Crafting a Legacy: The Timeless Beauty of Kashmir’s Walnut Wood Carvings

ॐ श्री गुरुभ्यो नमः ॐ श्री शिवानन्दाय नमः ॐ श्री चिदानन्दाय नमःॐ श्री दुर्गायै नमः 

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Kashmir is one of the few places in the world where the walnut tree grows at a height of 5,500 feet to 7,500 feet above sea level. Walnut wood carving is one of the important crafts in the state.

Walnut wood furniture occupies pride of place in Kashmiri households; it is also an essential constituent in a bride’s wedding trousseau.

The wood for carving comes from either the root or the trunk of the tree. The peculiar characteristics of the walnut wood facilitate exquisitely detailed and intricate carving.

A YouTube Video : Walnut Wood-Carving Art of Kashmir

Downtown Srinagar is strewn with walnut wood workshops where you find craftsmen, renowned for their carving skills, bent over the wood, chiselling and polishing. They meticulously carve out motifs of grape bunches, chinar leaves, pears, rose, etc., in the wood

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Carved walnut wood-work is among the most important crafts of Kashmir. Kashmir is now one of the few places in the world where walnut is still available at an altitude of 5500-7500 feet above see level.

The wood is hard and durable, its close grain and even texture facilitating fine and detailed work. It also presents visually interesting effects with mere plain polished surfaces in fact in contemporary products, plain surfaces and small carvings are preferred, especially on trays, tables, bowls and similar items.

The Kashmir craftsman, however, rejoices in carving intricate and varied designs. A variety of carved products bear recurrent motifs of the rose, lotus, iris, bunches of grapes, pears and chinar leaves.

Dragon motifs and patterns taken from Kani and embroidered shawls all find their place in wooden objects with deep relief carving.

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A variety of articles, both decorative and utilitarian, ranging from small items like bowls, trays, cigarette boxes, wall plaques and table lamps to screens, bedsteads and larger items of furniture are carved in walnut wood.

Video : One of Kashmir’s Oldest Walnut Wood-Carving Artisan

Four main types of carving are usually practised in Kashmir-raised, engraved, undercut and plain.

The Beauty & Intricacy of Kashmiri Walnut wood-Carving

If one has ever visited the shrines of Noor-ud-din-Wali at Charar-e-Sharif, the Naqshbandi Mosque, or the shrine of Nund Rishi in Kashmir, one can start to fathom the sheer beauty of Walnut Wood Carving.

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A highly ornamental, and delicate craft process that is unique to the Jammu and Kashmir region, it is one of the few places in the world where walnut is still available at an altitude of 5500-7500 ft. above sea level.

The walnut carved products are rich in recurrent motifs of the rose, lotus, iris; bunches of grapes, pears, and chinar leaves; dragons, and patterns taken from kani shawls.

Watch a Series of Videos on Kashmiri Walnut Wood-Carving on Google Videos

Locally known as Doon Kul, a walnut tree is cut only once it matures at an age of 300 years. Wood can be used from the roots, trunk, and even its branches.

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Kashmiri craftsmen say that the wood from the roots is the most expensive as it is the hardest of them all, and best or carving.

Seasoned from between one to four years, these planks are first etched with the basic pattern by the master carver. The craftmen then carve with the help of chisels, and a wooden mallet so that the design emerges from the lustrous walnut wood as an embossed surface.

Watch a Series of Videos on Kashmiri Walnut Wood-Carving on Google Videos

The carving of furniture and smaller items is an elaborate process and involves high degree of skill and craftsmanship. The carving is done with the help of small indigenous tools. The art of wood carving is centred in the city of Srinagar.

Buy Kashmiri Walnut Wood Carving Online on Google Shopping

Watch a Series of Videos on Kashmiri Walnut Wood-Carving on Google Videos

Watch a Series of Videos on Kashmiri Walnut Wood-Carving on Google Videos