Chamba Rumal,
Himachal Pradesh, India,
19th century

Sight size:
22½" square

Price: $4200

Enlarged and Printer Version

Chamba is a district located in the hills of Himachal Pradesh in India. The rumal, or embroidered handkerchief, is the form for which Chamba is well-known. One particularly interesting type of rumal was used to wrap small gifts for special occasions, such as a wedding or a temple offering, and we offer such an example.

Rumals have been poetically described as "images of miniature painting on fabric." Customarily the local miniature painters would draw an image onto the delicate hand-woven cotton, in many cases suggesting as well the color palette to be used by the embroiderer. Women, traditionally of a higher caste, would then employ a reversible stitch called "Do-rukha," meaning double satin stitch, filling the line drawings with embroidery worked with vibrant vegetable-dyed silk thread.

Rumal were revered for their richly colored embroidery and for their significance of subject matter; in many cases Krishna legends. This particular scene depicts Krishna seated on a lotus blossom with his consort, Radha. The Ras, or Rasa dance is being performed around them by gopis (Krishna's topmost cowherd girl devotees, or milkmaids). During this dance the gopis travel in a circle and rhythmically hit sticks as they move. Krishna has multiplied himself so that each gopi feels as if Krishna himself is dancing solely with her. The identity of sprightly figure in the corner is unclear; it may be Shiva, who was the eternal protector of the Rasa dance, but whom was not allowed to participate.

This rumal was in the collection of Carlotta Mabury, an Englishwoman who collected widely in the East at the beginning of the 20th century and donated much of her collection to the Museum of Fine Arts, San Francisco. Worked in silk on very fine hand woven cotton, the rumal remains in excellent condition, and has been conservation mounted into a molded black frame with a gold liner.

For further information on Chamba rumals an article entitled "Chamba Rumals: Ministure Painting in Thread," p.36, was published in Piecework, July/August 2002 issue. A photocopy of the article, which illustrates similar examples, accompanies this rumal in its file.

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