about ahimsa silk and silk worms

Ahimsa is a Sanskrit word that means non-violence.

Silk comes from silkworms, which are not true worms but the caterpillars of the silk moth, Bombyx mori. The baby silk moth eats only mulberry leaves and protects itself by spinning a silken material around itself, to form a cocoon. Typically, each worm produces 2.4 km of continuous thread.

When metamorphosis is complete and the moth is ready to leave its cocoon, it secretes an alkali that eats its way through the thread. For the silk industry, the alkali secretion stage must never be reached since it spoils the thread for spinning, as it is no longer continuous. To get good quality silk, the moth must be killed before it leaves the cocoon. This is achieved through heat treatment—either by suffocation with steam or by heating the cocoons in an oven. Only a small number necessary for breeding the next generation is allowed to complete the lifecycle. That is why, for the devout vegetarian, or for staunch followers of non-violence, the wearing of silk is a violation of their basic principles. (Srivastav, 2002; retrieved online from Terra Green).

Ahimsa Silk is essentially non-mulberry silk – made from inherently non-reelable eri silk cocoons and non-violently processed tassar and muga cocoons. Technically speaking, Ahimsa Peace Silk can be made from mulberry silk, but the mulberry silk worm has been so thoroughly domesticated that its moth has been reduced to a flightless mating machine. People generally assume that Ahimsa Silk is the same as wild silk. Incidentally, all wild silks are not Ahimsa silks and all Ahimsa silks are not wild silks. For example tropical tassar silk worms can only be reared on host trees in the open and spin their cocoons also on the trees, hence it is true wild silk; muga silk worms have to be reared on host trees but can spin their cocoons separately on leaves strung in enclosures, hence it is semi-wild silk; eri silk worms are domesticated and can be reared indoors on castor leaves and can spin their cocoons also indoors, so it is not a wild silk. People shy from adopting Ahimsa silk thinking it is more expensive. The cost by per gram might be similar but since Ahimsa silk is heavier, the cost of the same length of finished fabric might be more. Ahimsa Silk is as durable as reeled silk and boasts of better moisture absorption properties as it is spun yarn. You can visually make out the differences between reeled and Ahimsa Silk. Amongst tassar spun silks (ahimsa and non-ahimsa) - Ahimsa Peace Silk will have a more natural shade as no reeling waste is allowed to dilute its composition.

Tropical tassar and muga are shades of gold with muga silk being the most golden coloured, with temperate tassar being in between in terms of its golden hue. Eri can be from white to cream coloured. These silks can be further embellished by printing, hand painting, embroidering and can be blended with cotton, wool, jute and other fibers to create exotic fabrics. (Copperwiki, retrieved on line 5/26/07)

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