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Zaldagar 1865
Masood Hussain
Weaving Dreams: This chromolithograph drawn by Scottish artist, war artist and war correspondent William Simpson who visited Kashmir somewhere between 1859-60.
When Srinagar’s 28
shawlbaufs, the shawl-weavers, drowned in the
Keat-e-Koul ditch near Zaldagar on April 29, 1865, it merely did not mark the first recorded labour unrest in history. It was not the first major indicator of the political awakening of Kashmir alone. The massacre marked the beginning of a crisis that, over the years, compromised Kashmir’s principle craft that had reigned European fashion streets and introduced Kashmir to the rest of the world.
The massacre bridged the two odd sides of Cashmere Shawl’s uneven history. Prior to it, the Shawl was in a huge demand and the artisans, coerced by the worst working conditions and exploitation were unwillingly putting in all efforts to keep the export going. After Zaldagar, though improvements started taking place, the Shawl fell from its grace even though sections of the artisans were not so unwilling to work. Gradually, Kashmir started losing the artisan and the market as the famed shawl’s freefall has not stopped in the last 150 years.

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