a noted sericultural centre, while Yelandur, the jagir with which he was rewarded for his services to Mysore in 1807, is to this day the area of most intensive sericulture within the Mysore silk tract.

Mulberry was cultivated widely and people took up rearing and reeling, particularly in the Bangalore district. The suitability of the region had been demonstrated and a style in which the industry could be profitably pursued had been discovered.

Trade in silk was recorded from 1820 in Channapatna. By 1841, there were both cocoons and raw silk to be bought in the bazaar records, Dr Simon Charlsley in his book, The Culture and Sericulture.
If only Tipu Sultan had not been diverted by the series of wars, he would have certainly ushered in an industrial revolution in Mysore state.

Albeit, Indian silk industry should remain grateful to Tipu Sultan as he built the foundation for today’s flourishing silk industry in South India.