West Asia war unravels Kashmir-Iran carpet connection

Every time a missile strikes Iran, tremors are felt thousands of miles away in Srinagar’s Badamwari carpet cluster. 

For many artisans, the war has struck a personal chord—Kashmir’s famed carpets are named after cities across Iran.    

“I am a master of Kashan carpets, named after an Iranian city. My family has been weaving Iranian designs for ages now. Kashmiri carpets are incomplete without them,” said 67-year-old Haider Magray from Srinagar’s Hawal.

Kashmir has been competing with Iranian carpets for centuries, replicating unique designs associated with cities like Kermanshah, Kashan, Tabriz, Khorasan, Isfahan, Hamadan, Ardabil, Mashhad, Qum and Shiraz. Many of these major cities holding major carpet centres have been affected by the Iran-U.S.-Israel hostilities. “It’s painful to see the names of Iranian cities we relate to through our craft being destroyed. We pray the war ends and their craft bazaars are again teeming with customers,” said Mr. Magray.  

Each city of Iran has a different design signature—some are dominated by geometrical shapes and historical signage, while others are marked by floral designs. Kashmir’s carpet industry has been influenced by Iranian designs. The shared skills of dense hand-knotting have made Kashmiri and Persian carpets world famous. 

“An Ardabil design carpet woven by Kashmiri artisans and displayed at the Victoria and Albert Museum in the U.K. is a testimony to the relationship with Iranian carpets. We have been exporting Ardabil, Kashan and Tabrizi designs produced in Kashmir since our great-grandfathers set up the ‘House of Ali Shah’ in 1869. We have the design presets with us,” said Iqbal Shah of the Artisane Art and Cultural Centre. ”Many Iranian designs were improvised over time and renamed after local artisans, too, like Safdhar Kashan,” he added.

During the 16th-century Mughal period and the 19th-century Dogra period, traders from Iran considered Kashmir as one of their favourite stops to sell goods to mainly elites from the ruling class.

“During the Mughal period, Iranian traders facilitated the transfer of skills. Iranian traders may have even taken artisans to Iran for skill development,” said Saleem Beg of the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage.

Author Hakim Sameer Hamdani, who recently wrote about Kashmir’s Persian connection in the City of Kashmir: Srinagar: A Popular History, said, “One Persian trader from Mashad, Hajji Abid, died in Srinagar during the Dogra ruler Maharaja Gulab Singh. Iranian merchants like Muhammad Ismail and Muhammad Qasim Jan Khuqandi commissioned Quran manuscripts in Kashmir.”

The ongoing war has also cast its shadow on future collaborations between Kashmir and Iranian artisans. Last year, Srinagar was named the World Craft City by the NGO World Crafts Council. “There are 14 Iranian cities also listed as craft cities by the Council. We were expecting that the inclusion of Srinagar would lead to knowledge exchange. The war has also cast a shadow on that too,” said Mr. Beg.