cloth

We generally assume that ancient Indians wore white or mono colour clothes but this sculpture of Gupta period indicates that Indians manufactured multicoloured design printed textiles in ancient times. Rishi Gritsamada of Rigvedic era was the first who invented the spinner for extracting thread from cotton. Thus, Indian cotton industry has the history from early Vedic era. In fact, India used to earn tons of gold by exporting fine textiles. Romans used to pay equal number of gold coins in exchange with the weight of Indian textiles. When British came in the 18th century, India used to contribute more than 23% of world GDP. British increased the taxes and destroyed Indian textiles industry to promote their cotton industry. In fact, British wore only woollen or leather clothes before 1700 AD. When Indian cotton was introduced in Britain, their woollen industry suffered huge losses. Though British cotton industry was set up after 1700 AD but they couldn’t match the quality of Indian textiles. They gradually destroyed Indian industry to promote their cotton clothes. This was one of the reason why India’s share of world GDP reduced from 23% to 2% when British left India in 1947.