BY AUTAR MOTA
Pashmina Kani Shawl has been a luxury since second half 17th century. It was in great demand by the royals and the elite in Asia and Europe.
The Pashmina ( soft wool ) for a Kani Shawl comes from a special goat known as Changthangi and found in Tibet and Ladakh. The shawl is woven on traditional looms but instead of a shuttle , wooden Kanis ( needless ) are used to weave and create intricate designs that are already documented.
The documented design for making a Kani shawl is known as Taleem. Taleem is written on a paper . The design is also drawn on a graph paper which is filled with desired colours.The weaver keeps the graph paper and the Taleem before him while weaving a Kani Shawl .
The weaver recites the Taleem or a helper recites the same to him that directs him to use particular colour of the thread wrapped on the wooden needle for the design. The Taalim is recited as under:-
“Four red, two yellow , six blue… ..Six white , two green , eight pink… “
Something like this is continuously heard at the loom. Number over here means the number of times a particular coloured thread is to be used .The weaver keeps his eye on the graph paper as well to see the pattern or design coming up in the shawl. A skilled weaver can weave a length of one inch at the most. Accordingly, a Kani shawl takes many months on the loom.
Previously Kani shawls were produced mostly in Kanihama, Batpora, Kashmir . Now, these shawls are woven at many places in the Kashmir valley.
Presently machine made Kani shawls are flooding the market. A good semi Pashmina machine made Kani shawl may cost between 7000 to 15000 rupees while a handmade Kani shawl may go upto rupees 2lakhs . by the machine while it takes many months to produce one handmade Kani shawl.I have seen a Kani saree created by machines. Though imitation, the machine made Kani shawls also look beautiful .
Buying original handmade Kani Pashmina Shawl is a job that needs some skill and expertise. One needs to know many things about Raffal cloth, semi Pashmina cloth and pure Pashmina cloth. One also needs to be expert to distinguish between machine weaving and handloom weaving apart from texture , designs and patterns from Kanihama , the place in Kashmir where Kani Shawl industry was localised. For a layman, it is very difficult to distinguish between genuine and fake or handmade and machine made Kani Shawl. A Raffal Kani design shawl made on a machine can cost as low as 1200 to 2000 rupees. Similarly machine made semi Pashmina( Raffal mixed with Pashmina ) Kani design Shawl may cost between 7000 to rupees 15000 or even less. Pashmina mixing adds to the cost . One needs to be well informed about every aspect of Shawl making to make a good purchase . Machine made Kani Shawls come mostly from Ludhiana in Punjab though some are lately being manufactured in Amritsar as well.
In 2009, Kashmir’s Kani Shawl got the Geographical Indication (GI) status that would legally prohibit people from selling the drapes made at other places under the same name.
Kashmiri Kani shawls were gifted as KHILAT by Mughal kings . The practice was also followed by Maharaja Ranjit Singh and many other rulers of the Indian states.
In 1776, Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte presented his wife Josephine with a Kashmiri Kani shawl. Many handmade Kani shawls of Kashmir are on display in museums the world over.
Let me conclude this mini post with poem “Sonzal Rangan Haenz” or “A Rainbow of Colours ” written by Kashmiri poet Syed Rasool Pompur.I love the poem and have rendered it to simple English for Friends who don’t know Kashmiri.
(A Rainbow of Colours)
“ A festival of the spring season,
The bright dazzle of endless tulips,
And this lonely plough in our field,
As if in the bosom of the spring breeze,
Someone has thrust it painfully.
The spinning wheel of our time and fate is also tired now,
Weaving this white,
this green, this yellow,
this red Pashmina ,
weaving and joining these faded colours .
This sword of this half moon too broke and fell apart,
That morning star too fell to the ground,
Don’t look towards that cloudless blue sky,
From that sky , only hail storms pour down
on the roofs of our beliefs now.
What shall you see by joining these pieces of broken mirror ?
Nothing, except your own innumerable
distorted faces .
Looking at this colourful rainbow of hopes ,
Don’t say that the sick has recovered now..”
Autar Mota is a noted writer and writes for various state and national papers.
