History of kashmir carpet

There are so many crafts associated with 15^th century when we talk about these crafts one such craft is carpet .A carpet is a textile floor covering typically consisting of an upper layers of pile attached to a backing. the pile was traditionally made from wool. The origin of hand-knotted carpet in the world can be traced back more than 2000 years. it was sultan Zain-ul- Abadin who brought carpet weavers from central Asia into Kashmir to train the locals inhabitants . sultan Zain -ul-Abadin introduce karkhans(factories ) for carpet weavers enabled the crafts to flourish. The weavers who came from Persia and central Asia were specialized in the craft because they were doing this from very early.

Emperor Jahangir time is considered a revival phase of carpet in Kashmir, after sultan Zain-ul-Abadin reign ,the lack of enlightened patronage resulted in carpet weaving gradually becoming extinct. An eminent scholar and saint Akhun Mulla Rehnuma revived the industry with the help of Ahmed Beg khan ,who was the governor of Kashmir from 1614-1618.it is said that when he came back from pilgrimage to Mecca he brought back tools of trade, imported skill and imperial patronage helped to develop the craft again during the Mughal period

The afghan period is considered one of the unsettled period of Kashmir history .In this period shawl and carpet industry collapsed and number of artisans left their professions, but the fortuitous development of the carpet industry during Maharaja Ranbir singh time (1857-1885) who led to an enhanced of carpet productions both in terms of quantity and quality, however the social status of the weaver did not improve. In this period an exhibitions which happen in great crystal palace London were two exceptional mughal carpets caught the imagination and apparition of west and create an awareness in west market. Suddenly Kashmir carpet industry saw a bloom because Europeans and other countries like USA Canada start importing carpets from Kashmir

In early 1920s Kashmir carpet saw a second set back due to the recession in the world which resulted the closing down of carpet factories in Kashmir the second world war and partition was the serious blow to carpet industries as it lost both internal as well as overseas market.

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