Muzamil Bhat

Punam Thakur

Editor

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It takes Fahmeeda Bano a month to spin enough thread for a
regular-sized pashmina shawl. Separating and spinning the fine, gossamer-like
wool of the Changthangi goat is an arduous and delicate task. The 50-year-old
artisan says she can expect to earn roughly Rs. 1,000 for her month-long
labour. “If I work continuously, I can earn 60 rupees a day,” she adds,
breaking it down. 

That’s a negligible fraction of the price the highly valued shawl
will sell for – anything from Rs. 8,000 to over Rs.
100,000 depending on the needlework embroidery and the intricacy of the woven
patterns.

Traditionally, hand
spinning of pashmina thread was done by women in between household work. The
low wages for spinners like Fahmeeda have led to a sharp fall in the number of
artisans willing to do this work.

Firdousa is another resident of Srinagar who used to spin wool before she was married and got busy
taking care of her family and home. Recalling her younger days she says, “Elders
in the family would urge us to spin, saying it would keep our minds occupied,
rather than indulging in gossip.” Her two teenage daughters don’t spin, as they
don’t find the time between their academics and household work. And then the
money isn’t much.  

Spinning is a part of Kashmiri culture, says Firdousa,
and refers to the link between the local delicacy, nadru (lotus stem)
and spinning: “Earlier women would compete with each other to spin a thread
which was as fine as the fibre in a lotus stem.&quot;

Unlike spinning, weaving of pashmina pays better and is
done by men who may switch between other jobs which pay more. Today in the union territory of Jammu and
Kashmir, an unskilled worker can expect a daily wage
of Rs. 311, a semi-skilled worker Rs. 400 and a skilled worker Rs. 480 a day,
says a 2022 J&amp;K state notification
on wages. 

A regular-sized shawl has 140 grams of pashmina wool. It
usually takes Fahmeeda two days to complete spinning 10 grams of raw pashmina
wool of the Changthangi goat (Capra hirecus)
that lives
at high altitudes.  Fahmeeda learnt the art of hand spinning pashmina from her
mother-in-law, Khatija. The women live with their families in a single storey
house in Koh-i-Maran in Srinagar, capital of the union territory of Jammu and
Kashmir.

Khatija is working on her yinder (spinning wheel) in a 10 x10 feet room in her house. One
room is used as a kitchen while another has a pashmina weaving workshop where
male members of the family work; the rest are bedrooms. 

The 70-year-old veteran spinner bought 10 grams of pashmina
wool a few days ago but has still not processed the lot into fine thread as she
struggles with poor eyesight. She had her cataract removed 10 years ago and
finds it difficult to concentrate on the delicate spinning. 

Spinners like Fahmeeda and Khatija first clean
pashmina wool by ‘carding’ – pulling it through a wooden comb to make sure all
the wool fibres are untangled and aligned in one direction. Then they spin it
on a spindle made of twisted dried stems of grass.

Making thread is a delicate and time-consuming job. “Two
threads are combined to make one single thread for strength. Using a spindle,
the two threads are twisted together and finally knotted,” points out Khalida
Begum. She is a master spinner from the Safa Kadal area of Srinagar and has
been spinning pashmina wool for 25 years. 

“I can make 140-160 knots in one puri [10 grams of
pashmina],” she says. Despite the time and skill required to do it, Khalida
Begum earns only a rupee for one knot. 

The price of pashmina yarn depends on the size of the thread
– the thinner the thread the more valuable it is. A thinner thread allows more
knots, a thicker one has fewer knots. 

“In every knot, there are 9-11 threads of pashmina which are
8-11 inches long or equal to 8 fingers. This is how women measure the size of
thread to make a knot,” says Intizar Ahmad Baba. The 55-year-old has been in
the pashmina trade since his childhood. Each knot earns a hand spinner between Rs.
1 to 1.50, depending on the trader. 

“A woman can only complete 10 grams of pashmina
wool [into thread] as we have other household chores to do as well. It is
nearly impossible to complete a puri a day,” says Ruksana Bano who is
paid Rs. 1.50 per knot.

The 40-year-old Ruksana says at best she can earn 20 rupees a
day from this work. She lives in the Arampora area of Nawa Kadal with her
husband, daughter, and a widowed sister-in-law. “The most I have earned for
weaving 10 grams of pashmina is 120 rupees for three days and I worked
continuously from morning to evening with breaks only for tea and food,” she
says. It takes her 5-6 days to complete 10 grams.  

Khatija says pashmina weaving no longer fetches
enough money: “Now I seem to work for days and earn nothing,” she says,
recalling how, “Fifty years ago it was okay to earn 30 to 50 rupees a day.”

The poor wages for hand-spinning pashmina workers are
because shawl buyers are not willing to pay the price. Pashmina trader,
Noor-ul-Huda says, “When a customer gets the same machine-spun pashmina shawl
for 5,000 rupees instead of a hand-spun one for 8,000-9,000 rupees, why will he
pay more?” 

“There are very few buyers of pashmina shawls that use
hand-spun threads. I would say only two out of a 100 [customers] ask for an
authentic hand-spun pashmina shawl,” says Noor-ul-Huda, 50, owner of a pashmina
showroom, Chinar Handicrafts in Badamwari area of Srinagar.

Kashmir pashmina has a Geographical Indications (GI) tag since 2005. Final weaves using both hand-spun and machine-spun
yarn are eligible for the GI tag, says a quality manual brought out by a registered body of artisans,
and cited on the government website.

Abdul Manan Baba runs a century-old pashmina business in the
city and has around 250 GI stamped goods – a very large number. The rubber
stamp on the shawl guarantees that it is pure and handmade. But he points out
that weavers prefer machine-made yarn. “The weavers are not ready to weave a
pashmina shawl from hand-spun thread because of its delicate nature. Machine
spun has an even thread and is easy for them to weave.” 

Retailers often pass off machine-spun for hand-spun. “If we
get an order of 1,000 pashmina shawls. How is it possible for us to fulfil it as
it takes a minimum 3-5 days to spin 10 grams of pashmina?” Manan asks.

Manan’s father, 60-year-old Abdul Hamid Baba says that
hand-spun pashmina is losing its appeal. He believes that the art of spinning
was a gift from Hazrat Mir Syed Ali Hamdani, a Sufi saint who brought this art
to Kashmir 600 years ago. 

Hamid recalls how during his grandfather’s time
people went to neighbouring Ladakh on horses to buy raw pashmina wool.
“Everything was pure then, we had 400-500 women spinning pashmina wool for us
but now there are only 40 women and they too do it because they have to earn.”

'I work for days and earn nothing'

రోజుల తరబడి పనిచేసినా నేను సంపాదించేది ఏమీ లేదు

‘பல நாட்கள் வேலை செய்தும் சம்பாத்தியம் இல்லை’

'ਪੂਰਾ-ਪੂਰਾ ਦਿਨ ਕੰਮ ਕਰਕੇ ਵੀ ਪੱਲੇ ਕੁਝ ਨਹੀਂ ਪੈਂਦਾ'

‘ଦିନ ପରେ ଦିନ କାମ କରେ, ହେଲେ ମୋର ରୋଜଗାର ଶୂନ’

‘राबणारे हात रिकामे ते रिकामेच’

‘ദിവസങ്ങളോളം ജോലി ചെയ്താലും സമ്പാദ്യമൊന്നുമില്ല’

ʼದಿನಗಟ್ಟಲೆ ದುಡಿದರೂ ಸಂಪಾದನೆಯಿಲ್ಲʼ

‘दिन-रात मेहनत के बाद भी मेरी आमदनी न के बराबर है’

‘હું તનતોડ મહેનત કરું છું, પણ કમાતી કાંઈ નથી’

‘बूता ऊपर बूता, धेला भर कमई नई’

‘खटनी दिन रात आउर मजूरी मुट्ठी भर’

‘দিনের পর দিন বেগার খেটে মরি’

‘দিনে-ৰাতি খাটিও উপাৰ্জন হয়গৈ শূন্য’

پشمینہ سوت کی کتائی میں اب پہلے جیسی بات نہیں رہی

Srinagar

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'I work for days and earn nothing'

Women who spin thread for pashmina products earn very little for this highly skilled work. A traditional occupation, it now has few takers among the younger generation

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