Pashmina – a winter souvenir

Are you planning to buy something this winter? I am sure one has already made the list. Winter is coming! And it's time to prepare for the freezing months. The tendency with most people is to procure a number of warm clothing that are priced low. However the fashion conscious advise that instead of buying two or three clothes one can focus on buying just one even if it is expensive. Pashmina shawl is one such item on this list.

Work of art

Pashmina shawls one of the best hand crafted shawls from Kashmir have an age-old history. Weaving with the Pashmina fibre also known as pashm or pashmina originated in this state. The weaving of the Pashmina fibre was initiated by Sultan Zayan-Al-Abidin who summoned a highly-skilled weaver called Niighz Beg especially from Turkistan.

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The origin of Pashmina dates back to ancient civilization and has been traced back to the times of Mahabharata. Later Pashmina shawls found favour with emperors kings and nobles. This precious fabric was thus known as Fibre for Kings. The most authentic and original fibre is believed to have originated 300 years ago and only the rich and elite people had the privilege of enjoying this luxurious fabric.

“The Kashmiri shawls are always a luxury items from the time of their conception. Go back in history and one will find it was only made for the royal families,” informed textile designer Varuna Anand who was in the Capital earlier this month with an exhibition of exquisite handmade Pashmina shawls under the brand name The Splendor of Kashmir. Anand whose brand is a medium to encourage the art of shawl-making in Kashmir praised the highly-skilled craftsmen who tirelessly work on these impeccable pieces of drapable art.

Traditional method

The Pashmina fibre is obtained from the underbelly of the Pashmina Capra Hircus goat generally found and now bred in the sub-zero temperatures of the Himalayan ranges. It grows a unique incredibly soft pashm inner coat six times finer than human hair. Nature has endowed this delicate animal with this special fibre to keep it warm even at 14000 feet altitude in the freezing temperatures. These goats shed their winter coat each spring producing just 3-8 ounces of wool per animal.

The wool is very fragile in nature and can easily break if weaving is done on power looms. Because this fibre is only 14-19 microns in diameter and is short in length 28-35mm it cannot be spun by machines. The yarn is spun on a spinning wheel locally known as Charkha. It takes about four days to weave a single Pashmina shawl.

For embroidery the shawl is sent to the designer known as Naqqash who draws the design on fabric then sends it to the embroiderer. The shawls are then washed in the waters of Jhelum river to give it that ineffable softness. It is then dried in gentle sunlight and kept for a few days for the embroidery or the patterns to settle down. Then the shawl is ironed packed and sent to the market.

Designs

The Pashima shawls follow classic patterns. Weavers try to maintain the essence of the shawl-making by following traditional designs. Whether woven with patterns or embroidered it takes 9-12 months for a craftsman to create one Pashmina shawl. “While the technique is traditional we innovate in terms of the colour palette. So while most Pashmina shawls are in earthy or grey tones we've introduced vegetable dyes to create a vibrant colour palette for the woven Jamewar shawls,” said Varuna. “The embroidered shawls on the other hand retain the traditional motifs but we've added colour to the base shawl and in the threads.” Because of its high cost it is a status symbol and only a few possess this shawl.

“People in the north usually buy it for status but in south they buy it for its traditional art,” said Varuna from her experience of exhibitions in different states of India.

Government initiatives

Several families in Kashmir earn their livelihood only through making Pashmina shawls scarves and stoles. Government has set up a number of mills to increase the production of Pashmina shawls. While this is giving employment to a group of people it is also stifling the local weavers. The mills produce a larger number shawls in a short duration while the traditional weaver takes almost 9-12 months to create one Pashmina shawl. Thus shawls produced by mills are cheaper than handmade ones. As an initiative to save this art the government holds exhibitions.

“When you buy one shawl you encourage the work of the weaver and they are motivated to produce morequot,” pointed out Varuna Anand. By supporting one weaver she added you eventually support a whole family that is dependent on one earning member.

The present condition of the weavers is not so good since mainly because of the high price very few people can afford to buy this shawl. Earlier generations of a family were involved in Pashmina shawl-making. But now many of them are keeping their children away from this business as it requires a lot of labour and time but the returns are not commensurate with it.

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