GOLDEN SILK

THE PROPERTIES THAT MAKE MUGA SILK UNIQUE COULD SEE IT BEING USED IN THE BIOFUELS AND MEDICINES OF THE FUTURE

- EISHA GUPTA

THE BIODIVERSITY HOTSPOT OF ASSAM is home to a curious silkworm that founded a textile heritage as far back as 321 BCE. Its creations spawned an industry alluded to in the pages of the Ramayana, where travelling east took you through “the country of cocoon rearers,” and the accounts of French traveller JeanBaptiste Tavernier from 1662.

This is none other than Antheraea assamensis, known as the Muga silkworm in larval form and the Assam silk moth as an adult. Munching on the leaves of the som, sualu, and mejankari plants, the green larvae produces a natural golden-yellow fibre that is of high durability and a shimmering glossy texture—Muga silk, a cloth so renowned that it graced the closets of Ahom royalty and was reserved for them alone. Royal houses supervised