The Rise and Decline of Kashmir's Craft Economy

A 19th-20th Century Perspective

Abstract

This article explores the intricate history of Kashmir's craft and textile industry, focusing on its cyclical phases of prosperity and decline. Renowned globally for its exquisite shawls, the industry played a vital economic role for the state, leaving its artisans marginalised. Factors such as natural disasters, shifting governance policies, global market dynamics, and colonial interventions profoundly influenced the trajectory of Kashmir's crafts. While European and American fashion trends significantly impacted the demand for Kashmiri shawls, this narrative often overshadows the critical role of regional political and economic conditions. Throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, colonialism, rivalry among global powers, and shifting trade networks significantly challenged the well-established commerce and the leading traditional industries. Despite these challenges, efforts in the post-independence era to revive Kashmir’s crafts—through government initiatives, GI tagging, and artisan cooperatives—underscore this sector's cultural and economic importance. In this background, the essay highlights the resilience of Kashmir's artisans and crafts, which have survived adverse conditions and remain integral to the region’s cultural identity. It adopts a historical approach by drawing on a range of primary sources, including colonial gazetteers, travel accounts, administrative records and census data from the 19th and 20th centuries, alongside existing secondary literature.