Naggar, Kullu, Himachal Pradesh
Woven in Naggar
Eleven weavers, pit looms, Kullu wool and the borders our families have always woven.
The pieces
Off the loom this season
THE WEAVERS
Eleven of us weave in the shed behind the old post office in Naggar, on pit looms our mothers used. The wool is Kullu wool, spun in the valley; the borders are the patterns each family has always woven, in the colours the valley has always dyed — indigo, madder, walnut. Devki runs the shed and keeps the accounts, and every piece on this page was made by someone whose name she can tell you. We sell from the shed, from a few homestays in the valley who keep a shelf of our work for their guests, and from this page. The price is the same in all three places; what changes is who hands it to you.
How it is made
From the fleece to the fringe
The wool comes down from the Kullu flocks in October, washed in the stream and carded by hand in the shed. Spinning is the winter's work: a charkha in every house, and the yarn brought to the shed by the kilo.
The dye pots are indigo, madder and walnut husk, the three the valley has always used, and a good indigo takes six dips with a day between each to oxidise.
The loom is a pit loom: the weaver sits at floor level with the treadles in a pit, and the border is picked in by hand, thread by thread, from a pattern that lives in her head rather than on paper. A shawl is four to six days; a cap's cloth an afternoon. The fringe is twisted last, by whoever is free.
From the bag
What they wrote back
और देखने के लिए स्क्रॉल करें →
Naggar, Kullu, Himachal Pradesh
Naggar: the old capital
Naggar was the capital of Kullu for four hundred years before Sultanpur, and it still looks it: the castle on its spur, the temples in the deodars, the Roerich estate above the road, and the orchards running down to the Beas. The shed is on Castle Road, ten minutes below the castle.
Naggar sits on the left bank of the Beas between Kullu and Manali, and was the valley's capital for four hundred years. The castle is on the spur above the village; the Roerich estate and its gallery are in the deodars above that; the temples of Tripura Sundari and Gauri Shankar are a walk apart. The shed is on Castle Road, ten minutes below the castle, and the orchards run from the road down to the river. Manali is forty minutes up the left bank, Kullu the same down.
Getting here 2 ways in
- Nearest airport
- Bhuntar (Kullu–Manali), 30 km, about an hour.
- By road
- the Delhi–Manali Volvo stops at Patlikuhal on the highway, from where a taxi crosses the river to Naggar in fifteen minutes.
Drive in and park on Castle Road below the shed; the lane above it is too narrow for a car.
पार्किंग
On Castle Road below the shed
When to come
The shed weaves all year and is open every day but Tuesday. Autumn, October and November, is when the new wool is in and the most pieces are on the shelf; the loom afternoons run from March to November, when the shed is warm enough to sit in.
Nearby
Naggar Castle
1 kmThe old capital's castle, five hundred years of deodar and stone, ten minutes' walk up from the shed.
More about this place Show less
The cafe on the terrace looks down the whole valley.
The Roerich estate
2 kmNicholas Roerich's house and gallery in the deodars above the castle. The paintings are of the mountains you can see from the veranda.
The deodar road to Jana
12 kmThe walk from Naggar through the forest to the Jana waterfall and the siddu stalls at the top. Three hours each way; take the tea.
Manali
21 kmThe old town, the Hadimba temple in the forest, and the market. Forty minutes up the left bank, past the orchards.
Ask about a piece
A size, a colour, a gift — write and we answer the same day. व्हाट्सएप पर संदेश भेजें.