Editing Muslin (section)

== Characteristics ==
=== Thin ===
Muslins were originally made of cotton only. These were very thin, transparent, delicate and feather light breathable [[Textile|fabrics]]. There could be 1000–1800 yarns in [[Warp and weft|warp]] and weigh {{cvt|3.8|oz|order=flip}} for {{cvt|1|x|10|yard|order=flip}}. Some varieties of muslin were so thin that they could even pass through the aperture of a lady's finger-ring.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Watson|first=John Forbes|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g2XL2CJewPAC&q=Malmal+%E2%80%8B(Mulmul)+(pronounced+muh-l+muh-l+as+in+mulberry)|title=The Textile Manufactures and the Costumes of the People of India|year=1867|publisher=Allen|pages=75}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite book|last=Balfour|first=Edward|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hVsIAAAAQAAJ&q=mulmul+uses&pg=PA830|title=The Cyclopædia of India and of Eastern and Southern Asia, Commercial Industrial, and Scientific: Products of the Mineral, Vegetable, and Animal Kingdoms, Useful Arts and Manufactures|year=1885|publisher=Bernard Quaritch|pages=830}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WC0v1PE5yzgC&q=mulmul,+that+was+so+thin+that+the+entire+saree+could+pass+through+a+ring|title=Indian Journal of Economics|year=1998|publisher=University of Allahabad, Department of Economics|pages=435}}</ref>

=== Transparency ===
[[Petronius|Gaius Petronius Arbiter]] (1st century AD Roman courtier and author of the ''Satyricon'') described the transparent nature of the muslin cloth as below:<ref>{{Cite news|date=2017-01-14|title=Legendary fabric|url=https://www.deccanherald.com/content/591475/legendary-fabric.html|access-date=2021-07-09|work=Deccan Herald|language=en|archive-date=9 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210709190045/https://www.deccanherald.com/content/591475/legendary-fabric.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
{{blockquote|Thy bride might as well clothe herself with a garment of the wind as stand forth publicly naked under her clouds of muslin.|author=Petronius<ref>{{Cite news|last=Gorvett|first=Zaria|title=The ancient fabric that no one knows how to make|language=en|url=https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210316-the-legendary-fabric-that-no-one-knows-how-to-make|access-date=2021-07-09|archive-date=10 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210710061655/https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210316-the-legendary-fabric-that-no-one-knows-how-to-make|url-status=live}}</ref>}}

=== Poetic names ===
Certain delicate muslins were given poetic names such as ''Baft Hawa'' ("woven air"), ''Shabnam'' ("evening dew"), and  [[Abrawan|''āb-i-ravān'']] ("flowing water"). The latter name refers to a fine and transparent variety of fine muslin from Dacca.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Weibel|first=Adèle Coulin|url=http://archive.org/details/twothousandyears0000unse_s3q7|title=Two thousand years of textiles; the figured textiles of Europe and the Near East|date=1952|publisher=New York, Published for the Detroit Institute of Arts [by] Pantheon Books|others=Internet Archive|pages=54}}</ref> The fabric's characteristics are summed up in its name.<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://archive.org/details/fairchildsdictio0000unse|title=Fairchild's dictionary of textiles|date=1959|publisher=New York, Fairchild Publications|pages=4}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=King|first=Brenda M.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vqua3eovs7kC&q=Abrawan&pg=PR16|title=Silk and Empire|date=2005-09-03|publisher=Manchester University Press|isbn=978-0-7190-6700-6|pages=61, xvi|language=en}}</ref>

=== Types ===
Muslin has several kinds of variations. Many of the below are mentioned in [[Ain-i-Akbari]] (16th-century detailed document) 
*''[[Khasa (cloth)|Khasa]]''<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Museum|first1=Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4yg-AAAAMAAJ&q=ain+i+akbari+khasa|title=Textiles and Costumes from the Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II Museum|publisher=Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II Museum Trust|year=1979|pages=XII}}</ref>  
*''[[Tansukh cloth|Tansukh]]''<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uO1PAQAAMAAJ&q=ain+i+akbari+Tansook|title=Khadi Gramodyog|publisher=Khadi & Village Industries Commission|year=2001|pages=88}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Congress|first=Indian History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kXlCAAAAYAAJ&q=ain+i+akbari+Tansook|title=Proceedings|publisher=Indian History Congress|year=1967|pages=243}}</ref> 
*''[[Nainsook]]''
*''[[Chautar]]''<ref>{{Cite book|last=Burnell|first=Arthur Coke|url=https://books.google.com/books?iddmcPEAAAQBAJ|title=The Voyage of John Huyghen van Linschoten to the East Indies: From the Old English Translation of 1598. The First Book, containing his Description of the East. In Two Volumes Volume I|date=2017-05-15|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-317-01231-3|pages=60}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Sangar|first=Pramod|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qkUaAAAAIAAJ&q=ain+i+akbari+chautar|title=Growth of the English Trade Under the Mughals|publisher=ABS Publications|year=1993|isbn=978-81-7072-044-7|pages=171}}</ref> 
*Alliballi<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://archive.org/details/fairchildsdictio0000unse|title=Fairchild's dictionary of textiles|date=1959|location=New York |publisher=Fairchild|via=Internet Archive|pages=15}}</ref> The name embraces {{Lang|ar|ā'lā}}, 'superior', {{Lang|hi|bhalā}}, 'good'.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Burnell|first1=A. C.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Mnl0DwAAQBAJ&q=J.+Taylor,+Account+of+the+Cotton+Manufacture+at+Dacca&pg=PR45|title=Hobson-Jobson: Glossary of Colloquial Anglo-Indian Words And Phrases|last2=Yule|first2=Henry|date=2018-10-24|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-60331-0|pages=706|language=en}}</ref>
*Adatais, a fine and clear fabric.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Montgomery|first=Florence M.|url=http://archive.org/details/textilesinameric00mont|title=Textiles in America 1650–1870: a dictionary based on original documents, prints and paintings, commercial records, American merchants' papers, shopkeepers' advertisements, and pattern books with original swatches of cloth |date=1984 |place=New York; London |publisher=Norton  |via=Internet Archive|isbn=978-0-393-01703-8|pages=143}}</ref>
*[[Seerhand muslin|Seerhand]] muslin was a variety in between [[nainsook]] and mull (another muslin type, a very thin and soft). The fabric was resistant to washing, retaining its clearness.
*and varieties of mulmul ([[Mulboos khas]], [[Jhuna]], ''Sarkar ali, Sarbati, Tarindam'')<ref>{{Cite book|last=Sinha|first=Narendra Krishna|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JF87AAAAMAAJ&q=ain+i+akbari+khasa|title=The Economic History of Bengal from Plassey to the Permanent Settlement|publisher=Firma K. L. Mukhopadhyay|year=1961|pages=177}}</ref> were among the most delicate cotton muslins produced in the [[Indian subcontinent]].<ref>{{cite thesis |last=Dey |first=Gouri |date=2015 |title=Fashion and Designing under the Mughals (Akbar to Aurangzeb): A Historical Perspective |type=PhD |chapter=Textiles under Mughals |publisher=University of North Bengal |chapter-url=https://ir.nbu.ac.in/bitstream/123456789/2751/13/13_chapter%205.pdf |page=87 |access-date=29 June 2022 |quote=Cotton clothes: 1. Khasa per piece (than) – 3 rupiya to 15 muhr 2. Chautar per piece – 2 rupiya to 9 muhr 3. Malmal per piece – 4 rupiya 4. Tansukh per piece – 4 rupiya to 5 muhr |archive-date=9 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220109190952/https://ir.nbu.ac.in/bitstream/123456789/2751/13/13_chapter%205.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Chaudhury|first=Sushil|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zdHVDwAAQBAJ|title=Spinning Yarns: Bengal Textile Industry in the Backdrop of John Taylor's Report on 'Dacca Cloth Production' (1801)|date=2020-03-10|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-000-07920-3}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last1=Bhattacharya|first1=Ranjit Kumar|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TBHtAAAAMAAJ&q=ain+i+akbari+khasa|title=Indian Artisans: Social Institutions and Cultural Values|last2=Chakrabarti|first2=S. B.|publisher=Anthropological Survey of India, Government of India, Ministry of Culture, Youth Affairs and Sports, Department of Culture|year=2002|isbn=978-81-85579-56-6|pages=87}}</ref>

====More variations====
Mull is another kind of muslin. It is a soft, thin, and semitransparent material. The name is derived from Hindi {{Lang|hi|"mal"}} which means "soft". Swiss mull is a type of which is finished with stiffening agents.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Thompson |first=Eliza Bailey |url=http://archive.org/details/cottonlinenthomp00thomrich |title=Cotton and linen |date=1922 |place=New York |publisher=Ronald |via=University of California Libraries |pages=70}}</ref>