Silk in the Indian subcontinent

Silk in the Indian subcontinent is a luxury good. In India, about 97% of the raw silk is produced in the five Indian states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Jammu and Kashmir.Mysore and North Bangalore, the upcoming site of a US$20 million "Silk City", contribute to a majority of silk production. Another emerging silk producer is Tamil Nadu where mulberry cultivation is concentrated in Salem, Erode and Dharmapuri districts. Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh and Gobichettipalayam, Tamil Nadu were the first locations to have automated silk reeling units.

Recent archaeological discoveries in Harappa and Chanhu-daro suggest that sericulture, employing wild silk threads from native silkworm species, existed in South Asia during the time of the Indus Valley Civilization dating between 2450 BC and 2000 BC, while evidence for silk production in China back to around 2570 BC and earlier. The Indus silks were obtained from more than one species Antheraea and Philosamia (Eri silk). Antheraea assamensis and A. mylitta were widely used. It is widely believed that silk process techniques of degumming and reeling were purely Chinese technology. These findings were published in the journal Archaeometry by scientists from Harvard University who examined the silk fibre excavated from two Indus valley cities of Harappa and Chanhudaro. The fibers were dated to around 2450–2000 BCE and were processed using similar techniques of degumming and reeling as that of the Chinese. Scanning electron micrograph of the fibre revealed that some fibers were spun after the silk moth was allowed to escape from the cocoon, similar to the Ahimsa silk promoted by Mahatma Gandhi.

...
Wikipedia