Qaleen (

Kaleen Kaleen ( or ) is a suburb in the Belconnen district of Canberra, located within the Australian Capital Territory, Australia. The suburb's name is derived from the word for 'water' in the language of the Wiradjuri Aboriginal tribe of the Centr ...

, Kalin, قالین) is a type of hand knotted piled carpet. The term is used throughout Turkey, Iran and Central Asia, and making is currently practised as a handicraft in Turkey and Iran. Artisans may need at least two months to make one qaleen. The craft was learned from Persians by the artisans of Kashmir on the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakista ...

. Origin: Once upon time, from Persia a Sufi mystic named Hazrat Mir Syed Ali Hamdani visited Kashmir. His caravan comprised highly skilled weavers and came via the silk route. And thus, Kashmir became the land of carpet weaving. Another school of thought believes, in 15th century, Sultan Zain-ul-Abidin king Budshah introduced this craft to Kashmir. However, both theories find comfort in the fact that artisans were invited from Persia to train Kashmiris in the art of spinning and weaving. These hand knotted carpets are locally known as KalBaffi or Qaleen. https://craffi.com/Product-Detail.aspx?Pcode=PD-27 These knotted pile carpets so were a blend of Persian and Indian craftsmanship. ''Qaleens'' or ''Ghalichas'' were made in the

Kashmir Kashmir ( or ) is the Northwestern Indian subcontinent, northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term ''Kashmir'' denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir P ...

region of India and Pakistan.

Name

Qaleen is a word meaning carpet in a number of languages, including Kashmiri, Arabic, Turkish and Urdu.

History

Sultan Zain-ul-Abidin king Budshah introduced the "Kal baffi" craft (of hand knotted carpets) from Persia to Kashmir in the 15th century. The Sultan brought carpet weavers from Persia and central Asia to Kashmir to train the local inhabitants.

Structure

''Kalin'', which were smaller in size and were a product of

jails A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, or remand center, is a facility where people are imprisoned under the authority of the state, usually as punishment for various cri ...

Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

, were made using one row of knots and another alternate in weft yarns, wool pile, and cotton in warp side.

Mechanization

Mechanization Mechanization (or mechanisation) is the process of changing from working largely or exclusively by hand or with animals to doing that work with machinery. In an early engineering text, a machine is defined as follows: In every fields, mechan ...

and

Industrialisation Industrialisation ( UK) or industrialization ( US) is the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial society. This involves an extensive reorganisation of an economy for th ...

is a threat to many ancient crafts including Qaleen bafi (weaving). Now Qaleens are made on looms and powerlooms in many parts of

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

and

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

Islamabad Islamabad (; , ; ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's tenth-most populous city with a population of over 1.1 million and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital Territory. Bu ...

is a centre for qaleem manufacturing, with around 80,000 workers employed in this trade.

References

{{Rugs and carpets Rugs and carpets Textile arts of Pakistan Textile arts of India

Name

History

Structure

Mechanization

See also

References