Tat Patti ( Tat pati) is an indigenous floor cover of narrow width made of coarse Jute. It was produced in Punjab region.[1][2] Tat patti was utilized as seating for students in government schools[3] and provided to inmates in jail as well.[4] It is still in use in rural India.[5][6][7][8]
History
Tat Patti is made since the times of Mughals; a 17th-century French gem merchant and traveler Jean-Baptiste Tavernier mentions Tat made of Jute in his travel history to India.[9]
Product
Tat Patti is a handloom product of carpet weaving, and it is a narrow width carpet of Jute or hemp, similar to a long narrow mat, rug, or cheap coarse carpet. The texture of the cloth is similar to a gunny sack used for bagging.[1] Tat weaving was also present in parts of Gujarat. Carpet weavers were stitching pieces together after weaving them in small pieces. (The sizes were 9 yards X 8 inches).[10]
Manufacturing
Manufacturing Tat Patti was common in villages and rural Punjab. Tat weaving was one of the crafts in Punjab jails. Prisoners were used to weaving Tat Patti along with other coarse cotton cloths during their term in prisons.[2]
Tat Patti was a well-accepted arrangement of sitting in schools.[12] As a floor cover, floor mat, and a cheap carpet to cover and sitting purpose.[1][5][6]
^''Tat or Tànt^ perhaps, i.e, the fibre known as jute, with which gunny bags are made. It is produced by Corchorus capsularis (Linn). Or it may be that this refers to the coarser kinds of cotton, or to hemp, such as the so-called Deccani hemp produced by Hibiscus cannabinus''
Page number 262 Travels in Indiaby Tavernier, Jean-Baptiste, 1605-1689; Ball, V. (Valentine), 1843-1895, tr