Journal of Scientific & Industrial Research Vol. 60, May 200 I, pp 369-377

Sericulture in India : Industrial Application from Seventeenth to Nineteenth Century

Sujit Chandra Guha and Tapas K Roy Choudhury* Department of Hi story, orth Bengal University,

Darjeeling 734 430, India

It has been observed in the course of ou r investigation that the sericultural commun ity of West Ben gat nad r.:nred si nce the 17 th century four types of silk-worms, i.e. : (i) Bombyx lex/OJ; (ii ) Bombyx fontmalus, (i ii ) Bombyx creasi, and (iv) Bomlnr smensis in houses constructed wi th local materi als on the basis of cert ain specifications. Principal cocoon growing seasons w~re March , May, Jul y, August, October and November to obtain both univoltine and bi -voltine si lk . They appeared to have studi ed that the tdeal ~ ·ood component of silk-warm feed is solid fibre, saccaharine, resinous substance, co louring matter, and water. relatwnshtp o l tenderness and maturity of mulberry leaf with the growth process of the worms, the ideal temperature being 23"C and appropnate level of humtdtty between 65 per cent to 75 per cent. It was also studi ed by them that yield or silk from cocoons vaned between 6.8 per cent in 3 kg to 8.3 per cent , 9.4 per cent and 12.5 per cent , respecti ve ly. The sericulturi sts indentified eioht stlk-warm diseases like (i) Pebrine, (ii) Muscardine, (iii) Flypesl, (iv) Flacherie, (v) Galitt e, (vi) Grasserie, (vii) Court, and (v7ii )

Dermesles vulp111e and observed preventtve and curative measures. The total annual output or si lk in Indian then was 4000 tonnes (a ll coming from Bengal), dominating 50 per cent of the globa l silk trade.

Introduction

The importance of Indian silk in the ex port market

has been cons iderable. It may be obtained by computing

data from the East Indi a Company, French Company, Dutch Company records and from those preserved by

the local bus iness houses that Murshidabad and Ma ida

of Bengal , the two most important silk produc ing cen­tres of India , used to produce from the 17 th to 19 th

centuries roughly 4000 tonnes of s ilk per annum 1• Ex­

port from India dominated 50 per cent of the tota l g loba l

silk trade in these centuries. Presumably, the success was

not achieved in a day. A host of techni cal perfecti ons

were ach ieved by the s ilk-technicians at different stages to come to the target w hich they had reached. It has been

ex plored by us , in the course of thi s research, that indi g­

enous technolog ies of very supe ri or quality were em­

ployed by the silk technic ians at all levels viz., mulberry cultivation , sericu lture, weaving, and marketing . Here

we report our findings from the archival sources about the technol ogy app li ed in seri culture and how did the producers augment the ir ingenuity to preva il upon dif­ferent producti on- re lated haza rds.

Taxonomy and Productivity According to some researchers the s ilk indu stry of

Bengal was in it s ex istence s ince the fifteenth century.

*Author for correspondance

though we cou ld not ascertain the hi storiocity of thi s

claim. Far less probable is the position be ing he ld by

some that a more ancient legacy may be attributed to thi s industry. ' It is imposs ible to di scover the exact elate

on which the silk industry commenced in Benga l, but it

mu st be of greate r age' 2 is not an adequa te ly ev ide nced

statement . However the si lk indu stry is one of the earli ­est industries in Bengal that drew the attention o f the

servants of the East India Company. The silk worms were

indi genous and its first home was said to be in the

Brahmaputra Valley. The sericulture indu stry of India is

traceable not from China but to the Himalayan count ry. ·'

The Punda caste was the he reditary silk worm rearing

cas te and the pundas li ved ma inly in Maida and in part:

o f Bogura , Raj shahi (now in B a ng lad es h), a nd in

Murshidabad. They were the best, the most inte lli gent and the most prosperous of a ll cocoon reare rs ... ~4 In

Bengal, mulberry is known as tunt and, the refore. the

cocoon reare rs were known as tuntios, tuntio Kaihonu, and tuntia chasw;. 5 The total number of cocoon rearers in Bengal , including those who added cocoon rea rin u to

"' o ther profess ions, was abou t 90,000, according to one contemporary source_c, The socia l position of the cocoon

rearers was generall y higher in Bengal than the mem­

bers of the Benga l peasantry, nevertheless the demo­graphic compos iti on of the cocoon reare rs indicated that it was basically adopted by the mu sl ims and members of the lower castes amongst the hindus as thei r professi on.

370 J SCI IND RES VO L 60 MAY 2001

Tab le 1- The di ffercnce in quali ty of Bengal cocoons

Specifications Bombyx Bombyx Bombyx tex tor fo nunatu s craesi

Average length of fibre in a 270.00 215.00 2 10.00 cocoon in m

2 Weight of reelable sil k in each 60.00 45.00 36.00 cocoon in mg

3 Weight of unreel able porti on in 20.00 16.00 16.00 each cocoon in mg

4 Proporti on of reelable si lk in the 08.00 07. 50 06.00 fresh cocoon per cent

5 Diameter of fibre (bave) in 16.50 20.50 20.00 111 111

6 Average weight of test skeins of 02.33 02.00 0 1.00 fibre (bave) 476 m long in deni ers

7 Tenacity of fibre (bave) in garments 06.33 06.80 04.00

8 Percentage of elas ticity of have 24.00 30.00 25.00

Source : NG Mukherjee, Monograph on the Silk Fabric in /Jengal, (Calcutta), 1903,3.

Upper caste hindus name ly the Brahmans, Baidyas, and

Kayasthas of Bengal always treated cocoon rearing as a

profess ion derogatory to the ir caste statu s. All the rearers called themselves as ' Bosni ' (Silk-worm rearers).

Broadl y speaking, three species of silk worms were

reared in Bengal: ( i) Bombyx textor ( i.e. bora palu ) was reared once in a year, ( ii ) Bombyxforlr.rnotus (i.e. deshi­palu ) yie lded fi ve crops, and (iii ) Bombyx craesi (i.e. nistari) yie lded six c rops. There was a lso a China worm,

i.e. Bombyx sinensis w hich was found to be reared in Murshidabad ; it was c rossed with the indi genous spe­

c ies at Kashimbazar o f the Murshidabad di strict. Bombyx text or furni shed the major part of the March bund (c rop) and it was he ld to be good s ilk . Bombyx textor was uni­

versally used in the Jungipur c irc le of the Murshidabad di stri c t. Bombyx fo rtunatus was the mos t pro lific; it y ie lded c rops in M arc h, April , June, July, October, and November, though they were not of indentical quality.

The crops o f April , June, and Jul y were the worst in quality and th at o f M arch were o ft en precari ous. S ilk produced in October and November turned out to be the bes t in qua lity7. Bombyx sin ensis be ing cul t ivated in a

res tri cted area y ie lded cocoons from Janu ary to M ay.

Bombyx craesi was genera lly cul tivated in M aida and it

gave no less than s ix harvests; the bes t o f them were

found in April , June, Ju ly, and Septe mberx. The worms

reared in M a ida and Murshidabad di st ri cts were fed on

mulberry (lun t) leaves . For the qua li ty and length of s il k

thread the Bombyxfortunatus (chhoto palu ) came nex t

to the Bombyx textor (bo ra palu ), though the f ibre of

Bombyx craesi (nistari) was fi ner and softer. Conse­quently, nistari was rea red more than o the r va ri e ti es insp ite of y ie ld ing a lower proporti on of silk. The qua l­ity of the princ ipa l three kinds of Bengal cocoons were identifi ed in the fo ll owing manner for tex til e purposes

(Table 1) .

T he fi gures, given in Table I , indicate that Bmnhvx textor (Bara polu ) is su pe ri or to the o ther va ri e ti es in terms of produc ti vity, length , and qua li ty of silk ob ta ined from the cocoons. Three or four crop. of cocoons were usual ly reared out of e ig ht c rops in a year, i.e., three of

Nistari and one of Chhota Palu, thoug h Bombyx textm: Bombyxfortunatus, Bombyx croesi, and Bombyx sinesis used to breed e ight-times in a yea r. Due to the in vas ions

GUHA & ROY CHOUDH URY : SERICULTURE I I DIA 371

of parasitic flies which wou ld often make it difficult to

grow cocoon of a ll varieti es in one locality, it was ob­

served as a precaution that s ilk worms would be reared in one joar and mulberry in the nex t. ~ Thus the seed was

kept separate ly as one bund in one joar (s ilk warm rear­ing centre). The cocoon rearers went to di stantjoars for

seeds and they sometimes covered a di stance of 60 to 80 miles to obta in good seeds. The Bachra and Bhattamati

joars of Murshidabad and Dhantala Ganipur joar of

M aida were very renowned places then for seed rearing

and thousands of cocoon growers used to flock a round

them in search o f good seeds . Exchange o f seeds was

also benefi c ial for the health of the s ilk worms. The prin­

c ipa l cocoo n g rowing bunds in Murshid abad were Aghrani (November), Chaitra (March), Srahani (Ju ly),

wh ile in Maida they were Karlik (October), Baishaky (M ay) and Bhaduria (August) 10

•

Technology and Production Relations

Rearing houses of M aida and Murshidabad were of thatched roo f and made of mud wal ls. They were we ll

venti lated and the doors and wi ndows were protected by

the bamboo chick or net so that the paras iti c fli es could

not ente r into the rearing rooms. The houses genera ll y measured 24 ft in length , 15 ft in w idth , and 9 ft hi gh.

The fl oors ( i. e. pli nth) of the houses were a lso hi gh. The

doors were pos itioned towards the south . Two windows

were considered to be enoug h for a rearing room o f the

above mentioned dimension. A rearing house, thus bui It,

would ho ld 256,000 worms , i.e ., 200 kahans 11 It would

be filled with five ghurrah.1· 12, each with 15 she lves, u

measuring 5.50 ft by 4.50 ft. T he datos were leaped wi th

cowdung. Each dolo conta ined 3,200 s ilk worms, i.e. ,

2.50 kahans. The dalas were suppo rted by bamboo poll s

resting on earthen saucers fil led wi th wa ter to protect the si lk worms from ants. 1 ~

The rearers were very careful about how did they feed the worms. Since they knew from experience that much would depend on the feed to enabl e them to obtain good quality cocoons they woul d not transgress the ru les. While the worms were young, they were feel on mul­berry leaves being fine ly cut and at a late r stage with the growth of the worms larger leaves were prov ided . Fi­

nally, in the third and last stage entire branches were

fou nd to be pl aced on the shelves of the worms. Si lk worms were fed at least four- times d . Fresh leaves were required at every 4 has c leanliness was integral to the

health y growth of the warms.

So far as the nutrition of the mulberry leaves was con­

cerned, it was found to be composed of five different

ingredients viz., (i) Water, (i i) So lid fibre, (iii ) Saccha­

rine, ( iv) Res inous substance, and (v) C olouring matter.

Fibrous substance, water and colouring matter, could not

a lone be sa id to contribute towards the nourishment of

the worms. Saccharine substance was very much needed for the development, size, and health of the worms, and

res inous substance was necessary to obta in silk propor­

tionate to the weight of the worms. Resinous substance

separating itse lf gradually from the leaves and attracted

by the animal organ isation accumulates, c lears itse lf, and

insensibly fill s the two reservoirs of s ilk vessels. Ac­

cording to the proportion of the e lements wh ich com­

pose the leaf, it fo llows that cases may occur in which a

greater weight of lea f may y ie ld less that is useful to the s ilk worm as well for its nourishme nt and with respect

to the quantity of silk obtained fro m the animal. 15 It was

observed that for the health o f the worms, it was always

better to take a few saccharine leaves and not a ll owi ng

the m to feed on numerou s malnutrit ion leaves. Over ea t­

ing was found to cause fati gue and leaves defic ient in res inuous substance could incapac ite the wo rms ro pro­

duce silk proportional to the ir we ight. It was necessary

to cons ider the age of the worms before feedin g. The

young worms needed young leaves and the mature leaves

were supplied to the wonns of more advanced age. Young

leaves might be fill ed with aqueous matte r and so they

were he lpfu l for the growth of the young worms, for its

continuous evaporation. M ature leaves conta in ing nu­

triti ve matters he lped the older worms to achi eve opti­

ma l g rowth . 'To g ive o ld leaves to young worms. or

young leaves to o ld worms would be a li ke prejudicial' lr· .

M ax imum care was taken to prevent the leaves to be

heated or fermented. Sli ghtest fermentation appeared to

have was ted the nutritious substance of the leaves. and thu s, it was a lways essenti a l th at dry leaves only were g iven to the worms.

Mulberry leaves were plucked in the morning or in

the evening onl y. A day's supply o f leaves should be obta ined in advance. So long as there was dew on the leaves, or so long as the leaves were wet after !',hower. they were not co ll ected and were nor fed. If the leaves were wet they were dried by fanni ng and in case the

leaves had dri ed too muc h they were kept normal by

sprinkling water. Wet, fermented , dry and dusty l eave~

were a lways sorted out . As s ilk worm s inc reased three­times in size afte r each mou lt they wou ld require three-

372 J SCIIND RES VOL 60 MAY 2001

times as much food, and at the last stage they would require five- times as much food as they ate during the previous stages. 17

Usua lly cleaning was effected before the midday. With the growth , silk worms began to change sk in and as a result, li ght change of co lour took place. At the time of change of skin the worms would become sluggish and wou ld not take much interest in food. At the time of moulting, no food was given. For safety the moulting worms would be quarantined from the rest in separate shelves. The larval stage had genera ll y lasted for four weeks, and in their maturity when they were ready to spin they wou ld be translucent and wou ld change from 'a greenish cream to a mell ow light orange co lour' and woul d be spi tt ing out silk . Such mature worms would be immediately placed in clwndrika.1·1x to assist them to sp in . At night, a lamp was kept burning, because the worms tended to slaken off in darkness , caus ing de lay in sp in­ning. 'The average time taken for cocoon spi nnin g is 56 h' . 1 ~ At the completi on of spinning the cocoons were removed from the chandrikas. Refused mulberry leaves and the droppings of the silk worms were cleaned regu­larly from the rearing-houses. The excretas were not al­lowed to get dry; they were co llected in a litter basket attached to the cowsheds so that the droppings from the animals being accumu lated in the baskets would not let them to get dry. This preventive measure was meticu­lously fo ll owed to protect the worms from dry dust and ai r-borne disease . The litter hav ing rotted we ll , was re­cyc led as manure for mulberry cultivation1

'1

. Further, to prevent any infection , dead silk worms were at once re­moved and the affected she! f was dis-in fee ted with I i me.

Moths, both male and female , were ca lled chokro and chokri; they were found to cut their ways quickly com­mencing the work earl y in the morning and completing it by noon. The females were larger and fatter tha n the ma les, because they carried eggs and so, they were not so active as the males were. The sexes were separated 2 or 3 h after their emergence and the femal es after hav ing laid about 400 to 500 eggs20 wou ld soon die. The fun lias

noticed carefull y the four stages in the development of the si lk worms. At the first stage the moths laid eggs from which tiny larvae or caterpi ll ars wou ld hatc h as the second stage in the process . They were fed on mul­berry leaves, grew and span cocoons when fully grow n; in the cocoons the caterp illars would transform into pupa in the third stage and finally the pupa would develop into moth in the fourth stage. Jt wou ld then cut an open-

ing through the cocoon to emerge from it and to lay eggs to contin ue the life-cycle. The time taken to complete the cyc le depended on the nature of the silk worm and the cl imate.20 The best silk came from the uni vo lti ne silk wo rms which had passed through one cyc le in a year. The univoltine silk worms were generally reared in coo l c li mate. In tropical climate, multi voltine races were usu­ally reared and they gave five to six crops annuall y.

When the larvae appeared the trays were covered with perforated paper and fi nely chopped mulberry leaves were spread over the covering. The worms wou ld be carwling through the openings and woul d feed on the leaves. Silk worms required careful nouri shment for 20 to 30 d and during that period they wou ld feel voracious appetite excepting the four peri ods of slumber lasting a day at a time? ' During the period of slumber the worms wou ld refuse food and onl y after wakening, when they wou ld be shedding their old ski ns, they would resume feeding. After the fo urth or las t moult the worms would be tak ing the last feed lasting fo r 7 to I 0 d with great av idity. During that time, growth accelerated and they reached fu ll development. Therefore, a good nu mber ol trays were furni shed to hold them. Silk worms gained ic weight about I 0,000-times during the whole feeding period and they became 5 to 9 em in length when fu II y grown.20 Its aversion to eating after hav ing fully growr and constant restless movement of head from side to side indicated that the worm was ready to sp in cocoon. Tht ripe worms were removed then . rom feeding trays to b< placed in spinn ing trays for making cocoons. The silke1 case spun by larvae was an oblong object and its siz< was 2.54 em x 1.25 em and the weight of the cocoo1 including the pupa would be 0.42 g (ref 20). The bes quality cocoons were preserved for seed and others wen 'subjected to a treatment, whereby the chrysa li ses wer, stifled' without damag ing the cocoons. Suffocation wa caused either by exposure to the sun or by steam orb hot air. The last method was the best, as it gave the be~ result.

Silk worms needed proper space at the time of spir ning; inadequate space wou ld lead to the formation c dou ble cocoons ,~ 1 from which raw ilk popularl y calle dupion was produced. The thread of the double cococ became fluffy and, therefore, it became difficult to ree However, it was used for obtaining seed. The formati c of double cocoon was rare at Maida and Murshidaba1 but interes tingly enough, it was fa irl y common in Japa ' China, and in Europe. It was also observed that the te1 dency to fo rm doubl e cocoon was hered itary."1

GUHA & ROY CHOUDHURY : SERICU LTURE I I DIA 373

Like other caterpillars, s ilk worm is not a warm­

blooded animal. Its body tempe rature is a lways equal to

that of the atmosphere in which it is placed. The num­ber of eggs produced by the female moth va ri ed in num­

bers, some produced 250 eggs while othe rs produced 400 to 500 eggs. Thi s variat ion is attributed to the c ir­

c um s ta nces of th e place where se ri c ulture was

organi sed Y Climate played an important ro le in seri cul ­

ture. Fresh a ir and c lealiness in the rearing rooms were

necessary for the hea lthy growth of the worms. The num­ber of worms under rearing were presumably very large and they were more or less reared in a crowded state.

Thus, proper ventilation was indi spensable in the rear­ing rooms.24 Silk worms breathe through nine pairs of

breathing holes opening on the body. Lack o f fres h air, high and low temperature and hi gh and low percentage

of humidity in the atmosphere ad versely affected seri ­

culture. Silk worm be ing a co ld-b looded animal, temperature ,

most like ly pl ays a vita l ro le in its g rowth , fecundity and

mortality. 'The optimum temperature in cocoon rearing is 30°C from the Ist to the 3rd insta rs, 25°C in the 4th

in sta r and 20-25°C in the fifth instar25. Cocoon grow ing

at these temperatures was always found to be useful for

the decrease in duration of the larva l stage and morta l­ity. It also he lped to increase the weight of cocoons as

well as thei r production. The suitab le temperature for

rearing si lk worms at a ll stages shou ld be 24°C or be­

tween 21.5°C to 30°C. Any variation in temperature be­

low or beyond this range would prove to be harmful to

the worms. Therefore the rearing rooms were a lways kept cool or suitab ly warm by some contri vances. In very high

temperature, as we ll as in very low temperature, eggs

would not hatch, and due to uneas iness caused by c li ­mate the worms would stop feeding, as a result affecting their growth and finally sp innin g cocoons26

. Therefore

the temperature of the rearing rooms was kept at about

23°C and the humidity between 65 per cent and 75 per

cent Y It was found that silk worms were ab le to resist hi gh

humidity at the early stage of their growth. But during mantrity, hi gh humidity combined with hi gh tempera­

ture caused wide-spread mortality. Further, durin g the time of spinning, high humidity might reduce the qual­ity of the cocoonY Variation in humidity affected the

mulberry leaves on which the worms feed and, conse­quently the worms were found to spin sma ll cocoons, and the hatching of eggs too was seri ously disturbed .

Contrary to low humidity, hi gh humidity would cause

obes ity in the worms, making them susceptible to di s­

ease, and silk obta ined in that state pos ited difficulty in

reeling due to flu ffyness . 2~

Li ght was a lso found to be an accompaniment for the hatching of silk worms. Hatching usuall y occurred in

the morning, emergence would become slow and irregu­

lar in darkness but rapid emergence was caused by sud­

den illumination. This observat ion of the 18th century

silk worm rearers was confirmed by the contemporary growers too in the course of field-work during our re­

sea rc h . For th e m os t effect ive illumin a ti on fo r

synchroni sati on is a periodic li ght and dark reg ime con­s isti ng of 12 to 18 h li ght and 5 to 12 h dark.10

Buchanan estimated the yie ld of s ilk from cocoons in various s ilk producin g centres. 10 According to

Buchanan , y ie ld was computed at I 5 sicca weight or 6 .8

per cent from 2.50 seers (of 88 sicca) at Dinajpore and

at M ahananda of the Maida region. M o re to the east the

yie ld was sa id to be 2.70 seers to 28 seers cocoons, or

just 4 per cent11. Monkton,12 however, put it at one-e ight

of the weight of cocoons, or 12.5 per cent. In the distri ct

of Purnea west of Maida the yie ld was I in 17.50 seer or

5.70 per cent. The papers publi shed with the report of

1836, of course, did not g ive full informati on as to the

yie ld o f silk from the severa l species o f cocoons . The Resident at Sonamukhi (a silk centre) calculated the yield

of I 03, 500 kahans of cocoons of the annual spec ies at

I 50 factory maunds of silk , a kahan consisting of I ,280

cocoons. Thi s indicates that it took 903,200 cocoons to

yie ld a factory maund of s ilk . Shakespeares, another Resident, 13 a lso furnished the accompany ing figures : 48 kahans (6 1 ,440) of cocoons of the October, Nove m­

ber and January bunds y ie lded 2 .22 seers of silk , 24

kahans (30,720) cocoons of the annua l variety yie lded 2.7 seers of silk . In March bund 45 kahans (957,600)

small cocoons yie lded 2.4 seers of silk . The figures as­

suming Speed's calcul ation as to weight of cocoon wou ld

g ive an y ie ld of 8.3 per cent on weight of cocoons for the small s ize and 9.4 per cent for the annuals. Accord­ing to Speed, 1~ cocoons on the fifth day required to make

a seer of 80 sicca weight were, as g iven in Table 2.

Desi cocoons numbering 256,000 weighed, accord­ing to the above ca lcul ati on, 123 sicca seers. The yield from 123 sicca seers had been set down at II .02 seers by customary limit and 13.06 seers by pri vate acco m­plishments. Hence, fo r the annua l cocoons, he gave an

y ie ld of 8.20 seers by customary limit and 10. 15 seers by private accomplishments fro m 157 ,000 cocoon s weighing 122 seers. 35 The case of Madrasee cocoon could

/

374 J scr IND RES VOL 60 MAY 2001

Table 2 - Number of cocoons

Specification weight 80 sicca Number

DesiMadraseeAnnual

2,0801,7601,280

Source: Reports and Documents connected with the Proceedings ofthe East India Company in regard to the Trade, Culture and Manu-facture of Silk in India, 1836, London

not be made out clearly. However, a percentage calcula-tion of yield per seer gave us some idea. The yield fromdesi may be assumed to be 9 per cent by customary limitand 11.1per cent by pri vate calculation, and from annual7.2 per cent by customary limit and 8.6 per cent by pri-vate accomplishment".

Ramsay, in his deposition before the Select Commit-tee of the House of Lords in 1830, stated that the quan-tity of spun silk to be obtained from Bengal cocoonswould be only 5 per cent. But figures given by Princepwere different; according to Princep ] maund of 80 siccato the seer (annual) yielded 3 seers of silk, i.e., 7.5 percent, one maund (des i) yielded 2.25 seers of silk i.e., 5.6per cent. Later another estimate was given by Turnbull"of Ghatal to the fact that the annual yield was 5.6 to 6.9per cent of silk, Madrasee, 5 to 6.25 per cent, desi, 5.7to 6.25 per cent, and China 5.4 to 6.25 per cent.Geoghegan mentioned that some silk which had won theHorticultural Society's medal in 1839 was reeled fromthe annual output yielding 14.3 per cent."

Silk Worm Diseases

One of the difficulties faced by the cocoon rearersduring the period of our study was the disease of the silkworms; the worms were found to suffer from variousdiseases viz., pebrine (kata), Muscardine (Chuna kata),Flypest (Kuji), Flacherie (Kalsira), Gatine (Salfa),Grasserie (Rasa), Court tRangi, Lali), and Dermestesvulpines. Being aware of the dangerous consequencesof the infection from any of them the cocoon rearers ofMaIda and Murshidabad drew, both preventive and cura-tive measures to protect the cocoonaries". The detailsof the disease and their prevention collected from thecontemporary records are the following.

(i) Pebrine - Considered to be a serious disease, itwas found to disturb seriously the growth of the worms.

It was not possible, at the early stage, to notice the dis-ease ordinarily. It was visible when the disease was faradvanced; the worms affected by pebrine used to sufferasymmetrical growth. They became sluggish and slowand irregular in passing through their moults. Pebrinisedworms would become pale and more translucent thanthe healthy ones causing alarming mortality. It was a slowacting disease and took 30 d for complete development.Consequently the death of pebrinised worms appearedto be sudden, occurring at the last stage when the dis-eased worm did not respond to any treatment. The deadworms did not become rotten or soft at once, on the con-trary, they tended to be dry and firm." The most charac-teristic feature of the disease, however, is the presence,in different parts, of the diseased caterpillar's body, andspecially in its gut, of numerous minute oval bodieswhich are the pores of the parasite which causes the dis-ease" Silk worms affected by pebrine span cocoonswhich would be flimsy and poor. The moths cut out ofthe cocoons unless they were dead by then but they wouldbe deformed and the eggs layed by them would not hatch.And if at all they had hatched, many might give rise todiseased caterpillars. Pebrine was highly contagious andhereditary in the sense that germs present in the body ofthe parents passed on to the offsprings. Louis Pasteurwho investigated it, found out the causal agent, andevolved a method of controlling it by first microscopicexamination of the body tissues of the mother moths af-ter eggs were laid and rejecting the eggs of those havingpebrine corpuscles in their body. Pebrine was a nativedisease and the way the cocoon rearers prevented thespread of the disease was by quarantining the diseasedworms, observing cleanliness and later by microscopicexamination of the worms.

(ii) Muscardine - It was an epidemic caused by para-sitic fungus. It was checked by disinfection of eggs andall the appliances used and by rearing the worms in aclean way. Muscardine was visible to the naked eye,when the disease was fully developed. After being af-fected by muscardine the worms turned lime-like in ap-pearance and a pale rose-colour spreading over the bodyof the worm before its death. A diseased worm becamelimp and lost its elasticity, and by losing strength to moveit succumbed to the disease. A dead worm looked like apiece of chalk. Catarpillar attacked by muscardine at itslast stage would spin cocoons, but the moths would notemerge from them and on opening of the cocoons thepupae would be found like white efflorescence. In thecase of muscardine epidemic the worms were kept in a

GUHA & ROY CHOUDH URY : SERICULTURE I I DI A 375

state of fasting for a few hours and sulphur was burnt in the rearing rooms by shutting the doors and windows. 41

(iii) Fly Pest - Though damage caused to s ilk worms

by fl y was not always regarded as a di sease, yet a great deal of damage was caused to mulberry cocoons o f Ben­

ga l by fl y pest. Fl y pest generally attack the worms a fte r the ir third or fourth moult. In the case of serious inju ry

the catarpillar would not spin cocoon and if the damage

was not very seri ous the cate rpillar might spin but no

moth would be formed ins ide the cocoon. Moreover, cocoons thus obta ined would be useless for ree lin g. 4 ~

Eggs o f the fly pest hav ing hatched into maggots would

penetrate into the body of the s ilk worms and would kill

them when they crossed the third or fourth stage of moult. In the case of death of a fl y- pes ted s il k worm afte r it had

spun the cocoon many maggots of the tl y pest onl y in­

stead of a moth would come out of the cocoon. In th at state of in fec tion , it would not onl y contaminate the

rearing room but would a lso spo il the prospec t o f the

nex t crop . Hence the reare rs of M aida and Murshidabad

preferred, as a matte r of precauti on, a lte rnate rearing for

the sake of hea lthy c rops and had, in fac t, gone to di stant

places fo r the co llecti on of good seeds. Bes ides the de­

c ision not to take two crops in success ion was sugges ted by the fac t that some maggots mig ht come in rearing

villages with seeds thereby pos ing a threat to a ll c rops .

For furthe r precauti on the reare rs used to rear in each joar in a lte rnate bund to avo id excess ive loss from para­

sitic fl y and dermestes. Ventil ators and window o f the

rea ring rooms were covered by net to prevent an y fl y pest to ente r into the rooms. 4

_1

(iv) Flacherie - Body of a s il k worm attac ked by

jlacherie turned bl ack; the refore the d isease was kn ow n

to the rea re rs as ka /sira. T he ex te rna l sy mptoms of the

di sease were marked by the slugg ishness and moti on­lessness of the di seased worms. F/acherie gene ra ll y occurred when the silk worms were fully grown and were

ready to spin . A diseased worm would vomit c lea r brown­

ish liquid . It was observed that mulberry leaves affected by tukra be in g consumed by the worms would cause .flecherie or grasserie. A minute insect used to cause tukro and use of ke ros ine e mul sion turned out to be the mos t

effecti ve anti -dote.44

(v) Gatine- Silk wotms were usua lly attacked by gmin when they were young . It was a form of ind igesti on and

was caused by excess ive hea t or cold . When attacked by gatine the worms would loose appe tite and would turn bl ack. Gatine, however, was not very fata l and did not

spread so rapidly as.flacherie.The best way adopted by

the reare rs to res tore the health of the affected worms

was by normali sing temperature in the rea ring room .1'

(vi ) Grasserie - It was not an in fecti ous di sease. lt was often caused by the sappy condition o f mulberry

leaves and on account o f the absence of proper ventila­

ti on in the rearing rooms. Hence, improvement of the

condition of the rearing rooms and proper care be ing

taken in feeding would prevent the outbreak of grasserie. Grasserie used to attack the worms at the ir larva l stage afte r the fourth moult and an infec ted worm woul d in­

va ri abl y turn ye ll ow. That was w hy the di sease was al so

known to the Bengal reare rs as j aund ice. Thus, a pre­

venti ve measure the reare rs o f M a ida and Murshidabad

used leaves fro m large mulberry trees and avoided the use o f shrub leaves, as fa r as poss ib le .46

(vii) Court - It was not cons ide red as a di sease, rathe r

it was he ld to be the symptom of a d isease caused fro m

pebrine. Thus Court ca lled in Be ngal Lali, Rangi or

Kurkutte, is more an abnorma lity than a di sease47. Court

was more common in the months o f February and March

than in o the r months. When the worms were served with

naicha (first growth leaves) or leaves from shady p laces,

or g iven in suffic ient leaves at the fina l stage of maturity

thi s abn ormality was observed . Worms affec ted by Court turned chrysa l i ne. In thi s s itu a ti on e ithe r the worms

would not spin cocoons or in case cocoons were formed

at a ll they became flimsy, and the chrysa lis if rare ly turned into moth would be lay ing in fec ted eggs. The d isease was he reditary.

(viii ) The Dermestes Vulpinus- It was a kind of beetle

which was found to feed on silk worm at a ll stages . The

pest used to take she lte r in the cocoon godow ns and would often come with seed cocoons . The reare rs re­

sorted to seeding, as preventi ve measure, outs ide the rear­ing room, and they a lso kept the appli ances in a s tate of c leanliness to check the epidemic. 47

Conclusion

It has resulted from the preceding study that the sc ri ­

culture co mmunity o f Benga l had acquired co mplete maste ry over every aspec t o f thi s industry, in order to

perpetuate the supre macy o f Indi a in the inte rn at ional

s ilk trade. F ro m the c lass ificati on of the silk worms and the ir re lati ve prod uc ti vity to the b iology of the worm they had no dearth of know ledge. T hey perceptibly ob­served the COJTe lati onship between the maturity of feed leaves and the maturity o f worms, in te rms of rate of growth , sickness, and fe rtility. The study of di seases made with meticulous care by the scri culture techni c ians or

376 J SCI IND RES VOL 60 MAY 2001

Bengal and the preventive and curative measures sug-gested by them, might not have lost importance eventoday,inspite of many refined scientific researches be-ing undertaken now and costly medicine prescribed toensure sound health to the worms.

Notes and ReferencesReport and documents connected with the proceedings ofthe East India Company in regard to the trade, cultureand manufacture of raw silk, London, 1836, (ii) Proceed-ings of the Committee of Circuit, Cossimbazar. 1772, (iii)Proceedings of the board of trade (Commercial), 1772,(iii) Fort- William and India House Correspondence, Vols5 and 7, (v) Glaman K, Dutch Asiatic Trade, Copenhagen,1958. (vi) Richardson G P, Description of the Silk Worms,London, 1831. And for details of computation see: SujitChandra Guha & Tapas K Roy Choudhury, IndigenousIndustry: India's Phenomenal Success Through the SilkRoute, J Hist Stud, 3 (1997) 45.

2 Walsh J HT, Hist of Murshidabad, London, 1902, 102.

3 Mukherjee N G, A monograph on the silk fabrics ofBengal,Calcutta, 1903,8.

4 Mukherjee N G, A monograph on the silk fabrics ofBengal,Calcutta, 1903, 13.

5 Bengal District Records,Dinajpur,l786-9 Calcutta, ed-ited by Firrninger W K, 1914, 180.

6 Buchanan H F, An Account of the District of Purnea in1809- 10, Patna, 1928,98, An Account of District ofShah bad, 1812-13, Patna, 1934,215, An Account of Dis-trict of Bhagalpur, 1810-11, Patna 1939,75.

7 Milburn J, Oriental Commerce, London, Vol. 2 (1813)244.

8 Walsh J H T, His! Murshidabad, London, 1902, 105.

9 Mukherjee N G, A monograph on the silk fabrics ofBengal,Calcutta, 1903,10.

10 Mukherjee N G, A monograph on the silk fabrics of Ben-gal, Calcutta, 1903,15

II 1 Kahan = 16 pans: I pan = 80; so, 1Kahan = (16x80) =1280.

12 Ghurras are bunks made of bamboo mats.

13 Dalas are shelves.

14 Walsh J H T, Hist Murshidabad, London, (1902) 106.

15 Richardson P G, A treaties on the origin, progressive im-provement and present state of the silk manufacture, (Lon-don), 1831,96.

16 Richardson P G, A treaties on the origin, progressive im-provement and present state of the silk manufacture, (Lon-don) 1831,103.

17 Mukherjee N G, A monograph on the silkfabrics ofBen-gal, Calcutta, 1903, II.

18 Chandrikas are bamboo trays fitted with split bambooholds.

19 Walsh J HT, Hist Murshidabad, London,(1902)106.20 A Dictionary of Raw Materials and Industrial

Products,Part 8, (CSIR, New Delhi), 1973, 2.21 Report and documents connected with the proceedings of

the East India Company in regard to the trade, cultureand manufacture of raw silk, London (1836) 26.

22 Double cocoons: two worms jointly forming one cocoon.23 Richardson P G, A treaties on the origin, progressive

improvement and present state of the silk manufacture,London,( 1831) 96.

24 Geoghegan J, Some account of silk in India, Calcutta(1872) 24.

25 Yatara T, The silk worm; An important laboratory tool,(Tokyo), 1978,47.

26 Ghosh C C, Silk production and weaving in India,(Calcutta), 1949, 10-20.

27 Geoghegan J, Some Account of Silk in India,Calcutta,(1872) 24.

28 Geoghegan J, Some Account of Silk in India, Calcutta(1872) 30.

29 The Diary and Consultation Book of Fort St Georg, ed-ited by A TPringle, (Madras),1648 1875,78.

30 Buchanan H F, An account of the district of Purnea in1809-10, Patna, (1928), 102,123,221, Buchanan H F, Ageographical, statistical and historical description of thedistrict or Zilla of Dinajpur in the province or Subah ofBengal, Calcutta (1833) 190.

31 Geoghegan J, Some Account of Silk in India, Calcutta(1872),49.

32 Geoghegan J, Some Account of Silk in India, Calcutta(1872) 50. Resident is the designation of the CompanyFactory Official.

33 Report and documents connected with proceedings of theEast Indian Company in regard to the trade,culture andmanufacture of silk in India, London(1836) 106.

34 Report and documents connected with proceedings of theEast Indian Company in regard to the trade.culture andmanufacture of silk in India, London (1836) II O.

35 Report and documents connected with proceedings of theEast Indian Company in regard to the trade.culture andmanufacture of Silk in India, London (1836) Ill.

36 Report and documents connected with proceedings oftheEast Indian Company in regard to the trade,culture andmanufacture of Silk in India, London (1836) 112.

37 Geoghegan J, Some account of silk in India, Calcutta(1872) 49.

GUl-lA & ROY CHOUDHURY : SERICULTURE I I DIA l77

38 Pringle J, Report 011 the diseases of silk ll'orms i11 l11dio, Calcutta( 1922) 17-20.1.

39 Ghosh CC, Si lk productio11 a11d weav i11 g i11 l11dio , Calcutta,( 1949) 19.

40 Pringle J, Report 011 the diseases of silk worms i11 f11 dia , Calcutta( 1922)75.

4 1 Pringle J , Report on the diseases of silk worms i11 Indio , Calcutta( 1922)78.

42 Mukherjee N G, A bird~· - eye view of f11dia11 sericulture, Calcutta ( 1907)31.

43 Mukherj ee N G, A bird~·- eye view of l11dian scriculllrre. Calcutt a ( 1907)35.

44 Pringle J, Reporr 011 th e diseases of silk li'O rms i11 India , Calcutta( 1922)79.

45 Pringle J, Report 011 th e diseases of silk II'Orms i11 Indio. Calcutta( 1922)80.

46 Pringle J, Report 011 the diseases of silk worms i11 Indio , Calcutta( 1922)8 1.

47 Pringle J, Report 011 the diseases of silk li'Orms in l11dio , Calcutta( 1922)82.