Most renowed of
kashmir handicrafts,the shawl has a magnificence unmatched by any
other fabric. The jamavar for its meticulous worksmanship and the
shahtoosh for its luxurious softness are the connoisseurs delight
the world over.Draped over the shoulders the shawl adds grace to
the feminine from.
Admired for past many centuries,the kashmir shawl was considered
a cherished acquisition at Caesar's court and was looked upon by
the Moughals as a mark of nobility and grace.The fashion conscious
Europe of the 18th and 19th centuries followed Napoleon's lead in
developing a peculiar craze for it.
Techique-wise, the kashmir shawl is of two main types-tyhe loom-woven
or the Kani shawl and the needle-embroidered or the Sozni-shawl.Kani
shawl, the variety earlier much in vouge,is woven on the loom with
wefts of the patterned section inserted by means of wooden spools-Kani
being the kashmiri word for such a spool.An intresting aspect of
the weaving techique is the coded pattern known as Tlim- a sort
of shorthand scribed by the Naqash or the pattern-drawer for the
guidance of the weaver in the selection of colour and number.
The needle-embroidered or the Sozni shawl which involves as lesser
outlay, though not lesser dexterity , is the brain-child of an Armenian
trader,Khawaja Yusuf, who came to kashmir in 1803 as agent of a
Constantinople trading firm. The embroidery is exquiste and is done
in a variety of charming designs. while the stylised Badam or the
almound is a dominant motif,sprays of local flowers,the Chinar leaf
and gay-plumaged birds also recur in embroidered patterns.
The stuff of which the finese shawls are made is the under-fleece
of a mountain goat (habitat:Ladakh and Central Asia) shed by it
while wintering on high altitudes known as Pashmina, this delicate
material is expensive as it is fine. A sperfine variety is Shahtoos,
which has been rejected to use these days because of some certain
reasons. |