Kani Shawl: From The Woven Treasures Of Kashmir

"Your memories pass through the smoke rings of my mind, like the silken threads of a pashmina shawl, warm and timeless, insulating me from the storms that tomorrow's clouds bring." Kashmir is like a heaven on earth, as described by Jahangir. With beauty and serenity laced in every corner, the scenic beauty of Kashmir is spectacular to look at. Be it the architecture or the famous shawls, every single object has a Midas touch of royalty. Today, we would enter the luxurious world of Kani shawls made only for royal people.

Kashmiri artisan weaves Kani Shawl, woven from Pashmina yarn, at a village in Budgam district in West Srinagar city; Image Source: Photo by Sajad Hameed, Free Press Journal

Beauty of Kani Shawls; Image Source: Photo by Sajad Hameed, Free Press Journal

When the beautiful valleys of Kashmir saw the vibrant colors of Kani; Image Source: Photo by Sajad Hameed, Free Press Journal

Kani shawls are made with a Midas touch of royalty; Image Source: Photo by Sajad Hameed, Free Press Journal

Shawls are woven into elaborate designs with the warp flung across before the colored threads are put in on a careful, coded pattern designed by a skilled artisan. It's knitted with pure Pashmina wool in a natural, almond-colored foundation or cream with multicolored flower motifs for a stunning contrast. Kanis in other colors, including red, blue, green, and ochre, are also weaved.

Kani is a softer form of Jamawar, both long lengths of cloth intertwined in the same method. A basic Pashmina shawl takes a fortnight to a month to weave, but a Kani with all-over floral embroidery takes a year if two craftsmen work on it for 10 hours a day.

Jamawar comes from two words- jama meaning robe and war meaning yarn. Thus, these robes are made of the finest materials and given the softest texture as these clothes are worn mainly by royal families. The Pashmina wool used for making the Kani shawls is primarily obtained from a goat variety called Lena Rama. The thread obtained from these goats is usually white, black, grey, and brown.

There are numerous varieties of Kani shawl- Doranga, Dorukhi, and Aksi. The most loved and famous one of all these is Aksi. Aksi shawls have a theme embedded in them, one side of the shawl is filled with embroidery, and the other side is either left blank or filled with different designs. Kani weaving was on the edge of extinction just three decades ago for reasons ranging from a lack of weaving skills to a lack of demand for authentic, pricey, and handcrafted textiles.

Today, it's clearly on the mend, albeit it's still dealing with difficulties like mechanization, poor salaries, changing yarn quality, weaving skills, and forgeries. Today, the Kani shawl is registered under Geographical Indication, which means it would legally stop people from making dupes of these shawls and selling them under the name of Kani.

Only trained craftspeople are capable of weaving Kani Shawls correctly. Techniques and expertise have been passed down from forebears to future generations. Only 2,000 of the 10,000-odd Kani weavers are said to be alive today.

When I entered Imtiyaz Aslam's weaving center, located in Narayan Bagh, the vibrant colors around me evoked a feeling of happiness and awe. The lush green forests, the uneven and rocky terrains, the humongous walnut trees lined up near the brook, and men in pherans sipping the famous Kashmiri tea, everything I saw described Kashmir in its truest sense. Women were cheering with their beautiful voices and humming to the Hindi film songs as they posed for photographs while working on the Kani shawls.

The northern part of Jammu and Kashmir is quite famous for shawls of all kinds- be it Pashmina or Kani. The Kashmir valley is woven with all sorts of stories, but the Kani shawl is the fascinating one. Created by the most patient artists in the world, these shawls are filled with tiny, intricate patterns. Made with the finest quality of material, the price of these shawls has skyrocketed over time, and today, it is sold in lakhs. The most exemplary symbol of Kashmir's karigari, these Kani shawls are housed in some of the most exquisite museums in the world.

Wrapped around the snowy and undulated terrains of Kashmir, the origin of Kani shawls can be traced back to a small village named Kanihama. The production of Kani shawls in this village has been going on ever since the Mughal rule's inception. For the women in Kashmir valley, these shawls are the most priced possession and are indigenous. The emperors of the Mughal Empire mainly possessed these Kani shawls, and Akbar was highly fond of these exquisite shawls. He owned several shawls that he would often wear along with his royal robe during the cold weather. One can find the mention of these Kani shawls in the Ain-i-Akbari, written by Abul Faizal.

There is another legend behind the invention of these shawls. It is said that the Swats of the Mir dynasty established their power in Kashmir around 1340. The ninth Swati Sultan Zain-ul-Abidin actively promoted the arts and crafts throughout his enlightened reign. He is said to have imported various artisans from Turkistan, notably carpet weavers, to share ideas and improve the abilities of Kashmiri artisans. They taught Kashmiri shawl weavers how to inlay designs in the plain warp, establishing the groundwork for the multicolored Kani hand-woven shawl business. He is affectionately regarded as Kashmir's Akbar (the Great). This magnificent emperor is remembered by the renowned Zaina Kadal Bridge spanning the Jhelum and his Mother's tomb.

However, historians such as Janet Rizvi believe the art developed in Kashmir; there are allusions to outside influences during the 14th-century visit of Shah-e-Hamdan, a Sufi poet and influential Muslim philosopher from Persia who came to Kashmir. His followers included shawl weavers, carpet manufacturers, potters, and calligraphers.

The Kani shawls are primarily of two varieties- the needle-embroidered Sozini shawl and the loom-woven Kani shawl. Kani comes from small stick-like objects or wooden bobbins used like a spoon to weave these expensive shawls. The intricacy of these shawls sometimes demands more than fifty Kanis, laced with different colors, to obtain an intricate pattern. To achieve the extreme complexity of the designs, the weavers can hardly complete an inch of weaving in one day.