Sunday, August 30, 2015

Jammu & Kashmir is the most stunning portion in the South Asian area, which is full of widely varying people, wealthy culture and scenic geography. Administratively, these days, Jammu & Kashmir has a territorial dispute among 3 countries Pakistan, China and India. Pakistan controls the northwest portion (Northern Places and Azad Kashmir), India controls the central and southern portion (Jammu and Kashmir) and Ladakh, and China controls the northeastern portion (Aksai Chin and the Trans-Karakoram Tract). However, with no going into this occupational controversy, the men and women of Kashmir are popular in the world for their traditions, customs and hospitality. The Kashmiri men and women normally practice Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism and speak Urdu, Kashmiri, Pahari, Hindi and Ladakhi languages.

A Kashmiri couple in Kashmiri costume ( Sudarshan P's Image )
A Kashmiri couple in Kashmiri costume ( Sudarshan P's Image )

This is not feasible to cover the whole Kashmiri culture and tradition in a single report. In this report, we’ll try to highlight the dress culture of Jammu & Kashmir. The dominating religion of Jammu & Kashmir is Islam, so the Kashmiri Muslim community loves to dress up with “Pheran”. Pheran , the classic dress of Jammu & Kashmir is a extended loose shirt which hangs down beneath the knees along with a white turban tied on a skull cap, a close-fitting trousers and lace significantly less footwear referred to as Gurgabi.

Kashmiri girls wearing the traditional Pheran ( Image: Khurram Aziz Shaikh )
Kashmiri girls wearing the classic Pheran ( Image: Khurram Aziz Shaikh )

The Pheran for Kashmiri females is a lot more spectacular and graceful with the heavy embroidery and has broad sleeves. Pheran is regarded a combination of Indian and Iranian clothing. The Hindu Kashmiri ladies also use Pheran as their dress with a little distinction. A Hindu woman’s Pheran touches her foot which is tied at the waist with folded material named lhungi. Their dress is totally embellished with brocade which includes the head-dress named Taranga. The men’s put on for the Kahmiri Hindus primarily consists of Churidar Pajama and they use the lovely skull caps without a shawl.

A Kashmiri bride on her wedding day ( Image : Avinash Anand )
A Kashmiri bride on her wedding day ( Image : Avinash Anand )

For the Kashmiri Hindu lady or a Muslim lady, 1 thing is typical i-e the charm for the ornaments. With the splendid ornaments, the women of Jammu & Kashmir love headgears, arm glistens, necklaces and earrings. The additional ornament for the Hindu girls might be “Dhareejo” which is the standard mangal-sutra for them. As the women of Jammu and Kashmir are recognized the best for their beauty, the use of these variety of jewellery adds more plus in their magical look.

A typical Kahmiri Shawl prepared from Pashmina wool (Mohsin Khawar Photography- Pakistan)
A common Kahmiri Shawl prepared from Pashmina wool (Mohsin Khawar Photography- Pakistan)

The traditional dress of Jammu & Kashmir also includes the delicate Cashmere wool merchandise and Kashmiri Shawls. These Shawls are popular in the planet for the sophisticated material and exotic embroidery applied on them. The most precious of them are the Shawls prepared with Pashmina Wool which is also combined with the rabbit fur. Pashmina wool is obtained from the native Ibex that lives on the higher altitude on 14,000 ft. Similarly, the Shawls these are ready in Ladakh with Shahtoosh wool are also quite uncommon and regarded as extremely expensive. Shahtoosh wool comes from the Chiru antelope and today this is enlisted as endangered. So there is a ban imposed by the authorities on the trade of Shahtoosh.

A beautiful Ladakhi girl in her traditional dress (Ladakh - Kashmir) Image: slider_ss
A stunning Ladakhi girl in her standard dress (Ladakh – Kashmir) Image: slider_ss

In Ladakh, the popular Ladakhi dress is Goncha which is normally an ample robe of a thick woolen cloth and which is supported with a brilliant belt tied around the waist. The loose trousers are employed with Goncha and each the males and the females use this dress with a slight variation. As it is pointed out earlier, the most attractive feature is the colorful waist ( Kamar Bund ) and in the festive or ceremonial occasions the chromatic and showy robes are worn. The other attractive element of the dress of a Ladakhi woman is “Peark”. Peark is truly a headgear ready with the coating of black lamb decorated with turquoise stones that seems a cobra’s hood and tapering to a thin tail reaching down the back. Some Ladakhi females also put on one more robe recognized as “Kuntop” with  the additional attire, i-e truly a fascinating and colorful shawl and it is referred to as as “Bok”.

A group of folk dancers from Ladakh in traditional costumes (Photo: brij khazanchi)
A group of folk dancers from Ladakh in classic costumes (Photo: brij khazanchi)

The conventional dress of Jammu & Kashmir is unique in the entire Indian Sub-Continent as it comes from numerous cultural backgrounds. In the modern day instances, even though the use of the standard and classical Kashmiri dresses is lessened by the Kashmiri youth as they choose the jeans and shirt, yet in the festivals and in the wedding ceremonies, the use of the classic dress appears widespread.

A wonderful group of Kashmiri girls in traditional Pheran performing the Kashmiri folk dance ( Ramesh Lalwani's Image )
A wonderful group of Kashmiri girls in conventional Pheran performing the Kashmiri folk dance ( Ramesh Lalwani's Image )

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