A vast variety of shawls is produced in India. The Kashmiri weaver is known the world over for the exotic pashmina shawls. Pashmina shawls are made of the finest wool, obtained from sheep and goats found in the upper Himalayan regions of the Kashmir valley, and have a luxurious, silly texture. The renowned shahtoosh shawls, now a banned item (on account if increasing slaughter of Chiru, an antelope-like animal from whose fleece the fiber is obtained; there are hardly 75,000 Chiru left), could pass through an ordinary sized ring. Shahtoosh and pashmina shawls are made out of the finest, lightest and warmest wool in the world and are a prized possession.

These Shawls are ornamented by embroidery or by weaving a design into the material. In the old jamawar shawls the design was either exquisitely woven, embroidered, or sometimes even both. In either case, the texture was the same and the difference could only be seen on the reverse.

The Kashmiri embroiderer takes great pride in creating reversible shawls that have an identical pattern on both sides.Pashmina shawls are adorned with intricate hand embroidery. The deft craftsman uses as many as 50 colours to create exquisite motifs of the chinar leaf, lotus, paisley and Mughal arches on a shawl. A single-thread satin stitch is the hallmark of a typical Kashmiri embroidery. The needlework on shawls is either yak-rukha (one-sided) or du-rukha (reversible), and is a cumbersome process requiring the dexterity of an experienced craftsman.

Embroidery, aptly described as painting by needle, is an aesthetic expression of emotions, rendered with patient labour.

It introduces grace and elegance into articles of everyday use. Indian embroidery takes its inspiration from Nature, and the products of various regions reflect their unique colours of the flora and fauna.

The chamba rumals or embroidered rumals of Chamba in simple stitches depict Krishna lila, ras lila, legends of ragas and raginis and other religious subjects. Outlines are made in dark silk, the body being embroidered in ordinary running stitch, with the gaps on either side of the stitches duly filled in.

Human figues, trees, flowers and architectural designs are mainly used as motifs, and the rumals often draw their inspiration from the miniature paintings of this hill state which now forms part of Himachal Pradesh.

ordinary running stitch, with the gaps on either side of the stitches duly filled in. Human figues, trees, flowers and architectural designs are mainly used as motifs, and the rumals often draw their inspiration from the miniature paintings of this hill state which now forms part of Himachal Pradesh.