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The shawl has been in existence in India in a variety of forms since ancient times, serving the rich and poor as a protective garment against the biting cold.
Though the history of shawl weaving is rather obscure, references to shawls are first found in the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and the Atharvaveda. The shawl is also mentioned in ancient Buddhist literature among the recorded inventories of woolen garments.
The word shawl is derived from Persian “shal”, which was the name given for a whole range of fine woolen garments. The shawl in India was worn folded across the shoulder, and not as a girdle, as the Persians did.
The shawls are worn and used as a warm protective garment all over north India today, Kashmir has become synonymous with shawls all over the world. At the time of Mughal rule in India, Kashmir overtook the North-West Frontier and Punjab, as the center of shawl making. The Mughal emperor Akbar was greatly enamored by the Kashmiri shawls and the way it was worn, folded in four, captured his imagination. He experimented with various ways of wearing it, and found that it looked good worn without folds, just thrown over the shoulder.
Akbar encouraged the weavers to try new motifs, and also started the fashion of the twin shawl, where two identical shawls were sewn back to back, hiding the rough edges of tapestry weave, and giving the impression of a single, reversible shawl. The royal shawls were richly embellished with precious metals and stones. Incredibly soft, and painstakingly crafted, few samples of these shawls have survive to date and are treated as priceless heirlooms.
Akbar’s successors too patronized the shawl industry in the valley, but the Afghan rule that followed the Mughal rule almost wiped out this industry of intricate craftsmanship. The Afghan governor Haji Dad Khan (1776-83) imposed such heavy taxes on the shawl industry that the artisans were forced to quit their professions.
