12/02/2023
Weaving : An Ancient Art, Creative Skill & Mathematical Deft
That artist called “weaver” explores infinite permutations of plus one, minus one in the realm of pure mathematics. While you and I will have to counts warp and weft threads to assess the fabric density, he will simply weigh the saree in his magical hands and calculate the number of curls and coils in saree. The mathematical masters and creative geniuses that these simpletons are.
And they exist from ages. Farmers in the Indus valley were the first to spin and weave. Archaeological evidence also suggests that Mesopotamia was the land from where woollen fabric spread across the world. Silk spread across the world from China. India was the land which gave the world cotton as well as jute fabrics. In 1929 archaeologists recovered fragments of cotton textiles at Mohenjo-Daro, in what is now Pakistan, dating to between 3250 and 2750 BCE.
In India, the greatest weavers at one time were the Padmashali community in South India, in Andhra Pradesh. In their folklore, we get to know that Markandeya was destined to die at the age of sixteen. However, he was saved by Lord Shiva. In exchange for his life, he instructed his son, Bhavana, to weave clothes for the Gods. Thus, was created the ancestor of all weavers.
