Bafta (baft, baftae, bath, bufta or bafetta) is a kind of calico, initially made in India.[1]

Characteristics

Bafta is a coarse, cheap woven material made in long, narrow pieces, chiefly of cotton. It has a closed plain weave structure, and has been made in many varieties, from coarse to fine, and made from cotton only or with silk added. It was an affordable, comfortable material with draping qualities suitable for various dresses.[2] Bafta was a generic term for plain calico from Gujarat.[3]

Etymology

The name bafta was derived from the Persian word bafta, meaning "woven, wrought".[4]

History

Bafta was originally produced in Bharuch, a city previously known as Broach, in Gujarat, India.[5] The old Bharuch baftas seems to have been a fine stuff.[6] Bharuch was a major textile manufacturing hub from 1500 to 1700, known for producing bafta for the West and Southeast Asian markets. Bafta was among the leading textile products exported to Europe from Western India for printing in the 18th century. The city's location near to the port of Surat and close to the banks of the Narmada River helped Bharuch to exploit its potential.[7][8]

Bafta was a mid-price dress fabric during the early 17th century. Where wealthy women used to wear expensive clothes made of silk, fine cotton and muslin, working-class women wore clothes made of coarser cotton fabrics, such as bafta, dyed in different colors.[9] Off-white cloth was known as malti, mansuri, or kham, and white cotton cloth was known as "baft".[10][11]

Jean-Baptiste Tavernier (1605–1689), traveler and French pioneer of trade with India, described "Broach Baftas" in his account of his travels to India.[12]

In this place are made a great quantity of Baffas, or long and large pieces of cotton. These cottons are very fair, and close woven; and the price of these pieces is from four to an hundred roupies. You must pay custom at Baroche for all goods that are brought in and carried out.

— Tavernier, Jean-Baptiste., Travels in India

Bengal's description of piece goods for the Cape market includes different variations of Bafta such as "Chittabully Baftaes, and Callapatty Baftaes".[13]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Peck, Amelia (2013). Interwoven Globe: The Worldwide Textile Trade, 1500-1800. Metropolitan Museum of Art. p. 305. ISBN 978-1-58839-496-5.
  2. ↑ Kausar, Zinat (1992). Muslim Women in Medieval India. Janaki Prakashan. p. 63. ISBN 9788185078748.
  3. ↑ Montgomery, Florence M. (1984). Textiles in America 1650-1870 : a dictionary based on original documents, prints and paintings, commercial records, American merchants' papers, shopkeepers' advertisements, and pattern books with original swatches of cloth. Internet Archive. New York ; London : Norton. p. 152. ISBN 978-0-393-01703-8.
  4. ↑ Pawar, Appasaheb Ganapatrao; University, Shivaji (1971). Maratha History Seminar, May 28–31, 1970: Papers. Shivaji University.
  5. ↑ Chaturvedi, Archna (2003). Encyclopaedia of Muslim Women: Muslim women and society. p. 158. ISBN 9788171697854.
  6. ↑ Yule, Henry (1996). Hobson Jobson : the Anglo-Indian dictionary. Internet Archive. Ware : Wordsworth. p. 47. ISBN 978-1-85326-363-7.
  7. ↑ Gokhale, Balkrishna Govind (1978). Surat in the seventeenth century.
  8. ↑ "vol1_chapter05". www.columbia.edu. Retrieved 2020-10-01.
  9. ↑ Lee, Peter (2014). Sarong Kebaya: Peranakan Fashion in an Interconnected World, 1500–1950. University of Minnesota: Asian Civilisations Museum. p. 75. ISBN 9789810901462.
  10. ↑ Giorgio Riello, Tirthankar Roy (2009). How India Clothed the World. BRILL. pp. 318, 332. ISBN 9789004176539.
  11. ↑ "Bafta | Definition of Bafta by Oxford Dictionary on Lexico.com also meaning of Bafta". Lexico Dictionaries | English. Archived from the original on October 28, 2020. Retrieved 2020-10-01.
  12. ↑ Tavernier, Jean-Baptiste; Phillips, John (1905). Travels in India. Duke University Libraries. Calcutta, "Bangabasi" Office. p. 52.
  13. ↑ Milburn, William (1813). Oriental Commerce: Containing a Geographical Description of the Principal Places in the East Indies, China, and Japan, with Their Produce, Manufactures, and Trade, Including the Coasting Or Country Trade from Port to Port: also the Rise and Progress of the Trade of the Various European Nations with the Eastern World, Particularly that of the English East India Company from the Discovery of the Passage Round the Cape of Good Hope to the Present Period: with an Account of the Company's Establishments, Revenues, Debts, Assets, and C. at Home and Abroad [...]. author and published. p. 46.
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