Kinnauri Shawls are widely renowned for the intricacy, finesse in weaving and elaborate geometrical designs from Himachal Pradesh. It is a blend of two weaves: A basic weave for the ground and body fabric and extra-weft for the design. The basic weave for the body and ground is twill. Twill is used in all its forms: Basic twill, pointed twill, herringbone twill and basket weaves. All designs are done on four shafts.
Kinnauri Shawl is known as Chhali in local dialect. Women wear chhali toproo (Shawl of designing pattern) whereas men wear plain chhali. Kinnauri Caps are used by both men and women. There is a green strip (patika) made of welvet on it. In local dialect it is called Thepang and flowers used on it is called Chaumoka.
Image credit: himachalgi.com
Many of the motifs woven have a special symbolic and religious significance. The colours used for ground are white, black, natural grey and brown. The main colours used for patterning are red, orange, pink, blue, green, yellow, black and white. Out of these five colours represent five elements—white stands for water, yellow for earth, red for fire, green for air and blue for ether.
Many a times, they have patterned borders running all along the four edges thereby increasing the labour involved and making Kinnauri shawls more expensive than Kullu Shawls. Most of the shawls for commercial use are woven on the frame loom, though the ones for local use are still woven on the pitloom. Here the weaver weaves it in two pieces of half width each and later joins them from the center with elaborate hand stitching.
Some of the common woven items from Kinnauri are
- Pattu – A woolen fabric draped by women like a stole.
- Dohru – A woolen fabric “saree” worn by the women.
- Shawl – A light woolen fabric draped around the shoulders and chest by women.
- Chaddar – A gents shawl.
- Patti – Local tweed used for coats, jackets and trousers.
In terms of placement of the pattern / design the Kinnauri Shawls are of three main types:
- Single Border: Kinnauri geometrical pattern along the both ends of the Shawl
- Single Export: Kinnauri pattern running across the four edges. It takes about a month to weave a single shawl.
- Full Export: Also called “Kinnauri teen (three) Patti”. These shawls have three Kinnauri pattern woven in horizontal stripes at both ends of the shawl along another pattern running across the two other sides. These shawls are the most prized and most expensive of all and it can take as much as 45-60 days to weave one.
GI Tag Registration Date : 04 August 2010
GI Tag Number : 149
Certificate Number : 125
Geographical Area : Himachal Pradesh
Special Cover Release Date : 25 December 2021
Cancellation : Reckong Peo 172 107
Type : GI Tag Cover
Cover Identification Number : HP/07/2021
Cover has embossed images of Kinnauri Shawl with Gold Foil borders and also a sample of the Kinnauri Shawl. QR code provided at the back side of cover.
Enlarged View of Illustration
Enlarged View of Cancellation
Back Side Scan
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