Publisher's Synopsis
The South Indian textile industry goes back more than 3,000 years. Substantial historical data on textiles and weavers is, however, available only for the medieval period. The focus of this work is the period from the tenth to the seventeenth centuries. Dr Ramaswamy studies the vicissitudes of the medieval weaving communities and the textile industry spasmodically over 700 years. Her attempt has been to write a comprehensive history, so that this book is as concerned with the status and role of weavers in medieval society as with the economic and technological aspects of their world.
