Hand woven stoles Close-up of a stole

When Shahid Junaid, master-weaver from Varanasi, took on the challenge of script and calligraphy on cloth, he became aware of the relevance of 15th century weaver-poet Kabir’s teachings in his life. He researched words, songs, poems, phrases, and finally inspired his cousin Shaad Abasi to compose a poem about Kabir for this experiment. Abasi’s poem emerged on the end pieces of stoles woven in Urdu in silk. It says 'kaaf se kargha bane / kaaf se bane kapaas / kaaf se kapda bane / kapde bane libaas / kaaf se karigar bane / kaaf se bane Kabir.

“Kaaf” is the Urdu letter for the consonant “k”. The Abasi poem plays on this aspect. The word for loom (kargha), cotton (kapaas), cloth (kappa) which turns into clothing, craftsperson (karigar) and Kabir (the poet) all begin with the same letter and are deeply interconnected in this woven work.