The Bengal Weaver Revisited

Kanakalatha Mukund The Company Weavers of Bengal by Hameeda Hossain; Oxford University Press, Delhi; pp xvii + 211, Rs 150.
TO students of Indian history, perhaps nothing exemplifies the impact of colonial exploitation on the indigenous economy as the decline of the Bengal muslin in- dustry, with the concomitant loss of a tradition of craftsmanship and excellence. This also marked the beginning of India's downward slide into dependence and underdevelopment, after centuries of having been a leading exporter in the international market. The explanations and analyses of the context in which these changes took place vary according to the orientation of the writer