Plate 58. Beshire Rug
Sindh.—Formerly good rugs were woven at Sindh, one hundred miles above the mouth of the Indus; but after the introduction of aniline dyes their colours, as well as patterns, deteriorated. In the poorest pieces the foundation was of cotton and hemp, and cow hair was frequently used for pile. Very few of them have been imported into this country.
Jaipur.—In the palace of the Maharajah at Jaipur, the great commercial centre of Rajputana, are some of the most beautiful carpets that remain in India. Native appreciation is also apparent in the present workmanship of the district weavers. There is nothing crass or inelegant in the patterns which follow the pleasing drawing of Persian rugs. The vine, leaf, and flower, trees, and animals are faithfully portrayed. The texture of weave is excellent.
The principal rug-producing centres of Southern India are Madras, Marsulipatam, Ellore, Vellore, and Bangalore. Rugs are also woven in Hyderabad, Warangal, and Ayyampet in the Tanjore district.
Madras.—Only within a comparatively recent period have rugs been made at Madras, the early stronghold of the British in South India. Over half a century ago, native products, woven in the interior towns of the Dekkan, were shipped by way of Coconada to that city and were sometimes known as Madras rugs. Two of these pieces, which were sent by Mr. Vincent Robinson to the South Kensington Museum, differ widely in harmony of colours, beauty of design, and delicacy of workmanship from the present products of Madras. Yet the latter have much to commend them. Some are made in the jail, others in the School of Fine Arts, and others in the Anjuman Industrial School. All are made of good wool, coloured with vegetable dyes. Great diversity appears in the patterns, as some are copied from antique carpets represented in the “Vienna Carpet Book,” others are copied from rugs of Northern India, Persia, and Asia Minor. As a rule, the fields are well covered with repetitive designs, that give them the appearance of factory-made carpets.
Marsulipatam.—Two hundred and fifty miles north of Madras on the Coromandel coast is the city of Marsulipatam, one of the earliest of the British settlements in India, from which the East India Company shipped rugs over two centuries ago. At that time they were among the finest produced in that country, but the demands of agents for articles that could be produced as cheaply as possible resulted in the use of inferior materials and in poorer workmanship. Most of the dyes are aniline. The patterns, that once were executed with marvelous beauty of detail, gave way to crude drawing until “these glorious carpets of Marsulipatam have sunk to a mockery and travesty of their former selves.”[36] Few of them are any longer imported into this country.
Ellore.—Not far from the delta of the Godavari river is the town of Ellore, where a few centuries ago some Persians settled, and where their descendants, faithful to early tradition, have followed the craft of weaving. Here in former times were produced some of the best rugs in Southern India; and even as late as 1883, Mr. E. B. Havell wrote that he had seen pieces woven to meet special orders which were equal in point of interest and material to the old specimens in the hands of connoisseurs of London or in native palaces. This is one of the few districts in Southern India where the industry exists outside of jails. In the town and surrounding country are about four hundred looms operated by some three thousand people, who are Mohammedans.
In the better class of rugs, in which vegetable dyes are still used, and the yarn is often a native product of wool obtained from sheep of the uplands and spun by shepherds, something of the old style of craftsmanship remains. On the other hand, a very large percentage of the rugs which are intended solely for export trade are of an inferior order, since many of their colours are obtained from aniline, their weaving is inferior, and their patterns are ordinary. Mr. Henry T. Harris, in his report on the Madras Industrial and Art Exhibition, 1903, said: “The exhibits of carpets sent from Ellore were poor in conception, weave, and colour.... The patterns in use were poor and often modifications of cheap Wilton, Kidderminster, and German power loom designs. Some of the old patterns are still with the weavers, but unfortunately there is no trade demand for this fine class of goods, the old dyes are being forgotten and have given place to cheap anilines unskilfully applied.”