Exquisite shawls of Kashmir

Shawls in the Valley are produced by two techniques—loom woven or Kani shawls, and needle embroidered or Sozni shawls. The price of each piece varies from Rs 30,000 to Rs 2 lakh, says Radhika Kaul

Over the centuries, the very word cashmere has become identified with shawls made in Kashmir, and the Kani shawls are Kashmir’s best cashmere. When, on Republic Day, 2009, a Kashmir shawl dealer was given a Padma Shri award (for the export of intricate Kani shawls) normally meant for the shawl artisans or karigars as they are called, it evoked considerable comment. But a check-up revealed that most of the elite in India were not aware of the niceties of shawl craftsmanship in Kashmir.

Kashmiri shawls are produced by two techniques—loom woven or Kani shawls, and needle embroidered or Sozni shawls.

Kani loom-woven shawls are also called tiliwalla, tilikar or kani kar, sometimes woven in one piece, but mostly woven in small segments, which are then sewn together with high precision and fineness. Sozni embroidered shawls are also called amlikar. In these shawls, elaborate patterns are created by working on the root of the plain pashmina with the help of a needle.

The earliest written account of Kani shawls comes from the Rajatarangiru of Srivara, a 15th-century Kashmiri text, that discusses woollen fabric with fine woven designs. The Ain-I-Akbari, an account from the Mughal period in Kashmir (1586-1752), states that Emperor Akbar was a keen collector of Kani shawls. The labour necessary to produce a Kani shawl, as for the Sozni shawl of the same size, is almost five times, and naturally the price is also five times.

Kani shawls are woven into intricate patterns using a technique in which the weavers throw the weft across, and then the design is decided, on the basis of which the different coloured threads are woven in. Kani is the Kashmiri name given to a wooden spool, which works most, while weaving a shawl on the loom. Weaving is meticulously regulated by a coded pattern, known as the Talim drawn by the Naqash for guidance of the weaver.

Kanihama, a village in western part of Kashmir, has monopolised the weave and trade of Kani shawls. The craft had died during the early decade of the century but got revived by the government and by private concerns in a small way. There are about 300 looms operative in Kanihama,, doing their best to keep the tradition alive.

Artisans of tremendous skill and patience go to the loom and create marvellous Kani shawls. An unbelievable amount of concentration is required for weaving just an inch of this shawl. An artisan cannot weave beyond an inch a day while being at the loom.

The shawl being oblong in shape, generally remains in l x2 metres in size. Two craftsmen can complete a shawl within two to three years, and in some cases the period of weaving even stretches to five long years, depending entirely on designs. According to Frank Ames, author of The Kashmir Shawl, the definitive book on the subject, in 1853, one Kani shawl ordered by the Empress of France took 30 men approximately nine months to complete. Only in 2006, the Government of India was able to get the geographical idenity (GI) for the Kani shawls, so that no other country, not even any other state of India, can produce these exquisite shawls.

This effort to obtain the GI was fiercely contested by Pakistan, which claimed that it also produces genuine Kani shawls in its portion of occupied Kashmir.

There are many varieties of exquisite Kani shawls, like the dorukha, double-sided shawl. The right side of it cannot be easily distinguished from the wrong side. There are also doranga-dorukha, which are double-sided and in two colours, the design on one side being reproduced in another colour on the other side. The finest variety of all, however, as the aksi reflection, in which the design is produced on one side by splitting the warp threads into half, leaving the other side plain or embroidered with another pattern.

According to trade figures, Kashmir produces Rs 550 crore worth of shawls every year. Out of this, Rs 150 crore worth are Kani shawls, employing 6,000 weavers, and Rs 400 crore worth are, Sozni shawls, employing as many as 83,000 artisans.

In India the price of a Kani shawl varies from Rs 30,000 to Rs 2 lakh, depending on the variety of the designs and material. There is so much faking of these famous shawls

in the metros of India that unless you buy from a reputed dealer, you can be sold the imitation one. For international travellers, the buying is easy, as duty-free shops in all major international airports sell these famous shawls with certificates of genuineness.

But the price is also higher. The shawls sell for $ 3000 to $7000 each, depending on the fineness of the shawl. Quality shawls from the 18th or 19th century in international auctions often command prices in excess of Rs 50 lakh.—MF

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