Pat silk

What is Pat silk?

Pat silk, often called white pat silk, is the mulberry silk of Assam. It comes from silkworms that people keep and breed, the domestic sort that has leaned on human care for thousands of years, unlike wild silk moths, whose cocoons are not a commercial source of thread. The yarn appears brilliant white as a rule, sometimes a shade off white, and it has a shine plus a tough finish. Assam's weavers put it into mekhela and chadar, the two pieces of the Assamese wrap, and into other cloth as well.

Where does Pat silk come from?

Silk rearing in Assam reaches a long way back, and the article credits the Tibeto-Burman Kachari tribes with bringing the craft there. Pat silk belongs with the mulberry silks, the same family as Mysore silk, which takes its name from the Karnataka district where much of that state's crop is grown. India's mulberry raw silk comes mostly from a small group of states, and Karnataka's share is given as about nine in ten of every fourteen thousand tonnes. Pat silk holds a Geographical Indication listing.

How is Pat silk made?

The caterpillar behind this silk feeds on nuni leaves, the foliage of white mulberry, Morus alba. That leaf is the worm's preferred food, and the thread it produces is white in itself rather than whitened later. After centuries of selective breeding, domestic moths of this type cannot manage reproduction on their own, so people handle that part of the cycle. The yarn is then worked into cloth. Finished pieces are dried in shade, not left out in the sun.

Colours, motifs and borders

The sources here say little about pattern. What they do describe is colour and surface: brilliant white as the norm, sometimes off white, with a natural tint and a glossy face that stands up to wear. Motifs, borders and pallu decoration are not recorded at all. The impression given is plain and bright rather than figured.

How Pat silk is worn

Pat silk is worn as part of the Assamese two-piece dress, the mekhela and chadar, and it appears in other textiles too. The mekhela forms the lower wrap and the chadar the upper one, and this silk is one of the fibres those garments are made from. The sources do not set out the drape step by step.

Styles of Pat silk

Set the mulberry silks of India side by side and much of the difference is naming. Karnataka's crop is called Mysore silk, after the district where it is mainly grown; Assam's is pat. The state has other silks as well, which the article gathers loosely as Assam silks. Wild silk moths, which are not selectively bred, are a separate matter and are not farmed commercially for thread. No handloom against powerloom comparison is offered.

Care and buying

One care note appears in the source: dry the cloth in shade rather than direct sun. Since the white is the silk's own, there is no dye to fade, but the shade habit still applies to the finished piece. No further washing or storage instructions are given.

What Pat silk means

Pat silk sits in India's Geographical Indications register, an official tie between the product and its home region. Behind that lies a long local history, with sericulture in Assam described as an ancient industry credited to the Kachari tribes. The silk is one of the state's named textiles and part of how Assam's silk work is understood next to the country's larger mulberry growing areas. The sources say nothing of prices, markets or present day earnings.

Questions people ask about Pat silk

Good reading and sources

• Pat silk on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• Wikidata recordOpen data