Textiles of Ladakh

In Kargil, the woollen products are usually woven during the leisure time or while grazing the animals. Raw wool required for weaving comes from the indigenous goat and sheep. Sheep breeds like Angora, Bakarwal and Purgi fulfill the demand for raw wool. Jainamaz is a rug made of coarse sheep wool used to sit on while praying. Usually it contains a motif called mehrab which is supposed to be pointing towards Mecca, when the Jainamaz is placed on the floor. It is a couple of feet long and is square in design.

Full length robes called Gos and Sulma are the traditional attire of Ladakhi men and women respectively. Both of them are called Goncha.  In the local parlance it means ‘what is worn’. They are worn along with sashes called Skerag which are tied around  the waist. Gos is buttoned downwards from the left and overlaps towards the right side. It has a collar and slits along the sides. The unbuttoned round-necked Sulma is long- sleeved, and having knee length slits it gathers around the waist. According to local custom, often the main body of the robes is referred to as mother and sleeves as the child. 
The robes are made of Snambu, a commonly used woollen fabric woven locally , most of the wool for which is handspun. Usually, a combination of lamb’s wool and sheep’s wool is used to make snambu.  Where in the Changthang region it is women who do the weaving, in Lower and Central Ladakh weavers are all men. It is always woven in one colour, mostly white, black or grey. After weaving, the fabric is thoroughly combed and washed before dyeing. It is then cut and stitched to make the required garment. Apart from the kind of fabric or dye available, the colour of the snambu also depends on what colour code the customs prescribe. In the Gonchas, the cha-ga , a two inches long cotton fabric, is stitched as a border on the inside edge of the slits. The colour of cha-ga and snambu are in contrast by convention.

Lug Sgal

Men in Ladakh weave various types of bags to hold and carry items of daily use and trade. These are mostly woven using twisted goat and yak hair or a blend of the two. The most important of such things is the saddlebag, which consists of two bags with a common back. Lug-sgal is the smallest of such bags.  
 
The bag is made by stitching together strips of woven fabric. Each strip is about 12 inches wide, the measurement determined by the breadth of the loom. The weaving of strips is done in a continuous length without any breaks. Later the strips are cut, stitched together, and the edges are hemmed. Pieces of locally made felt or phying-ba are stitched on the lower edges to provide reinforcement. The length of a bag can vary, but the width depends on the number of strips that have been stitched together, each strip being uniformly wide.
  
Lug-sgal is made of two strips and is mounted on sheep and goats to carry grain and salt. Two bigger sizes are also made. The one known as rta-bra is made of three strips and is used on horses, while the da-sgal is made from four strips and mounted on yaks. These two are used for carrying wool and personal and household items. 

Each bag has a striped pattern called yud, made of natural-coloured wool. Each pattern indicates the identity of its owner (male weaver). The most common pattern is the ‘sheep-eye’ with two black or brown stripes with a white stripe in the middle. Other patterns consist of a single straight line or a group of three stripes. The designs are inherited by the eldest male member of the family. The yud is generally seen on the lug-sgals as they are the most widely used bags, especially used in activities such as salt collection, where many bags lie strewn around, and there is a chance of them getting mixed up.

Tsug Gdan

Tsug-gdan, is a floor covering or a carpet, woven by the womenfolk of Ladakh. 

Made from sheep or yak wool, the size of this carpet is usually three feet by six feet. Its upper surface has a thick pile. It is usually made of dark colours and is embellished by simple geometric designs. The edges of the carpet are either hemmed or knotted with wool. It is woven on a back-strap loom known as sked-thags. The loom is horizontal with the wrap lying parallel to the ground and the tension is controlled by the belt around the waist of the weaver. The loom is mainly crafted out of wood so as to afford easy portability, especially for the nomadic tribes of the region.

Over the years, instead of wool, acrylic and cotton yarns have started to be widely used. The thick cotton thread is generally used for the warp, and the acrylic yarns are used for weaving designs, as they are available in various colours. At times three equal strips of the tsug-dan are stitched together at the back and used as blankets known as tsug dul, usually measuring 190cm x 210cm.                                                   

The tsug-dan serves both practical and decorative purposes. It is mainly used as a floor covering throughout the year to provide warmth in homes, tents, and monasteries in this cold and arid region. They are also used as a sleeping mat or a rug to sit on while doing household tasks and as a saddle cover. There is a tradition to reserve the best ones for guests. People also use them as gifts or covers for furniture or car seats. Thus, with these varied uses, the tsug-dan has a ubiquitous presence all over Ladakh.