WHAT IS THE HISTORY OF PASHMINA?
Pashmina cashmere is spun from the downy undercoat of the Himalayan mountain goat which lives at high altitude (above 15,000 ft./5,000 M.) The Pashmina has been cherished through history not only for its renowned quality, beauty and warmth although more for its uniqueness. The History of yarn dates back to 300 B.C. But today’s craft of Pashmina was brought to Kashmir from Persia by a Sufi saint Mir Syed Ali Hamdani in 13th century A.D. He had a group of the artisan with him who taught the art of weaving different shawls, to Kashmiri soon-to-be artisans, out of Pashmina wool obtained from the goats located on the high Himalayas of Ladakh.
History also shows that pashmina shawls are also used during Mahabharata where it had been the most favourite of the emperors and Nobel rulers. Mughal Emperor Akbar is keenly fascinated in the pashmina fibre. They indeed started the embroidery on pashmina portraying the Mughal darbar. In the 18th century, Pashmina reached the shores of Europe and became an article of high fashion. The great French monarch Napoleon Bonaparte bought pashmina shawls for his wife Josephine. The empress Josephine is so impressed with the fabric of shawls that she is reported to have own hundred pashmina shawls. She is credited with making a pashmina fashion statement in Europe.
