Traditional Handloom of Kargil District, Ladakh

Handloom weaving is one of the main activity of nomadic people of Kargil district of Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir. Weaving becomes their chief occupational priority especially during harsh winter season when they have no agricultural related work to do. The weavers, especially women folk, follow their ancestral traditional methods for converting raw wool into various woollen handloom products. These handloom products full fill their local needs, help them to improve their financial savings and thus empower themselves. In the present study handloom of district Kargil have been presented. The various handloom items of the Kargil district include; Snamboo, bali topi, thouth, rouchak, bali dorma, bali guncha, Jainamaz, Thulpa, Salchkpa, phengma, Pherba, Kartapa, kanchy, lakshups etc. which have been described in detail in the paper. Traditional handloom making business, need based trainings should be provided to local women for improvement in their product quality and product diversification so that they may easily compete in international as well as national market.