CARPETS 



AND RUGS 



Agra 



Mirzapore 



INDIAN CAKPETS AND KUGS 



U. Prov. 

 Agra. 



Mirzapore. 



South India. 



BHore. 



Three Classes of 



Carpets. 



Earn Chandra 

 Carpets. 



Masulipatam. 



Malabar. 



Bangalore. 



Deccan. 

 Warangal Rugs 

 of Hyderabad. 



Western India. 



them their singularly beautiful lustre. But the Baluchistan carpets and rugs 

 have deteriorated sadly from their pristine beauty and excellence. 



4. United Provinces. Several centres are noted for their carpets, such 

 as Agra, Mirzapore, Jhansi, Jabbalpur and Allahabad. Agra is one of the three 

 centres at which the Emperor Akbar endeavoured to establish a carpet in- 

 dustry. In the Journal of Indian Art (Oct. 1905) two plates are given of 

 carpets turned out at this centre. To this day the superior designs of its jail- 

 made carpets are a striking refutation of the charge brought against the jails 

 of having degraded the carpet industry. Recently a factory has been established 

 under European management, to utilise the skilled labour outside the Central 

 Jail. It appears from the E.I.Co.'s letters that Agra was an important 

 distributing centre for other than locally made carpets. Thus the Company's 

 servants of Surat purchased Lahore carpets at Agra (E.I.C. Letters, I.e. 250), and 

 the Portuguese merchants of Goa took various carpets from Agra in exchange 

 for jewellery. 



Mirzapore may perhaps be described as the headquarters of the cheap 

 commercial modern carpets of India. In the Journal of Indian Art (July 1905) 

 will be found a highly typical representation of 90 per cent, of the carpets 

 of this centre. There are numerous private factories (both Native and 

 European) engaged in the industry, but the patterns have of late years been 

 supplied mainly by firms in Europe and America, so that the deterioration in 

 quality noticeable for many years past may be spoken of as a direct consequence 

 of this dictation. 



5. South India. The carpets exported from Masulipatam and Cocanada 

 were those that first attracted attention in Europe as being specifically Indian, 

 and doubtless a century ago they were made at much the same centres as to-day. 

 At El/ore, where the weavers are Muhammadans but very poor, the business is 

 done by advances. Three classes of carpets were shown to me during a visit 

 made in connection with the Delhi Exhibition : (a) carpets of foreign design, 

 mostly Persian, and defective in every direction : (6) carpets collectively known 

 as of Ram Chandra design. In the Journal of Indian Art will be seen (July 

 and October numbers) examples of these carpets, especially those from Vellore. 

 The same journal (viii., pi. 50) shows a Coromandel carpet which doubtless 

 belongs also to the Ram Chandra group. These, as a rule, were good, the colours 

 being well chosen but the quality very low, not more than 5 or 8 threads to the 

 inch : (c) the third type represented by an old rug which was so woven (by 

 what the weavers call the " velvet method ") as to simulate the fine texture of 

 the old grass-mats. This was probably the original style of Rajamundry and 

 Ellore. Masu/ipatam once turned out some of the finest carpets in India, but 

 foreign exporters are said to have degraded the industry by supplying cheap 

 and bad material. At the writer's suggestion the Madras School of Arts repro- 

 duced for the Delhi Exhibition two fine Ram Chandra carpets, the originals 

 of which are preserved in the Madras Central Museum. The prevailing features 

 are the rich deep brown-red of the field and the quaint border of rosettes of 

 flowers. Malabar is said to have formerly produced the only pile carpets of 

 pure Hindu design made in India. They are apparently not now manufactured. 

 In the account of Sir George Birdwood his Life and Work as given in the 

 Journal of Indian Art (viii., pi. 50), a corner of a beautiful Malabar carpet is shown. 

 The jail in Bangalore in Mysore State has for long been noted for the good quality 

 of its carpets. One shown at Delhi was distinctly a Hindu design with a Ram 

 Chandra border. 



6. The Deccan. Hyderabad formerly produced the wonderfully fine silk rugs 

 known as WARANGALS. The Journal of Indian Art (Jan. and July, 1905) 

 shows three carpets of this school. This charming textile has the property 

 of changing colour according to the point of view. The carpets at present 

 produced, while possessing certain features of their own, are far inferior to the 

 old work. The scheme of colour is scarlet, yellow and white. In the work 

 just quoted will also be found highly characteristic examples of Hyderabad 

 carpets. 



7. Western India. It is probable that the Persian traders very early 

 established themselves along the western coast of India, and there produced 

 carpets under the patronage of the Emperors, Princes, and Nobles of India, very 

 possibly long before they were made in Agra and Lahore. Certainly Cambay 

 was one of the earliest seats of the craft, for according to Linschoten ( Voy. E. Ind. 

 (ed. Hakl. Soc.), i., 47, 60), who travelled in India about 1584, the people of that 



274 



