Eight years in the making, Kashmir’s magic carpet is a marvel
At least 30 people are required to unroll the intricate marvel, which weighs 1,685 kg and features over three crore knots; in the time it took to weave the carpet, 200 artisans returned to the traditional trade, overcoming several challenges such as the p
The famous Hazratbal dargah in Srinagar is attracting people for a rare spectacle this week — the washing and clipping of the largest carpet woven in Kashmir by far. The intricate marvel is 72 ft in length and 40 ft in width, weighs 1,685 kg, and features over three crore knots.
The rare attempt pits Kashmiri artisans for the rst time against their traditional Iranian rivals, who have already woven a carpet the size of a soccer eld at 60,468 sq. ft. The dargah provides a safe and large enough space for clipping and washing the huge and valuable carpet, which has taken eight years to complete and is likely to embellish a palace in the Middle East.
“At least 30 people are required to unroll the carpet. It would take 30-35 professional washers to deal with the carpet on a daily basis,” Zahoor Ahmad Shah, owner of Shah Qadir and Sons, told The Hindu.
Samples of water from the nearby Dal lake have been sent for testing to the Indian Institute of Carpet Technology, Srinagar. “We await the report to ensure the water will not harm the carpet,” Mr. Shah said.
Mr. Shah’s company received the order in 2014 and began working on it in 2015. “It was not an easy task. In between, we were hit by several challenges, including the 2014 ¦oods, the dilution of Article 370 and the pandemic,” he said. The carpet is woven in the Kashan style, a historic design of the Iranian city of Kashan.
The company had to hire engineers to remake a carpet loom at the Vailoo-Kunzar village in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district as Kashmir had no loom to match the task. Cranes lifted the carpet on to large trawlers for its transportation from Baramulla to Srinagar. “Each day, 25-30 artisans spent hours upon hours to accomplish the feat,” Mr. Shah said.
He said that around 200 artisans who had switched to other professions returned to the trade for this project. “The carpet industry is waning in Kashmir and poor wages are pushing artisans to other professions. I believe that projects like this can rekindle hope,” Mr. Shah said.
Kashmir, despite being among the leading carpet-producing States in India, has seen only slow growth in the sector due to the falling numbers of artisans. Over one lakh artisans are employed by the carpet industry here.
“Kashmiris have been weaving carpets for centuries. However, size has always remained a constraint. The oldest and the largest carpet from Kashmir continues to embellish the Darbar Hall of the Grand Lalit Hotel in Srinagar. This is a watershed revival moment for Kashmir’s carpet industry,” Mahmood Ahmed Shah, Director, Handicrafts and
Handloom Industries, Kashmir, said.