Naggar is home to a number of traditional crafts that include spinning of local sheep wool and weaving woolen fabrics out of it in various colours, designs and patterns for different types of traditional costumes being worn by local community.
Wool is procured from sheep reared by local communities. Almost every rural household rears a few sheep to meet their requirements of woolen clothes and blankets. The raw material is cleaned and combed by hand before being spun in households . This activity is usually performed by the elderly women.
After the wool is spun, it is woven into fabric of different width, ranging from one inch to about two feet. Almost every household in Naggar has a ‘khaddi’, a hand operated weaving machine, where women from the household take turns to weave woolen fabrics.
One to four inch wide coloured woolen strips are used as borders for different costumes. The fabric, generally called as ‘Pattu’, is used for making coats, pyjamas, shawls, stoles, mufflers, women’s robes and blankets.
featured craft
Kath Koni Naggar, Himachal Pradesh
The building architecture in Naggar is traditionally, Timber bonded style of western Himalayas, locally termed as 'Kath Koni' (building with wooden corners). The construction includes alternate courses of dry stone and Deodar or spruce wood. Since a lot of wood is used in the traditional architecture, intricate patterns are carved on wooden structures including windows, wooden verandah structures with cantilever suspensions, piers, beams and pillars of wood. There are craftsmen who still perform the craft, but because of high cost of labour involved, the activity is limited to temples and places of common utility. Woodcraft is undertaken by traditional families, called as tarkhans.
