The age of the wild silk
So how can silk, this beautiful fabric, be so heinously made…If one goes back in time, as far back as the Vedic times, to see the production of silk – it began with what was called Wild Silk. This type of silk was produced by caterpillars apart from the mulberry silkworm. They were artificially cultivated and a wide array was known and used in China, South Asia and Europe. These worms were naturally allowed to leave their cocoon. The degree of production was usually a lot lesser than that of cultivated silks. Wild silks differed from the home-made variety in colours and textures. What happened usually was that the cocoons gathered in the wild were often damaged by the emerging moth. This caused the silk threads that make up the cocoon to be torn into shorter lengths.
Did you silk this?
But did you know that the silk worm is not really a worm, it’s a caterpillar! The silk worm has been used by folks for over four centuries to create silk. The practice first started in China in approximately 2600 B.C. While the Chinese kept the method of producing silk a secret for many years, they traded silk to Europe and the Middle East (but there is still a variety in silks known as the Chinese silk). The secret got out of the bag and was adopted by other countries too.
Naturally Silkworm
Who would think that a commendable act of nature such as this can generate a creation stronger than steel. Silk is by far the finest of all of this earth’s fibres. It is made by the protein secretions of silkworms that then solidify to create the cocoon fibres. With cultivated silk, the emerging adult moth is killed in the silkworm pupae stage by being dipped in boiling water by being pierced with a needle. This enables the entire cocoon to unfold as a one continuous thread and that sanctions a much stronger fabric to be woven from the silk. Another pseudo benefit was that this cultivated silk was a lot easier to dye than the wild silks. Some painful facts are that 15 silk worms are murdered to get 1 gram of silk, 1500 silk worms are killed to get 1 metre of woven silk cloth and about 50,000 silk worms are killed in the making of that astounding silk sari. The larva of a moth spins a copious amount of strong silk to construct its cocoon. When this live cocoon is thrown into the boiling water, the silk is drawn off and spun into threads and further into fabric. And THAT is where the silk for that astounding silk sari comes from!
A first in the world
Now once again, a pioneer of sorts, Indian national, Kusuma Rajaiah has developed a new technique to produce silk that does not involve killing of any silk worms. Now popularly known as ‘Ahimsa’ silk, this process follows the old method of wild silk wherein the moth is allowed to escape from the cocoon after 7 to 10 days. Thereafter the shells are used to produce the yarn. Rajaiah has won the patent to produce the Ahimsa silk. The production cost for Ahimsa silk is more expensive. For e.g. a sari that would cost Rs. 2400 to produce using the usual silk will cost Rs. 4000 when made with Ahimsa silk. Rajaiah’s inspiration is Mahatma Gandhi’s message to the Indian silk industry of producing silk without killing silk worms has finally seen fruition in Ahimsa silk. The silk for Ahimsa silk comes from the Chittoor district. Rajaiah purchases cocoon from the mulberry farms there. Yellow coloured cocoons reared in huge cane baskets arrive at his residence. The moths, after they emerge in 8 to 10 days by piercing the cocoon at one end to free them. The adult moths have a short life span of four days. During this time they mate and die naturally. The pierced cocoons are spun into yarn and then woven into fabric. Ahimsa silk may not have the same shine as regular silk but it is comfortable to wear, is wrinkle free and falls better.
So, what are we waiting for…Get Ahimsa silk and be pro: earth!