Carpets and Dhurries

¤ Carpets

Carpet weaving is an important trade for the merchants of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Kashmir. You can also pick up Tibetan carpets with Buddhist motifs in Himachal Pradesh. Both woolen and silk carpets make excellent buys.


¤ Dhurries

Dhurrie, the poor man’s carpet, is suddenly in vogue all over the world. Earlier relegated to being an underlay for expensive carpets or sandwiched between the wooden frame and mattresses of a bed, it now occupies place of pride in many crystal-flaunting drawing rooms. These flat woven cotton rugs are made on primitive ground looms in the villages of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh (Agra and Fatehpur-Sikri), Coimbatore and Salem.


¤ Rugs

The people of Himachal and Kashmir weave the wool and hair of sheep and goat into traditional rugs called namdas (heavy rugs). Usually cream in color, Namdas are made with beaten wool and are later embroidered in bright colors.


¤ Carpet Weaving

Carpet weaving came into prominence during the Mughal era, when Akbar brought Persian weavers to India. The main centres of carpet-making were Srinagar, Lahore, Amritsar, Sind, Multan, and Allahabad. Delhi however was a centre for the production of Herati carpets (designed after the style of those made in Herat, Afghanistan) at one time. Known for their harmonious colours, the design of these carpets was kind of standard. The border was usually a broad band separated from the centre and edged on the outer side by one or two narrow bands filled with bold and conventional flower designs.