Tansukh cloth was a fine

cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus ''Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor perce ...

cloth Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not the ...

primarily used for feminine dresses in

medieval India Medieval India refers to a long period of Post-classical history of the Indian subcontinent between the "ancient period" and "modern period". It is usually regarded as running approximately from the breakup of the Gupta Empire in the 6th cent ...

, Tansukh is one of the seven explicitly mentioned cloths ( khasa, Salu, Doriya, Bafta, Dupatta, and Panchtoliya) named in the exhaustive list of cotton cloths in

Ain-i-Akbari The ''Ain-i-Akbari'' ( fa, ) or the "Administration of Akbar", is a 16th-century detailed document recording the administration of the Mughal Empire under Emperor Akbar, written by his court historian, Abu'l Fazl in the Persian language. It for ...

. The

bodice A bodice () is an article of clothing traditionally for women and girls, covering the torso from the neck to the waist. The term typically refers to a specific type of upper garment common in Europe during the 16th to the 18th century, or to the ...

s made of Tansukh and Bafta are referred by the poet Bhikhari Das. Tansukh was a woven material with another class of

muslin Muslin () is a cotton fabric of plain weave. It is made in a wide range of weights from delicate sheers to coarse sheeting. It gets its name from the city of Mosul, Iraq, where it was first manufactured. Muslin of uncommonly delicate handsp ...

with a very soft and delicate texture.

Etymology

'Tansuk' or 'Tansukh' means in

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

language, "comforting to the body" or "pleasing to the body".

History

The

and the contemporary Hindi writers mentioned Tansukh and Khasa, Bafta, Salu, Doriya, Dupatta, and

Panchtoliya ''Panchtoliya'' was an old cotton cloth of the Mughal Empire, Mughal period. The Panchtoliya was very light in weight and used for the veil. It was weighing only 2-5 tola (one tola is 10 grams) per piece. The credit of Panchtoliya goes to the Mugh ...

as notable fabrics of their time. The special quotes some names like chira, fenta gangajal fabric, Tansukh,

sari A sari (sometimes also saree or shari)The name of the garment in various regional languages include: * as, শাৰী, xārī, translit-std=ISO * bn, শাড়ি, śāṛi, translit-std=ISO * gu, સાડી, sāḍī, translit-std= ...

lehenga The ''lehenga'', ''lehnga'' or ''langa'' (also known as a ''ghagra'' or ''gagra'', ''chaniya'', ''pavadai'', or ''lacha'') is a form of ankle-length skirt from the Indian subcontinent. Different patterns and styles of traditional embroidery are used ...

ghagra The ''lehenga'', ''lehnga'' or ''langa'' (also known as a ''ghagra'' or ''gagra'', ''chaniya'', ''pavadai'', or ''lacha'') is a form of ankle-length skirt from the Indian subcontinent. Different patterns and styles of traditional embroidery are used ...

, etc., signify the use of these cloths in

Mughal clothing Mughal clothing refers to clothing developed by the Mughals in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries throughout the extent of their empire in the Indian subcontinent. It was characterized by luxurious styles and was made with muslin, silk, velvet an ...

Material and texture

Tansukh was made of fine cotton yarns. The texture of the fabric was very soft and delicate.

Use

Tansukh was a soft cloth made of cotton and it was used for feminine dresses such as bodices (angiya, kanchukis ),

skirt A skirt is the lower part of a dress or a separate outer garment that covers a person from the waist downwards. At its simplest, a skirt can be a draped garment made out of a single piece of fabric (such as pareos). However, most skirts are fi ...

s with a piece of cloth across the breasts. The clothes made of Tansukh were suitable for both outer and inner wear.

References

Woven fabrics Cotton Textile arts of India Indian clothing Saris {{Textile-stub

Etymology

History

Material and texture

Use

See also

References