Mysore, Nov. 13: Another feather in the crown of India's largest silk producing state, Karnataka, is coming up. The country's first silk museum is being set up in Mysore, famous for its silk sarees. The museum will showcase the entire history of silk in India and the entire process from cocoon to garment making.
The central government has already started silk tourism in Jammu and Kashmir. It is working on setting up another circuit in Assam's Topatali. While the state government and the center are popularizing silk skein and cloth in these two states, a museum will be opened in Mysore to showcase how silk thread is collected.
The museum will showcase the life of the silkworm from the pupa stage to how it is woven into cloth, said Dr. Mantri Murthy explained.
This will be a first and unique museum. A dedicated team is being deployed to work here. The total cost of the project will be known after the tenders are finalised. The museum will be set up at the CSB centre in Mysore, spread over 120 acres, he said.
To set up the museum, CSB officials have studied similar centres in China and Italy. They have also studied the best collections in Italy and 2000-year-old collections in China. Work has begun to collect traditional and heritage collections from all the silk-producing states and farmers to display in the museum.
The museum exhibition will show how to identify real silk. We aim to complete it in two years from the coming financial year. Old collections will be displayed here. The importance of the silkworm and details on how to identify original and fake silk will also be explained.
Experts and farmers are being engaged for this project. The project is being promoted by the Ministry of Tourism, said CSB member Shivakumar Periyasamy.
Sericulture was introduced and encouraged in the region during the reign of Tipu Sultan in Mysore. The primary sericulture producing areas include Chikkaballapur, Kolar, Ramanagara, Mandya, Mysore, Chamarajanagara and Bengaluru Rural. Later, it was expanded to many places. The report said that Karnataka produced 12,463 tonnes of silk in 2023-24. This includes 2,806 tonnes of bivoltine silk and 9,657 tonnes of hybrid silk.