Kashmiri Embroidery (Aari and Sozni)

Aari Embroidery

Aari embroidery, executed with cotton floss using miniature awl-like needles, was once the mochi or cobbler embroidery of Saurashtra. Almost extinct there, the technique survives in Kashmir where it began to be used in the early 19th century to embellish shawls.

Shawls, for which Kashmir has been renowned for centuries, had become increasingly complex to weave, and expensive to buy, over time. By the end of the 18th century, they had generally begun to be woven in sections due to their complexity, and then joined together with almost invisible stitches by rafugars to cut down on production time. It is believed that an Armenian buying agent for a Constantinople firm, Khwaja Yusuf, who visited Kashmir in 1803, attempted to further reduce both production time and expense by introducing amli or needlework shawls.

The male rafugars responsible for joining pieces of woven Kashmir shawls together became embroiderers and, to this day, Kashmiri embroiderers are often men although women, too, now engage in the craft. Aari, which gives the appearance of chain stitch, is not the only form of embroidery practised in Kashmir; there is also Sozni, a form of delicate needlework which is generally thought of as true embroidery. Both forms of embroidery usually depict floral designs. In addition to being executed on woollen shawls, they are now executed on other materials and garments including on sarees.

The woollen material originally used to embroider on was smoothened using polished agate or carnelian; Kashmiri shawls were made of the fleece of capra hircus, a Central Asian mountain goat. The fleece of wild goats was considered to be of the highest quality and was called asli tus, although most shawls were made of the fleece of domesticated goats. The material was often referred to as Pashmina, derived from the Persian word for wool, or simply as Cashmere even though the wool for Kashmir shawls was not locally produced and had to be imported. Of course, with the decline of Kashmiri weaving, and the introduction of new materials upon which embroidery is executed, old practices are no longer always followed.

Kashmiri weaving also received setbacks with the development of Paisley shawls in England from the 1790s onwards and Jacquard-loom-aided Lyons shawls from 1818 onwards. Kashmiri embroidery, however, has adapted to new times and has survived the onslaught of mass-produced faux-Kashmir shawls.