TAPESTRY FLOWERS
Early Masterpiece Shawls of Kashmir

The Technique
Often a tapestry-twill woven Kashmir shawl will have 150 warp threads per inch and some of the best have 250 or more. In order to utilize such fragile threads to create a durable and strong fabric measuring three feet wide by nine feet long, which was the standard size for a long man's wearing shawl, a difficult and laborious weaving process technically known as 2x2 tapestry-twill was employed. Figure 6 shows a schematic diagram of this weaving process and figure 7 a highly enlarged photo of a sample of finished shawl.

The most reliable indications for the origin of this technique to weave a fabric from wild animal hairs again points to Northern India. According to Chandramani Singh, the former curator of textiles in the Bharat Kala Bhavan Museum in Banaras, beginning in 600 BC there are numerous passages found in ancient Vedic texts mentioning Northern India as the place where woolen shawls of this type were manufactured and worn. But these references do not indicate what technique was used.

Later there is documentary evidence it was employed in this area and elsewhere. In the 11th century AD Kmesendra, an Indian historian, is the first to describe this process when he recounts a story about a teacher tapestry-twill weaving in his free time. But this early account is unique and no other ones appear until some 500 years later. Other references, circa 1200 AD, place its use in western Central Asia to produce a rare type of silk cloth. Somewhat later, it appears weavers in Persia also made silks with this technique.

The increased number of available references to shawl production and tapestry-twill weaving during the 16th century was apparently related to the final conquest of northern India and Kashmir by the groups of Central Asian tribes, known collectively as the Mughals. In 1586, during the Mughal emperor Akbar I's reign, all of northern India including Kashmir came under their suzerainty. From numerous written references it is known Akbar I visited Kashmir often, especially in the summer months to escape the high, dry heat in the low plains where his capital city Delhi was located. They also document the Emperor's admiration for Kashmir shawls and reveal his specific orders concerning innovations in shawl production, design styles and even how shawls were to be worn.