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Pashmina Guide
History of Pashmina?
It is hard to pinpoint the exact time when pashmina was first brought into use. It is a centuries old weaving art that has passed down through generations. Some historians put the date as far back as a thousand years. Wall paintings belonging to the 11th century Alchi Monastery in Ladakh portray shawls with fine embroidery work. Pashmina shawls in those times were the exclusive reserve of royalty. The Cashmere shawl industry got a fillip in the late 16th century when Mughal emperors supported the weavers in a big way. Rajatarangiru, written in the 15th century vividly portrays the Pashmina shawl, as also the fine fabric and designs used in that period.
Pashmina and other Cashmere shawls were soon to make a mark in England and France, courtesy Francois Bernier, who was the private physician of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb during the period 1656 – 1668. His vivid description of the fiber, designs, and the shawls had many in Europe eager to own them.
Pashmina, which is obtained from the soft underbelly and neck of Capra hircus, a Himalayan mountain goat, is known for its finest grade of wool. Pashmina shawls along with Kani shawls were highly popular among the Mughal royalty in the 18th and 19th centuries. Emperor Akbar too was known to be an avid collector of Cashmere shawls. In 1853, it took 30 artisans nine months to weave a Cashmere shawl for the Empress of France. Cashmere shawls had become a fashion statement in London and Paris with the fashionable in the early 1800s. Josephine, Napoleon’s wife was known to have a collection of around one thousand shawls. French designers had relocated to Srinagar in Kashmir to ensure that the designs were in accordance with the European fashion.
The defeat of France in 1879 war followed by general depression had an adverse effect on the shawl industry in Kashmir. The 1887-88 famine in Kashmir annihilated the population to such an extent that less than 200 weavers survived. However, the Cashmere shawl industry went through a tough time to gradually recover, and is now a thriving industry.