HANDICRAFTS AND MANUFACTURES
~Handicrafts.~--The chief handicrafts of the province are those of the
weaver, the shoemaker, the carpenter, the potter, and the worker in
brass and copper. The figures of the 1911 census for each craft
including dependents were: weavers 883,000; shoemakers 540,000;
carpenters 381,000; potters and brickmakers 349,000; metalworkers
240,000. The figures for weavers include a few working in factories. The
hand-spun cotton-cloth is a coarse strong fabric known as "_khaddar_"
with a single warp and weft. "_Khes_" is a better article with a double
warp and weft. "_Súsí_" is a smooth cloth with coloured stripes used for
women's trousers. A superior kind of checked "_khes_" known as
"_gabrún_" is made at Ludhiána. The native process of weaving is slow
and the weavers are very poor. The Salvation Army is trying to introduce
an improved hand loom. Fine "_lungís_" or turbans of cotton with silk
borders are made at Ludhiána, Multán, Pesháwar, and elsewhere. Effective
cotton printing is carried on by very primitive methods at Kot Kamália
and Lahore. Ludhiána and Lahore turn out cotton _darís_ or rugs. Coarse
woollen blankets or _loís_ are woven at various places, and coloured
felts or _namdas_ are made at Ludhiána, Khusháb, and Pesháwar. Excellent
imitations of Persian carpets are woven at Amritsar, and the Srínagar
carpets do credit to the Kashmírís' artistic taste. The best of the
Amritsar carpets are made of _pashm_, the fine underwool of the Tibetan
sheep, and _pashmína_ is also used as a material for _choghas_
(dressing-gowns), etc. Coarse woollen cloth or _pattu_ is woven in the
Kángra hills for local use. At Multán useful rugs are made whose fabric
is a mixture of cotton and wool. More artistic are the Biluch rugs made
by the Biluch women with geometrical patterns. These are excellent in
colouring. They are rather difficult to procure as they are not made for
sale. The weaving of China silk is a common industry in Amritsar,
Baháwalpur, Multán, and other places. The _phulkárí_ or silk embroidery
of the village maidens of Hissár and other districts of the Eastern
Panjáb, and the more elaborate gold and silver wire embroideries of the
Delhi _bazárs_, are excellent. The most artistic product of the plains
is the ivory carving of Delhi. As a wood-carver the Panjábí is not to be
compared with the Kashmírí. His work is best fitted for doorways and the
bow windows or _bokhárchas_ commonly seen in the streets of old towns.
The best carvers are at Bhera, Chiniot, Amritsar, and Batála. The
European demand has produced at Simla and other places an abundant
supply of cheap articles of little merit. The inlaid work of Chiniot and
Hoshyárpur is good, as is the lacquer-work of Pákpattan. The papier
maché work of Kashmír has much artistic merit (Fig. 55), and some of the
repoussé silver work of Kashmír is excellent.
[Illustration: Fig. 53. Shoemaker's craft.]
The craft of the _thathera_ or brass worker is naturally most prominent
in the Eastern Panjáb, because Hindus prefer brass vessels for cooking
purposes. Delhi is the great centre, but the trade is actively carried
on at other places, and especially at Jagádhrí.
Unglazed pottery is made practically in every village. The blue
enamelled pottery of Multán and the glazed Delhi china ware are
effective. The manufacture of the latter is on a very petty scale.
[Illustration: Fig. 54. Carved windows.]
[Illustration: Fig. 55. Papier maché work ~of~ Kashmír.]
~Factories.~--The factory industries of the Panjáb are still very small.
In 1911 there were 268 factories employing 28,184 hands. The typical
Panjáb factory is a little cotton ginning or pressing mill. The grinding
of flour and husking of rice are sometimes part of the same business.
The number of these mills rose in the 20 years ending 1911 from 12 to
202, and there are complaints that there are now too many factories.
Cotton-spinning has not been very successful and the number of mills in
1911, eight, was the same as in 1903-4. The weaving is almost entirely
confined to yarn of low counts. Part is used by the hand-loom weavers
and part is exported to the United Provinces. Good woollen fabrics are
turned out at a factory at Dháriwál in the Gurdáspur district. There
were in 1911 fifteen flour mills, ten ironworks, three breweries, and
one distillery.
[Illustration: Fig. 56. The Potter.
(_From a picture book said to have been prepared for Mahárája Dalíp
Singh._)]
~Joint-Stock Companies.~--The Panjáb has not reached the stage where the
joint-stock business successfully takes the place of the family banking
or factory business. In 1911 there were 194 joint-stock companies. But
many of these were provident societies, the working of which has been
attended with such abuses that a special act has been passed for their
control. A number of banks and insurance companies have also sprung up
of late years. Of some of these the paid up capital is absurdly small,
and the recent collapse of the largest and of two smaller native banks
has drawn attention to the extremely risky nature of the business done.
Of course European and Hindu family banking businesses of the old type
stand on quite a different footing. Some of the cotton and other mills
are joint-stock concerns.