Kangri – Kashmir’s Cultural Way of Fighting the Cold

Kashmiris kill the chill with Kangris, traditional wicker baskets filled with hot coal, hidden under their clothes.

Have you ever imagined carrying red-hot charcoal filled in an earthen pot inside your dress? It sounds dangerous, but Kashmiris do it to kill the chill.

As residents freeze in bone-chilling temperatures, woolens and thermals are not enough to cope.

‘Kangri’, commonly called kanger in Kashmir, is a traditional earthen pot in a woven wicker basket and filled with red-hot charcoal.

Kashmiris carry it inside the ‘pheran’, a traditional long flowing tweed over-garment, to keep the freezing winter away.

As most of rural Kashmir is devoid of electricity, locals resort to using the kangri, a cheap and effective way to keep warm.

Winter in Kashmir means kangri. Due to poor electric supply we use the kangri on a daily basis as it is cheaper than oil, gas and heaters. At present, the majority of people in the Valley use kangris to keep warm. With its potability we can take it anywhere.

Wali Muhammad, Resident, Chadoora, Budgam District

But not all can make a kangri. It needs skill, dexterity and craftsmanship.

We collect twigs from deciduous shrubs, scratch and peel them. After peeling, it goes through the process of soaking, drying, and then dyeing. Dried and dressed twigs are woven around a bowl-shaped earthen pot decorated with colourful threads to make the kangri beautiful.

Abdul Rashid, Kangri-maker

Kangris are priced from anywhere between rupees 70 to 3,500 a piece, depending on the work and design, a kangri shopkeeper Muhammad Shafi said.

Some kangris are made only for newly-weds. Like many other household articles, the brides carry them to their in-laws’ houses. The kangri is also used as a decoration piece in drawing rooms.

Muhammad Shafi, Shopkeeper

Shafi also claimed that though markets were flooded with cost-effective modern appliances, stores were crowded with people looking for a handy kangri in the winter.