Tussar silk (alternatively spelled as Tussah, Tushar, Tassar, Tusser and also known as (Sanskrit) Kosa Silk) is produced from larvae of several species of silk worms belonging to the moth genus Antheraea, including A. mylitta, A. pernyi, A. roylii and A. yamamai. These silkworms live in the wild forest in trees belonging to Terminalia species and Shorea robusta as well as other food plants like Asan, Arjun, Jamun and Oak found in South Asia, eating off the leaves of the trees they live on. Tussar is valued for its rich texture and natural deep gold colour.

Process

In order to kill the silkworms, the cocoons are dried in the sun. There is a variation where the silkworms are allowed to leave before the cocoons are soaked in boiling water to soften the silk and then reeled. Cocoons are collected which are single-shelled and oval in shape and are then boiled to extract the silk yarn from it. Boiling is indeed very important part in the manufacturing of silk as it softens the cocoon and makes the extraction of silk easier. In conventional sericulture, the cocoons are boiled with the larvae still inside, however if the cocoons are boiled after the larvae have left them, the silk made is then called by 'Non-Violent Silk' or 'Ahimsa Silk'.