Kashmir Shawls

Kashmir shawls

• The Persian word shal, from which the English “shawl” is

derived, originally denoted a class of woven fabric.
• Kashmir shawls were made of fine cashmere, pashmina,
and shah Tus wools, made from the soft hair of Tibetan
mountain goats living in the high altitudes of the
Himalayan Mountains
HISTORY & ORIGIN
 • Saint Shah Hamadan from hijri dynasty visited
Kashmir in 781 A.D during the rule of Sultan
Qutub – ud – din who patronised, nourished
and stimulate the craft.
• The origins of the industry is recorded more
than a hundred years ago, the founder was
Zain-ul-’Abidin. (A.D. 1420-70), whom historians
have called the Akbar of Kashmir.
Zain-ul-’Abidin was said to have introduced
Turkistan weavers for the purpose.

Early Buta on Kashmir

Shawl–Early 17th Century.
 • Emperor Akbar took many efforts to improve the
industry , he bought many weavers from Andijan
(Uzbekistan) & eastern Turkistan were bought on
emperor Akbar’s request to improve the quality of
shawl weaving. He also initiated trade
connections between them.
• He also motivated them to create new motifs and
Designs.

A fragment from 17th century

Kashmir shawl in the collection
of the Guimet Museum.
 Evidences
• Though the history of shawl weaving, the
first shawl found in the Ramayana and
Mahabharata and the Atharvaveda. The
shawl is also mentioned in ancient
Buddhist literature during the time of
emperor Ashoka.
• The earliest documentary references to the
Kashmir shawl industry appear in literature
of Akbar’s Ain-i-Akbari.
• Miniature paintings of Mughal court.
• Earliest fragment of border is in Jagdish
and Kamla Mittal museum of Indian art in
Hyderabad.
• 17th century fragments are divided in Calico
museum Ahmedabad and Victoria and
albert museum London.
• Late 17th century shawls in Boston
museum of fine arts.

Shawl from Jagdish & Kamla Mittal Museum

Fragment of shawl from Victoria & albert museum made during 1675-1725
End-borders of a shawl: loom-woven, Kashmir, early
eighteenth century
 Parts of a Shawl
Kashmiri and Persian shawls were made in
two forms: the dochalla or long shawl; and
the rumal or square shawl.

• Field - main central panel of shawl; can

be surrounded by gallery, hashia, tanjirs,
and pallas.
• Fringe Gate - different colored blocks of
woolen fabric, often embroidered with
mihrabs, forming the fringe of the shawl.
• Gallery - wide border, surrounding main
central portion (field) of shawl, and
separating it from the hashia borders.
• Hashia - side panel of flat weave textile,
typically woven separately and then
pieced.
• Palla - end panel of a flat weave textile.
• Tanjir (end border) - horizontal border,
located above and below the palla. Often
identical to the hashia.
COMMUNITY
PRACTICING
• Firoz Shah Tughlaq,
despite his puritanical
ban on figural silks
selected 12,000 of his
slaves to become
artisans.
• Muhammed Tughlaq,
in fact, is said to have
had one workshop
where weavers wove
silks, brocades and
possibly some shawls
almost exclusively for
the use of presentation
as khilat or robes of
honour.
• The Rajput kingdoms, the hill
states and central Punjab too
own production of
loom-patterned and
embroidered Kashmiri
shawls well into the early
20th century.
• Emperor Akbar established
100 karkhanas in Lahore just
for the weaving of shawls.
• Kashmir Sultan Zainul Abidin
invited craftsmen from
Andijan, Kirman, Khorasan
and parts of Turkey to
improve the skill-base of his
kingdom’s now famous
craftsmen.
• The social profile of a
typical weaver or
shal-bafs (shawl
craftsmen) in Srinagar,
as in Amritsar, would
be male, impoverished
and mostly Sunni
Muslim.
• Traders and employers
were usually Shia
Muslims.
PASM TO DOSHALLA

Miniatures shown on the

following pages have
been painted by Sumera
Tazeen, depicting the
process to create
wonderful art of
pashmina shawls.
COLOUR STORY
 R E D (gulnar)

• This was a crimson shade from the cochineal insect not

found in Kashmir but acquired from the plains, it was also
made from lac and kermes.
• The roots of madder plant provide an alternate range of
reds and pinks.
• Dark red and copper red were also obtained from the
rhubarb plant.

B L U E (neela)
• Blue was obtained from indigo, it was not grown locally in
Kashmir but was brought in from the plains.
• Turquoise blue was, however, made from an imported dye
with the addition of alum during the preparation process.
• To obtain a deep rich shade the dyeing process had to be
repeated several times.
 G R E E N (sabz)

• Green was obtained from boiling English

broadcloth.
• It was also acquired by overlaying indigo by
certain yellow dyes or by adding to the
tincture for the blue dye, some parts of
turmeric, alkabir and alum.
• In some cases green was also extracted from
grass.

Y E L L O W (peela)
• This shade was extracted from sunflower (for
pure yellow) and saffron (for reddish yellow).
• One concoction of yellow is alkabir, turmeric
and alum.
• Kesu, the flowers of the dhak, were used for
obtaining a greenish yellow.
 BROWN
(bhoora)

• The most often used source was extracted

from walnut husks, which made a good , direct
dye, though natural brown yarn was preferred.

BLACK
(kala)
• Green walnut shells are used to obtain an
intense, long-lasting black.
• Another manner of getting a good rich black is a
mixture of indigo and a fermented compound of
gur, atta and the refuse after iron is smelted.
• Logwood is used for acquiring black when used
with iron sulphate and copper sulphate.
DESIGN
EVOLUTION
THE EARLY MUGHAL PERIOD
(1675-1710)

• There is no ornamentation in the

field or matan or in between the
flowers. The main single flower
appears on top of a delicately
swaying stem that also carries a
few buds with leaves.
• The plant ends in a root.
• Design is much simpler
THE LATE MUGHAL PERIOD
(1710-1753)

• Blossoms appeared with

leaves attached to a
single undulating stem.
• The flowering plant
began to fill out within
an imaginary outline.
• Space between plants
was reduced.
• Trellis design appears in
matans.
THE EARLY AFGHAN PERIOD
(1753-1775)

• Natural plant forms were

beginning to get stylised.
• Floral species, both real and
fantasy-laden, were contracted
into a bouquet-like shape.
• Shawl pallas were woven with
elaborate hunting scenes.
• Some shawls had pallas as high
as 30.4 cm.
 THE LATE AFGHAN PERIOD
(1775-1819)

• The flowering plant

metamorphosed during this
period into a gracefully
tapering keri or paisley (shah
pasand).
• Shawls began to be
embroidered to simulate the
woven kani look.
• The striped or khatraaz design
entered the shawl repertoire.
• Kunj butas or corner motifs
appeared during this period.
THE EARLY SIKH PERIOD IN KASHMIR
(1819-1825)

• The tip of the boteh began to

acquire a sharp forked-tongue,
often splitting into three or four
sharp points.
• By the 1820s, tapestry shawls had
already begun to be woven in
seven different pieces to be later
sewn together by the rafugars or
darners.
• The doshalla concept was
stretched further to incorporate
the wearing of two contrasting
patterned shawls at the same
time.
 THE LATE SIKH PERIOD (1825-1846)

• New design elements came into palla

like, lotus, swords, meandering
hooked vines, flames, snakes, and
architectural forms.
• The outer fringes, the multi colored
ends were added on after the shawl
had been woven.
• By the 1840s, the palla has spread over
the entire shawl, leaving a small token
area undecorated, round, square or
star shaped.
THE EARLY DOGRA PERIOD
(1846-1870)

• Last mainstream design change

in the kani shawl with the
appearance of the swan neck,
elongated pasiley, the tip turned
into exaggerated curves.
• No section of the shawl was left
undecorated.
• Outer fringes were multi
coloured fabrics joined together
and had tree of life motif with
arches embroidered on it.
• The dorukhas begun to be made
in large numbers.
THE LATE DOGRA PERIOD (1870-1952)

• Near complete departure in the

styles and forms of decorative
motifs, the adoption of western
style floral scrolls, chinoiserie,
mihrabs and the ‘tree of life’ motifs
were more popular.
• Introduction of the tilla or gold
and silver embroidered shawls
that were made as wedding gifts
and nazrana or ritual offerings.
• Black as a base colour gained
popularity with deep burgandy,
deep turquoise, moss green and
shades of beige as well.
MOTIFS
• During its history Kashmir
experienced Mughal,
Afghan and Sikh invasions,
all of which left their
stylistic influence on the
shawl.
• Mainly seen motifs are flora
and fauna, hunting scenes,
parrots, peacocks, paisleys,
tree of life and many more.
Motif inspired from the metal craft.
Motif inspired from stone inlay at Taj Mahal.
‘Tree of life’ motif, carved on the stones.
Motif inspired from the evidences of paintings.
Embroidered
shawls
• Khwaja Yusuf an Armenian shawl
merchant was sent to kashmir in 1803 as
an agent of as an agent for a firm based in
constantinople.
• Yusuf realized that it would be quicker and
less expensive to imitate the woven twill
tapestry woven patterned shawls.
• He worked with a needleworker named Ali
baba to produce the first needlework
shawl, which he was sell in one third of the
price of woven one.
Kashmir shawl 1855 Wool with silk thread embroidery.
Kashmir shawls in
Europe
• Kashmir shawls had first come to
the attention of western travellers
in 17 century. By the end of 18th
th
century they had attracted the
fashion conscious in Europe.
• The bent tip cone motif became
know in Europe as Persian word
‘boteh’. Some European countries
started making less costly imitation
of Kashmir shawls.
• Empress Joséphine has more than
60 Kashmir shawls.
• Kashmir shawls were also
collected by wealthy
women in England &
Russia.
• William Moorcroft carried a
detailed survey of kashmir
shawls industry.
Bibliography
• http://www.academicjournals.org/journal/JLC/article-full-text-pdf/335B51B48753
• https://collections.vam.ac.uk
• The Kashmir shawls by Sherry Rehman & Naheed Jafri.
• The Kashmir shawls by John Irwin.
• Flowers , Dragons & Pine trees – Asian textile in spencer museum of art.