By Porter Lang
Turn the border over. On a shawl woven the way a seller describes, the back of the pattern should look much like the front. That is one seller’s test, and it is worth knowing where the advice comes from before using it.
What a Kullu shawl is
Wikipedia calls it a shawl made in Kullu, India, known for geometric patterns and bright colours. It says typical shawls carry geometric designs at both ends, some have floral designs running across the whole piece, and a design can use up to eight colours. It lists yak wool, sheep wool and pashmina among the materials. The page carries a tag asking for more citations, and the sources it names are a Kullu Manali website and a 2008 journal article, so we treat it as a starting point.
The HEPC India website, an export promotion body’s page on geographical-indication handlooms, describes the shawl as named after the Kullu Valley in Himachal Pradesh and as having existed for about 200 years. It gives Kullu town as on the right bank of the Beas at about 1,230 metres. It lists the yarns as local wool, Merino, Angora, Pashmina, synthetic yarn, cotton and yak wool. Wikipedia’s list has no synthetic yarn and no cotton. A buyer should ask which is meant.
Loom and weaving
The sources do not agree on the loom. The export council says shawls are woven on traditional handlooms called khaddis, many by individual weavers in villages, with cooperative societies employing thousands of local workers. Bhuttico, a producer’s own website, describes a handloom worked with foot pedals and hand control. Its buying guide says authentic shawls are woven on traditional pit looms, a term the other sources do not use. Wikipedia says the shawls were woven and does not name a loom. We report the terms as given and do not claim that one means another.
Plain first, patterned later
Wikipedia says the Kulivi people originally wove plain shawls, and that craftspeople from Bushahr arrived in the early 1940s, after which patterned shawls became more common. It says the main garment before independence was the patti, woven for protection against the cold. Bhuttico gives a different start. It says a skilled weaver from Kinnaur came to Kullu in the 1830s and taught intricate weaving to local artisans, and cites no source. It then agrees on the 1940s for Bushahr craftsmen. The producer’s site adds that its cooperative was founded on 18 December 1944 by twelve weavers in Kullu Valley, a date that appears in its footer and not in its article. Three dates for the same craft: about 200 years, the 1830s, the 1940s. They are not exclusive, because they might be dating different things, but no source says so.
Colours and patterns
Bhuttico says the traditional colours are reds, greens, blacks and whites, and that yarn is coloured with “natural or chemical dyes”. It names no dye. It describes classic borders of diamonds and triangles, and gives meanings for named motifs, among them Chabi for keys, Dabbidar Kirk for a spotted snake, Guddi for a doll and Gulab for a rose. Those meanings are the seller’s and we have seen no second source for them.
What the GI entries say
The Wikipedia list of Indian geographical indications has two entries for the Kullu shawl, both as a handicraft from Himachal Pradesh. The original is application number 19, registered in 2004 to 2005. A second, for the logo, is application number 383, registered in 2013 to 2014. The export council’s page refers to a geographical indication and an enclosed map of the manufacturing area, but does not give a year. Bhuttico says the shawls received a GI tag and gives no year. Our reading: a GI entry names a product and the area it comes from, and none of the pages we read says that it guarantees the fibre or the loom. That is our inference, and we have not read the registry entry itself.
What the seller says to check
Bhuttico’s buying guide offers several tests, all of them the seller’s own claims. A reverse-side check: authentic shawls, it says, use a slit-weaving technique, so the back of the patterned border looks almost identical to the front, while machine-made shawls show long floating threads on the back. It says an authentic Kullu shawl must carry the GI tag for the Kullu region, and describes a Handloom Mark as a government certification that a product was handwoven. It says authorised users can be checked through “government registries” and does not name one. It says fakes are made on power looms outside Himachal Pradesh with designs printed or jacquard-woven, and that genuine shawls are pure wool while fakes use acrylic or polyester. The same page says Bhuttico’s own shawls carry both marks. The guide gives no independent source, and the seller has a commercial interest in the advice. We pass the tests on as questions, not findings.
Testing the wool
The export council says wool testing laboratories were set up at Kullu by Bhuttico and the Central Wool Development Board, Ministry of Textiles. It gives no dates and no test results.
Dates in order
- About 200 years ago: the shawl’s age, according to the export council.
- 1830s: a Kinnaur weaver teaches Kullu artisans, according to Bhuttico alone.
- Early 1940s: Bushahr craftspeople arrive and patterned shawls become more common, according to Wikipedia; the 1940s again according to Bhuttico.
- 18 December 1944: Bhuttico founded, according to its footer.
- 2004 to 2005: the GI registration, according to the Wikipedia list.
- 2013 to 2014: the logo entry, according to the same list.
Side by side
Wikipedia and the export council agree that the shawl comes from the Kullu Valley, and on the use of pashmina and yak wool. They differ on the yarns, with synthetic yarn and cotton in one list only. Wikipedia and the seller agree on Bushahr and the 1940s. They differ on how the craft began, and on whether the loom is a handloom, a khaddi or a pit loom.
What kind of sources these are
Wikipedia, which anyone can edit; an export promotion council, which promotes the trade; a list of GI entries on Wikipedia; and a producer’s own website, which sells shawls. The seller’s guide is the only source for the identification tests. We read no registry, no laboratory report and no independent buying guide.
Questions a buyer would ask
What is the fibre? Is it pure wool, or does it include cotton or synthetic yarn? What loom was it woven on? Who made it, and does the maker hold the GI entry’s marks? How can the claim be checked? We give no prices and no care advice, since none of the pages gives either.
What we left out
We left out the seller’s motif that names a country, and the seller’s certifications in its footer, since the page does not explain them. We left out the names of makers and cooperatives other than the one that is quoted as a source. We left out prices and the seller’s product range.
Roam first. Shop later.