Silk workers in Banaras

Silk from Banaras has a huge prestige throughout the world which is deemed for a unique finesse and delicacy. It is traditionally worked by Muslims and sold by Hindus. One often talk about the finished product, it was legitimate to be interested in the silk process. Reality is especially hard to face: the silk is worked under conditions of another age. In the Muslim area of Madan Pura in Banaras, many shops crammed with men and children to work in the shadows of imposing looms in ancestral mechanism. Their working conditions in the dark, 12H per day 7 days per week for a 200 rupees salary per day (equivalent to less than 3 €) are archaic. Grouped by family, work by young children, Muslim weavers are the slaves of a commercial process which they benefit very few. Marketting is traditionally performed by Hindus who sale the silk all over India and overseas.