Pashmina Shawls

Subject – Art and Culture

Context – New initiative in J&K to restore lost glory of Pashmina shawls.

Concept –

Pashmina Shawls are a fine variant of shawls spun from cashmere wools.
A cashmere wool itself is obtained from the Changthangi goat (Capra aegagrushircus) native to the high plateau of Ladakh.
Known for its soft features, the Pashmina Shawls himself had been a status symbol not just for the wealthy in Indian but even across the world.
Pashmina shawls gained much prominence in the days of the Mughal Empire as objects of rank and nobility.
Through the enthusiastic use by Empress Joséphine – the wife of Napoleon Bonaparte – the pashmina shawl gained status as a fashion icon.
Traditional producers of pashmina wool are people known as the Changpa.

Changthangi or Pashmina goat:

It is a special breed of goat indigenous to the high altitude regions of Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir.
They are raised for ultra-fine cashmere wool, known as Pashmina once woven.
These goats are generally domesticated and reared by nomadic communities called the Changpa in the Changthang region of Greater Ladakh.
The Changthangi goats have revitalized the economy of Changthang, Leh and Ladakh region.

Transhumance

It is a type of pastoralism or nomadism, a seasonal movement of livestock between fixed summer and winter pastures.
In montane regions (vertical transhumance), it implies movement between higher pastures in summer and lower valleys in winter.
Herders have a permanent home, typically in valleys.
Generally only the herds travel, with a certain number of people necessary to tend them, while the main population stays at the base.
In contrast, horizontal transhumance is more susceptible to being disrupted by climatic, economic, or political change.