Author: Dr. Santoshi Bhagat
DOI Link: https://doi.org/10.70798/PP/030200003
Abstract: From the early modern era until the eighteenth century, Bengal’s silk industry played a significant role in South Asian and international trade. Bengal became a vital supplier to both domestic and foreign markets because of its reputation for producing highquality raw silk and silk fabrics. But under British colonial control, the structure of labor, trade, and silk manufacturing underwent significant changes in the nineteenth century. This article explores the historical development of Bengal’s silk industry between tradition and modernity, examining the effects of global market integration, technological advancements, colonial economic policies, and changing production patterns. The study contends that Bengal’s silk industry underwent a complicated process of restructuring in which ancient practices coexisted with new commercial and industrial pressures, rather than viewing the nineteenth century as merely a time of decline. The essay illustrates how producers and merchants adjust to shifting economic situations by looking at labor relations, manufacturing, trade networks, and sericulture. The history of Bengal silk sheds light on larger processes of industrial development, colonial transformation, and international economic integration in South Asia during the nineteenth century.
Keywords: Bengal silk, sericulture, colonial economy, industrial change, trade networks, nineteenth century, British India.
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