Arts & Crafts
There
is little tradition of artistic craftsmanship in Ladakh, most luxury articles
inthe past having been obtained through imports. The exception isthe village
of Chiling, about 19km up the Zanskar river from Nima.
Here, a community ofmetal workers, said to be the descendants of artisans brought
from Nepal inthe mid -17th century to build one of the gigantic Buddha -images
at Shey, cary on their hereditary vocation. Working in silver, brass and copper,
they produce exquisite items for domestic and religious use : tea and chang
pots, teacup - stands and lids, hookkah-bases, ladles and bowls and, occasionally,
silver chorten for installa-tion in temples and domestic shrines.
Those who cannot afford the expensive ware of the Chiling craftsmen, are supplied
by local blacksmitsh (gara), witht the bowls and cooking pots they need for
everyday use, as well as with agricultural implements.
The gara also make the large and ornate iron stoves seen in kitchens of the
richer Ladakhi homes. In general, craftsmanship has not developed beyond and
production of everyday item for personal and domestic use.
Pattu, the rough, warm, woolen material used for clothing is made from locally
produced wool, spun by women on drop-spindles, and woven by semi-professional
weavers on portable looms set up in the winter sunshine, or under the shade
of a tree in summer.
Baskets, for the transport of any kind of burden - manure for the fields, fresh
vegetables, even babies -are woven out of willow twigs, or a particular variety
of grass. Wood work is confined largely to the production of pillars and carved
lintels for the houses, and the low carved tables that are a feature of every
Ladakhi living-room.
Many such items, together with others recently introduced as part of the development
process, are available in the District Handicrafts Centre at Leh, which exists
to train local people as well as to market their products.
There you can find, in addition to traditional objects, a few special items
like pashmina shawls- rough compared withthose produced in Srinagar, but soft
and warm as only pure pashmina can be ; and carpets in designs and techniques
borrowed from Tibet. Similar carpets are also to be had at the Tibetan Refugee
Centre at Choglamsar.
The Handicrafts Centre also has a department of Thangka painting. These icons
on cloth are executed in accordance with strict guidelines handed down from
past generations.
In the same tradition are the mural paintings in the gompas, where semi-professional,
both monks and laymen, labour tokeep the walls decorated with images symbolizing
the various aspects of the Buddhist Way. The skill of building religious statues
is also not extinct. The gigantic representation of Maitreya, was installed
in Thikse Gompa as recently as the early 1980s.
Arts & Crafts, Leh & Ladakh
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