What it is

Matka is a silk fabric handwoven in West Bengal, from yarn that has been hand-spun out of broken mulberry-silk fibres — specifically, the short fibres left in the cocoon after the silkworm has emerged naturally. The defining quality of matka is that the natural sericin gum — which conventional silk boils off — is left intact in the fibre. That is what gives matka its grounded, textured, slightly matte hand.

The word ahimsa is Sanskrit for non-violence. Conventional silk requires that cocoons be boiled with the silkworm still inside, so that the long filament can be reeled off in one continuous thread. Peace silk inverts that order. The moth is allowed to emerge first. The cocoon left behind is no longer one continuous filament — it is a cluster of broken fibres — and those fibres must then be hand-spun rather than reeled.

How it is made

The silkworms are Bombyx mori, the cultivated mulberry silkworm. They are reared on mulberry leaves, allowed to spin their cocoons, and then allowed to emerge as moths through one end of the cocoon. The remaining cocoon is collected. Spinners — almost all of them women, in clusters in Murshidabad and Burdwan districts of West Bengal — take the broken fibres and hand-spin them into yarn on a takli or charkha. Hand-spinning silk fibre is exacting work; a spinner produces perhaps 200 grams of usable yarn in a day.

That yarn is then handwoven on a pit loom into matka cloth. The natural sericin is never boiled out, which means matka retains a faint biscuit-cream colour even before dyeing, and a substance to the cloth that no degummed silk possesses.

The hand

Heavier and more grounded than conventional silk. The retained sericin gives a slight stiffness when new, which softens with wear. Matka does not slip. It does not shine in the polished way satin shines. It has a textured, matte, deep sheen — the lustre of silk filtered through the body of a coarser cloth. People who find conventional silk too slick almost always love matka.

Why it is worth its price

Peace silk is several times more labour-intensive than reeled silk. Hand-spinning broken fibres is significantly slower than mechanically reeling a continuous filament. Every metre of matka carries the cost of allowing the moth to live, and the cost of a human hand replacing what a reeling machine would otherwise do.

It is also one of the few silks that can claim genuine non-violence in production. If that matters to you, matka is a serious answer — not a marketing claim.

How to care for it

• First clean: dry-clean is the safest choice the first time, especially if the piece is dyed.
• Hand-wash: possible with cool water and a silk-safe detergent (never alkaline detergent, never bleach). Do not soak for more than five minutes.
• Never wring or twist. Roll the garment in a clean dry towel to absorb the water.
• Dry: lay flat in shade. Direct sun degrades silk and can yellow the natural sericin.
• Iron: press on the reverse with a cool-to-warm iron, while slightly damp, ideally with a pressing cloth between the iron and the silk.
• Store: on a padded hanger or folded with acid-free tissue. Avoid plastic — silk needs to breathe. Cedar or lavender deters moths.
• Perfume: apply before dressing, never directly onto the cloth. Alcohol stains silk.

Best worn as

Shirts, dresses, light jackets, kurtas, stoles. Matka excels in warm-to-cool transitional weather. It drapes more like a fine linen than a fluid satin, so it suits a slightly relaxed cut beautifully and resists the slipperiness that makes conventional silk hard to tailor for everyday wear.