Challi-Woollen Weaving of Ladakh

Products ranging from blankets, rugs, storage bags and saddle bags are produced under the challi craft. The required tools are ground loom, shuttle, spindle, needle and scissors.

Challi is a coarse woollen fabric woven in strips on a fixed heddle ground loom. The fabric is woven from khullu/yak hair and raal/goat hair. The colours in the fabric, white, light brown, and deep brown are the natural hair colours of both the animals. The same material is always used as the warp, while the other is used as the weft, to create the pattern.

Strips of challi in repeated patterns are joined to make nugal or changdur/ grain carriers, saddlebags, phatsa/ storage bags, taltan/rugs, and tent, blanket and rug coverings. Two types of saddlebags are made; smaller ones for the goats and sheep and bigger ones to be loaded on yaks and horses. The cloth is produced by both men and women using a ground loom, shuttle, spindle, a pair of scissors and a needle.

The striped pattern is altered by changing the number of strips woven together. In this way, different patterns are created to fabricate a combination of patterns that would be specific to a particular weaver, thus, producing his own signature style that helps in identification. This practice originated from situations arising during journeys for trade when animals and bags could be easily mixed up.