Ranchi Tasar Silk Rearing Vanya Silk Jharkhand

Ranchi district's sal and arjun forest provides the host tree resource for tasar silk cocoon rearing, where tribal women and cooperative members of Oraon and Munda communities place tasar silkworm (Antheraea mylitta) egg batches on arjun tree branches in forest plots and harvest the brown cocoons after 30 to 40 days for reeling into raw silk thread. Jharkhand's vanya tasar silk has a natural golden-brown lustre and coarse texture distinct from mulberry silk, and the Central Silk Board at Ranchi provides rearing technology and market linkage for tribally reared tasar. Tasar silk fabric from Jharkhand, woven into sarees and dress material by weavers in Bhagalpur and Malda, is exported to Europe under fair-trade arrangements.