The complete object would have been intended for use as a garment, or to be made up into garments; clothing. Mashru fragment woven cotton and silk. MASHRU Muslim men are prohibited from wearing silk next to the skin. Mashru weaves adhere to this restriction by combining silk warps with cotton wefts, often in ikat designs as seen here. The cotton wefts are hidden behind the shiny silk warps using a satin- weave technique. The name mashru derives from Arabic, meaning ‘permitted under sharia law’. Silk ikat warp and cotton weft (satin weave) Tiruchirappalli (Trichinopoly), Tamil Nadu, about 1855 V&A: 7006 (IS) [03/10/2015-10/01/2016] Textile, mashru fragment, woven cotton and silk, Tamil Nadu (Tiruchchirappalli), ca. 1855