The luxuriously soft and embroidered Kashmiri shawls have been worn from antiquity. Brinda Suri writes how they are, and will remain a prized possession
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| Kani shawl |
The uniqueness about handicraft is how it is representative of epoch, place and culture. When the three are seamlessly interwoven, that piece of craft becomes timeless. A remarkable illustration of one such contemporary classic is the Kashmiri shawl.
When temperatures in north India hover in single digits, shawls and stoles from Kashmir are draped in style. Almost every wardrobe usually has a splendid pashmina sozni (needlework, from the Persian term soz which means needle) hand-me-down, lovingly passed on from the grandmother, to the mother, to the daughter. Some of these are tremendously gush-worthy and almost always have a delicious story of how they became a prized possession.
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Papier Mache shawl |
Though the delicately-embroidered sozni is a must-have and in constant demand, choices in the Kashmiri shawl have increased over the past few years with lost techniques having been slowly, but surely revived in the Valley. Winters now mean flaunting the woven kani, the painted and embroidered kalamkari or the bold-patterned papier mache shawls.
Royal patronage
While the origin of shawls in Kashmir remains obscure,
the craft definitely goes back a few hundred years. Historical records dating
to the 15th century throw light on patronage provided to the embroidered and
woven craft by royalty, particularly the much-admired eighth Sultan of Kashmir
Zain-ul-Abadein and later Mughal emperor Akbar and his sons Jahangir and Shah
Jahan. There is a very compelling note on the splendour of Kashmir’s shawls by
Abul Fazl, one of the navratans, nine gems, of Akbar’s court and author of
Akbaranama and Ain-i-Akbari. In the latter work Fazl mentions how pashmina was
a luxury export article from Kashmir to many countries. It was Akbar, says
Fazl, who encouraged the development of jamavar, pashmina fabric woven in
running length so it could be tailored into the jama, the flowing tunic-like
dress worn by men in those times. These jamas were intricately embroidered and
sometimes in such a way that the base material was not visible. Overtime
heavily patterned shawls, whether embroidered or woven, came to be known as
jamavars.
A kani is considered to be one of the most complicated
weaving techniques of the textile world. Skilled artisans employ the double
interlock twill tapestry weave to create its distinctive patterns. Kani
literally means small sticks, and these are what construct the design. Coloured
threads are wound on the kanis which are subsequently used as bobbins that are
gently passed through the finely-laid warp and weft by the weaver. For a
complex design over a thousand such kanis can be used to build the pattern. So
painstaking is the process that in a day barely an inch can be woven. The
reason a kani takes almost a year to complete and commands a premium price.
Stunning Designs
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Sozni pashmina
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The kalamkari shawl on the other hand is lighter in work
but looks equally stunning. In a kalmakari, traditionally the entire design is
painted with a wood kalam, pen, after which it’s handed over to the embroider
who highlights the outlines and fills certain motifs to lend an embossed look
to the shawl. These days the digital printing technique is being ingeniously
used to make the coloured pattern and bringing down the shawl cost.
A vibrant play of colours and design is the
distinguishing feature of the papier mache shawl. They ape the painted patterns
of the papier mache art seen on boxes and other artefacts. A variety of
stitches is used on this shawl and what makes it stand apart from other sozni
shawls is the use of minute knots throughout the pattern which truly gives it a
painted papier mache feel.
The rich catalogue of shawls of Kashmir is an acknowledgment of the artistic talents of the Valley. Where once only men were involved in the arts, now women too, are being trained in all forms of embroidery. Women putting down their signature designs on the embroidered classics is a sign of the changing times.
Published in Deccan Herald, March 2020
Read more at: https://www.deccanherald.com/sunday-herald/sunday-herald-melange/draped-in-warmth-813301.html
