Burma

Taanisha Mann
FD Semester 5
11th September 2023
Textile and Design of Burma
The diversified people of Burma has made and worn a broad variety of exquisite textiles
for a long time. Throughout the years, they have served as inspiration for the works of
artists and authors in a variety of contexts, including votive temple paintings and the
accounts of visitors overcome with awe.
The colourful examples of these textiles that were taken back by travellers may be found in
the museums and collections of countries all over the world. Woven textiles continue to play
an important part in the process of creating personal and group identities in modern-day
Burma (as well as among the dispersed populations that make up the country). The book
"Textiles from Burma" investigates the history of Burmese textiles as well as its manufacture,
importance, accumulation, and current effect on the world. It investigates the use of textiles
in their respective local contexts, in legal proceedings, in religious contexts, and in the
service of national identity.
It investigates the histories and identities that are made and remade as a result of collecting
and documenting textiles from various locations. The purpose of the book “Textiles from
Burma”is not to provide a comprehensive analysis of Burmese textiles; rather, it is to
investigate the larger cultural settings surrounding certain textile traditions. The James
Henry Green collection of Burmese textiles and pictures will serve as the point of departure
for this study. This collection's strengths from the 1920s and 1930s, as well as its areas of
expansion in recent years at the Brighton Museum, serve as the foundation for complex
research of Burmese textiles. The study was carried out at the Brighton Museum.
Burma has long been characterised by the bewildering diversity of the many upland and
lowland groups who reside within and straddled across its borders. Each group has its own
set of traditions, mythology, language, history, and social structure that is distinct and
dynamic. All groups continue to modify and strengthen their perceptions of themselves, the
people with whom they interact locally, and their place in the larger world. Real and
imagined cultural differences between groups play a central role in these perceptions of self
and other, as well as the identity concepts that stem from them. Textiles and dress,
particularly designs that are increasingly self-consciously considered traditional, are
perhaps the most obvious visual manifestation of these cultural differences, and for some
groups more so than others.
Indeed, in the past and often still today, dress is used as a means to force people into rigid
ethnic categories that bear little resemblance to reality, in which groups are malleable and
their boundaries are muddled.
In addition, textiles, as well as other 'traditions,' were and still are frequently portrayed as
fixed and immutable, as opposed to the culturally and politically manipulable, dynamic
symbols they are. With the exception of normative descriptions in early ethnographic and
Textile from Burma

travel writing, very little has been written about the variety of Burmese textiles and clothing,
save for a few standard descriptions in early ethnographic and travel writing.
In the past, interest in Burmese textiles was primarily limited to museum documentation
and publications of objects that had been deposited in museums, primarily in Europe and
North America. The majority of Burmese textiles in these museums date from before the
middle of the twentieth century. The majority of these textiles were collected by missionaries
(particularly those now in North America), colonial officers (primarily those now in the
United Kingdom), anthropologists, explorers, and others (Europe, the United Kingdom, and
North America). Prior to the recent past, museum publications on any type of object or
collection, whether from Burma or elsewhere, did not explicitly place the collector and
museum within the "life cycle" of the artefacts in question.
The fabric used for Akha apparel is tightly woven, blue-black cotton. Textile production is
predominantly the domain of women. Traditionally, the Akha cultivated their own cotton
and created 20 cm-long turfs from the basic material. This was then placed in tiny bamboo
receptacles and attached to a belt, after which the cotton was drawn out and spun. Akha
females learnt to spin as young as six or seven years of age. Women of the Akha tribe would
spin thread while strolling to the fields.
Weaving is an activity of the arid season. In late November, after the harvest, the loom is
assembled: The Akha loom is comprised of a simple scaffold-like structure attached to
uprights in the ground, with the weaver standing in the middle and operating a foot treadle.
These primitive weavers are simple to construct and disassemble. The resulting close-
textured, 20-centimeter-wide fabric is dyed with the leaves of Polygonum tinctorium,
(myang in Akha), a low-lying shrub that differentiates from Indigofera tinctoria, the most
widely recognised source of indigo dye. Akha fabric must undergo up to 30 days of daily
soaking and drying in order to achieve its signature deep blue-black hue.
The Burmans have long been known for their fondness of garishly patterned, brightly
coloured garments made from locally grown cotton and Chinese silk. During the Konbaung
period (1752-1885), traditional women's attire consisted of the 'htamein', a rectangular,
ankle-length wraparound garment secured under the arms or at the waist. The upper band
of plain fabric was stitched to a broader central section with the primary design elements,
and the 'htamein' ended in a lighter-colored, horizontally striped section, with the surplus
gathered into a train at the rear. The front-opening 'htamein' was typically worn with a
breastcloth and a light-colored, tailored jacket (eingyi) made of muslin or quilted cotton. A
shawl (pawa) could be attached for public wear.
The 'pahso', a voluminous garment, adorned the Burman male in a similar manner. This
rectangle of fabric measuring approximately 4000 mm by 1500 mm was created by sewing
together two identical lengths. It could be worn either as a sarong with the surplus draped
over one shoulder or as a pair of breeches by passing one end of the cloth through the legs
and securing it at the waist when worn while working. Men also wore "Eingyi" for formal
occasions. A colourful silk or muslin headcloth pleated in various ways, depending on the
age of the wearer, completed the ensemble along with the open sandals worn by both sexes.
Such fundamental apparel was donned by all social strata. The quality of the fabric, the
complexity of the design, and the use of silk distinguished social classes more than the form
of the garment. Stripes and plaids were extensively worn in both cotton and silk.
The young favoured items with the boldest colours and patterns, whereas the elderly
favoured items with more muted hues and smaller patterns.On formal occasions, upper
Textile from Burma

class males often donned knee-length, semi-translucent jackets. Sumptuary laws restricted
the use of fabrics with metallic threads to royalty, high officials and tributary nobles, who
appeared at court on formal occasions wearing heavy gold and sequin embroidered coat-like
costumes topped with soaring headdresses.
Very few ornaments in Burmese art are completely devoid of religious significance. Even
simple woven block patterns typically consist of nine elements, representing the ancient
navaratna or 'nine jewels' motif. A single recording may contain dozens of block-motifs.
Typically, the blocks separate more intricate pictorial motifs. A few extremely intricate
cassettes contain up to fifty of these. The religious significance of depictions of stags, horses,
elephants, amphibians, fish, and tortoises is obscure. However, the majority of images depict
ritual objects associated with merit-earning actions. The woven text is itself a good deed,
preceded and followed by image sequences that emulate the ritual's phases. So, at the
beginning of the tape (Sazigyo), after some introductory block motifs, the first image is
typically a pair of sentinel nats or chintheis, the mythical bearded lions that flank the
staircase leading up to the pagoda platform. A nyaungbin sacred fig tree appears on the
recording, just as it does on the platform, where nurturing it is a religious act. The tape then
depicts a round bell with its deer antler striker and a kyizi gong and hammer, representing
the conclusion of active religious duty, in which the donor strikes a bell three times to invite
spirits and nearby humans to share in the merit of the deed. Next, a Nat figure carrying a
staff strikes the ground to appease the underground spirits and offer them a portion of the
credit as well. The final image on the cassette is the tagundaing, the tall flagpole topped by a
hintha bird, visible from a distance as the pilgrim approaches or departs the pagoda.
Historically, Naga textiles signify both group membership and individual standing.
In general, the motifs on the cloth are group-specific; however, Naga groups that reside in
close proximity and share migration and/or origin myths have similar textiles.
The Ao, Rengma, and Lotha Nagas wear a red body cloth with black patterns and a white
band in the middle with painted motifs, for example. The Ao, Yimchungrü, Sangtam, and
Khiamungan Nagas all wear a similar blue cloth with darker blue patterns. Cloth may also
communicate age, social status in terms of valour, wealth, and acts of hospitality within the
community (e.g., wealthy men's and women's shawls, the right to wear of which is earned
by hosting a series of feasts for clansfolk from one's own and adjacent villages). Textiles
frequently reflect the gender of the wearer: patterns for some men's and women's clothing
are comparable among the Angami, but significantly dissimilar among other Naga tribes.
Textile from Burma

Refrence:
Textiles from Burma: Featuring the James Henry Green Collection (Elizabeth Dell, Sandra H. Dudley)
Textile from Burma

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Taanisha Mann

Textile and Design of Burma

Textile from Burma

Textile from Burma

Textile from Burma

Textile from Burma

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