Textiles & Handicrafts

For centuries India clothed the world. This section is about the fabrics and the handmade things — the muslin so fine it was called woven air, Banarasi silks heavy with gold thread, Pashmina spun from mountain goats, the tie-dyed Bandhani of Gujarat, the block-printers of Rajasthan. There's the craft side too: Channapatna's lacquered toys, Bidri metalwork inlaid with silver, terracotta and cane and bell metal. Behind each is a family that has done this for generations, often for very little. Read for the beauty of the objects, and for the hands that still make them by the thousand.