The Embassy of Japan cordially invites to you a lecture on


“Indian Calico and its influence on
East Asian Countries”
by Ms. Sujata PARSAI,
Coordinator-Textiles, TAPI Collection

The word calico (also known as chintz, sarsa) derives from the port of Calicut, on the Malabar coast of India, and was commonly used for the Indian dyed and printed fabrics exported from here to the European countries. Indian textile trade in the 17^th and 18^th centuries to the western world is well documented. Lesser known is that there existed for more than a thousand years along the ancient maritime trade routes, a flourishing exchange of spice for cloth to south east Asia and far east, earlier run by Indian and Arab merchants, later by the European merchant companies. Thus Indian textiles were a key element in the development of international commerce, from earliest times. The Indian textile trade helped migration of Indian culture to the distant shores of the east. Cloths were designed to suit specific markets with their own regional tastes and preferences serving various functions. Used as attire, diplomatic gifts, festive display, ceremonial offering and heirlooms, Indian textiles display a long and glorious history of creativity and craftsmanship.

Ms. Parsai has a background of Art History from MS University, Baroda. She has a Masters in Museology from National Museum Institute, and is a Fellow of the Victoria & Albert Museum, London. Her work in the Museum and Textile field includes varied roles such as documenting museum collections, implementing preventive conservation measures, to display and coordinate exhibitions and workshops, etc. She has worked and traveled with leading textile experts on research projects, participating in international seminars on Indian Textiles, and contributed many research papers and articles. Ms. Parsai is visiting faculty at the National Museum Institute, NIFT, conducts public lectures on Indian Textiles, and is presently engaged as Museum and Exhibitions Consultant to TAPI (Textiles and Art of the People of India), a private collection of Ms. Shilpa and Mr. Praful Shah of Garden Silk Mills, and has been associated with it since its inception in 1997.

In her lecture, Ms. Parsai will examine the nature and extent of the Indian textile trade, function of Indian cloths that reached East Asian countries including Japan, and their influence on that region.