Silk, regardless of what the dictionary says, is not always tender, soft and delicate, avers Maneka Gandhi

A Silkworm Speaks
"We curse the day, between 2677-2597 BC when a Bombyx Mori cocoon from a mulberry tree accidentally dropped into a cup of hot tea that the wife of Chinese Emperor Huang-Ti was sipping, and unravelled its silky secret.

Silk for humans and 'kill' for us. No other fibre worn by humans is produced in such a cruel manner, and the deliberate or real ignorance of the brutal process keeps the consumer demand up, and therefore, our torture continues.

"Billions of us silkworms in the chrysalis stage are stifled by heat -immersed in boiling water, steamed, baked or roasted, electrocuted or microwaved, just to produce more and more reeled silk.

"If we make it to becoming female adults, humans clip our wings, making us flightless mating machines, so that we, in trauma, produce a greater number of eggs, and faster. Then we are crushed and centrifuged for you to examine our interiors for disease. If male, the luckier of us are kept in cold storage after we have mated, for 're-use'.

"This is our reality for having what humans covet."

Wear Your Silk And Be Non-Violent Too
Some silkworm species have successfully resisted humankind's attempt to domesticate them fully, resulting in the Wild Silk variety. In India, these are tropical Tassar, temperate Tassar, Muga and Eri silk moths.

The Tassar and Muga silkworms refuse to be 'stall-fed' by humans, preferring their own host tree. The moths emerge from the cocoon naturally with the onset of the monsoons and no extent of climate control can fool them into emerging earlier and producing more eggs - the ultimate aim of all silk technologists.


Enter Ahimsa Silk
Prepared by spinning the broken yarn of a cocoon from which the moth has escaped, Ahimsa silk does not kill the pupae to obtain unbroken reeled silk.

Project Ahimsa Wild Silk encourages the production of wild silk with the least amount of violence, and you, the consumer, have a choice:
• Of buying Ahimsa-spun silk products - less expensive than reeled silk.
• Of using silk. If you have been avoiding silk because of the cruelty aspect, now you have Ahimsa silk.
• Of better quality - the methods used by Ahimsa-spun silk retain the lustre and strength of the silk, as opposed to the chemical processes used in the traditionally produced. Tassar, which lacks shine and often has unseemly bands due to non-uniform processing.
• Of exclusivity. It comes from not only the label, 'Ahimsa Silk', but also from the project goals of developing unique textile quality, creating new varieties, and distinctive designs, along with top-of-the-line fashion designers.
• Of supporting the ecology. After making silk when the Tassar silk moths are released into the wild their natural breeding builds up, adding to the bio-resources of the Himalayas. Further, encouraging Ahimsa Silk will lead to widespread planting of host trees for the silk moths, and re-greening the drastically denuded Himalayas.
• Of promoting better strains of Oak Tassar silk moths, which have been undermined by excessive laboratory inbreeding that the healthy cocoon yield has dropped to less than half of the other varieties.
• Of helping a growing network of rearers, spinners, weavers, and artists, who earn their livelihood from Ahimsa silk.
Now you can look a silkworm in the eye while still looking gorgeous in silk...

About The Ahimsa Silk Project
Ahimsa Peace silk has been developed by the largest NGO in the country, People for Animals, whose Chairperson is environmentalist and animal welfare spokesperson Maneka Gandhi.

In the Ahimsa Peace Silk division of People for Animals, a large number of tribal weaver groups in Assam, Gujarat, Nagaland, Himachal Pradesh and Uttaranchal have been trained in the production of this kind of silk fabric. Reputed designers and professionals working in this field have provided the groups with the latest design inputs.

The constant interaction between the weavers and designers has resulted in the production of a wide range of Ahimsa silk products like shawls, stoles, yardage, garments, etc.

Traditional designs have been revived and adapted to current trends to cater to this new market. Production lines have been systemised to ensure a continuous flow of such silk.

Ahimsa silk's first large order came from the Khadi and Village Industries Corporation - the largest retailer in the country.

The products are tested in laboratories for its durability, content and colour fastness. On all the three counts, the products have been found to be more than satisfactory.