A hand-book of Indian products : art manufactures and raw materials / [T. N. Mukharji].

  • Mukharji, T. N.
Date:
1883
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A hand-book of Indian products : art manufactures and raw materials / [T. N. Mukharji]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    41/198 (page 29)
    As mentioned above, in shawls the embroidery is either done by hand or the patterns are woven. The former is known as the amlikar, and the latter linaut. The manufacture of shawls is confined to the Kashmiri settlers in the towns of Amritsar, Ludhiana, Jalalpur in the Gujrat district, Dinanagar in the Gurd^spur district, Nurpur, and Tilok Nath in the Kangra District. But the chief emporium of the shawl trade is Amritsar, the manufactures of which place approach nearest in excellence to those of Kashmir. As in the case of other Indian arts, the quality of this great branch of embroidery has greatly deteriorated in late years. In this practical age, when luxury has been made cheap all around, it would have been a matter of wonder, if the shawl industry had not suffered in consequence. For some time the principal customers of the Amritsar shawls have been the French merchants, and their orders are for cheap fabrics. The hands which formerly disdained to tamper with the true art have, for want of bread, been taught to turn out the most inferior stuffs, and the result of a continued practice in this direction would have been simply disastrous, had not the revival of love of beauty taken place in European minds at the most critical time. In needle work silk thread is chiefly used, but gold and silver threads are also used in the valuable fabrics. The latter work is known as the kaUibatun. No fair idea can be given of the prices at which shawls are sold. It all depends upon the nature and excellence of the work. The prices of ordinary articles sold in the market, plain or embroidered, may be stated as follows:—A ladv’s dress con- sisting of a piece of Alwan, 12 yards by 54* inches with four pieces of needle work bordering, Rs. 140 to Rs. 200; a pair of shawls Rs. 50 to Rs. 500; a scarf Rs. 3 ; a malida cap Re. 1 ; a] shawl choga Rs. 65 to Rs. 185 ; a malida choga Rs. 18 to Rs. 50 ; a braided cloak Rs. 18 to Rs 40 ; borders per yard, Rs. 1-12 to Rs. 6. Gold embroideryf similar to that made at Benares and