Indian Shawl Fashion Accessory

SHAWL: derived from the Parsian "shal", a finely-woven woollen fabric.

Shawl from India   

The prosaic definition belies the poetry of the shawl, the romance of this free - flowing mantle that wraps the body in warmth. For centuries, the shawl in India has had a tradition of versatility, of different shapes and sizes from large rectangles the length of a blanket to smaller squares and delicate elongated bands, a tradition indeed of the uses to which it was put. In the sophisticated courts of Northern India, it epitomised the luxury of the softest, sheerest wool, elaborately woven and sumptuously patterned. It could be worn like a scarf, wound around the head, or around the waist (patka) or draped about the shoulders to reveal the elegance of its floral designs. Large shawls were laid as carpets in the tented ebcompments of rulers or hung from their walls to ward off the rigours of     winter. In Punjab, at the brilliant height of his power, the 19th century monarch Ranjit Singh carpeted entire outdoor areas with shawls so that horses pranced on their matchless fabric. In villages scattered across mountains and northern plains, rough home - spun woollen shawls drawn from the fleece of sheep and goat warmed the chill of starry winter nights. Here too its uses were many: as blanket, as mantle, as head gear, as bedspread.

Indian Shawl in Wool Fabric

Indian Meditation Shawl

But say the word "shawl" and most people instantly think of Kashmir; the shawl and kashmir are

synonymous; and rightly so, for the finest of Indian shawls have always come from here. So towering is this tradition that it has overshadowed the shawls of other parts of the country. And yet, all across the north, each region has its own expressions, its own vocabulary of fabric and colour. And yet, all across the north, each region has its own expressions, its own vocabulary of fabric and colour. If the shawls of Kashmir represent a form of aristocratic high classicism, then those of other areas belong to the people, epics woven or embroidered with their stories, their dreams and the symbols most dear to them. The textures are rougher, but the colours and motifs carry an exuberant joy, as if to sing of the very affirmation of life itself.

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