Editing Muslin (section)

=== Decline under Company rule ===
During the period of [[Company rule in India|Company rule]], the [[East India Company]] imported British-produced cloth into the [[Indian subcontinent]], but became unable to compete with the local muslin industry. The Company administration initiated several policies in an attempt to suppress the muslin industry, and muslin production subsequently experienced a period of decline. It has been alleged that in some instances Indian weavers were rounded up and their thumbs chopped off, although this has been refuted by historians as a misreading of a report by [[William Bolts]] from 1772.<ref name="Bolts1772">{{Cite book |last=Bolts |first=William |author-link=William Bolts |year=1772 |title=Considerations on India affairs: particularly respecting the present state of Bengal and its dependencies |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=98lNAAAAMAAJ |publisher=Printed for J. Almon |pages=194–195}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Edwards |first=Michael |date=June 1976 |title=Growth of the British Cotton Trade 1780–1815 |publisher=Augustus M Kelley Pubs |page=37 |isbn=0-678-06775-9}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Marshall |first=P. J.|year=1988 |title=India and Indonesia during the Ancien Regime |publisher=E.J. Brill |page=90 |isbn=978-90-04-08365-3}}</ref> Many of the threatened weavers fled East Bengal (present-day Bangladesh) and settled in the eastern districts of West Bengal, these districts were famous for the cotton products of Bengal. The quality, fineness and production volume of Bengali muslin declined as a result of these policies, continuing when India transitioned from Company rule to [[British Raj|British Crown control]].<ref name="Bolts1772"/><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Samuel |first1=T. John |year=2013 |title=Many avatars : challenges, achievements and the future |location=[S.l.] |publisher=Friesenpress |isbn=978-1-4602-2893-7}}</ref>