CHAPTER XV
HANDICRAFTS AND MANUFACTURES
Handicrafts.—The chief handicrafts of the province are those of the weaver, the shoemaker, the carpenter, the potter, and the worker in brass and copper. The figures of the 1911 census for each craft including dependents were: weavers 883,000; shoemakers 540,000; carpenters 381,000; potters and brickmakers 349,000; metalworkers 240,000. The figures for weavers include a few working in factories. The hand-spun cotton-cloth is a coarse strong fabric known as "khaddar" with a single warp and weft. "Khes" is a better article with a double warp and weft. "Súsí" is a smooth cloth with coloured stripes used for women's trousers. A superior kind of checked "khes" known as "gabrún" is made at Ludhiána. The native process of weaving is slow and the weavers are very poor. The Salvation Army is trying to introduce an improved hand loom. Fine "lungís" or turbans of cotton with silk borders are made at Ludhiána, Multán, Pesháwar, and elsewhere. Effective cotton printing is carried on by very primitive methods at Kot Kamália and Lahore. Ludhiána and Lahore turn out cotton darís or rugs. Coarse woollen blankets or loís are woven at various places, and coloured felts or namdas are made at Ludhiána, Khusháb, and Pesháwar. Excellent imitations of Persian carpets are woven at Amritsar, and the Srínagar carpets do credit to the Kashmírís' artistic taste. The best of the Amritsar carpets are made of pashm, the fine underwool of the Tibetan sheep, and pashmína is also used as a material for choghas (dressing-gowns), etc. Coarse woollen cloth or pattu is woven in the Kángra hills for local use. At Multán useful rugs are made whose fabric is a mixture of cotton and wool. More artistic are the Biluch rugs made by the Biluch women with geometrical patterns. These are excellent in colouring. They are rather difficult to procure as they are not made for sale. The weaving of China silk is a common industry in Amritsar, Baháwalpur, Multán, and other places. The phulkárí or silk embroidery of the village maidens of Hissár and other districts of the Eastern Panjáb, and the more elaborate gold and silver wire embroideries of the Delhi bazárs, are excellent. The most artistic product of the plains is the ivory carving of Delhi. As a wood-carver the Panjábí is not to be compared with the Kashmírí. His work is best fitted for doorways and the bow windows or bokhárchas commonly seen in the streets of old towns. The best carvers are at Bhera, Chiniot, Amritsar, and Batála. The European demand has produced at Simla and other places an abundant supply of cheap articles of little merit. The inlaid work of Chiniot and Hoshyárpur is good, as is the lacquer-work of Pákpattan. The papier maché work of Kashmír has much artistic merit (Fig. 55), and some of the repoussé silver work of Kashmír is excellent.
Fig. 53. Shoemaker's craft.
The craft of the thathera or brass worker is naturally most prominent in the Eastern Panjáb, because Hindus prefer brass vessels for cooking purposes. Delhi is the great centre, but the trade is actively carried on at other places, and especially at Jagádhrí.
Fig. 54. Carved windows.