Ali Muhammad Beigh’s family has brought laurels to state by excelling in the prized Sozni embroidery craft. What’s more, the family doesn’t want to keep the craft to itself. Aliya Bashir reports.
There is silence in this newly constructed hall at Ali Muhammad Beigh’s residence in Zadibal Srinagar. Though there are many people in the hall, everyone is busy embellishing Pashmina shawls with different colours of threads.
Each family member is a success story. Different award certificates are hung on the walls displaying the laurels they have won at national and international levels in the field of Sozni embroidery.
The 70-year-old Beigh, who is the head of the family, is busy on a shawl, he has been embellishing with Sozni for more than two years. The shawl has to be embellished wholly with diverse floral designs, not leaving any space except the margins.
Beigh has devoted his entire life to the craft of Sozni embroidery – not just working to earn his living, but making efforts to keep the craft alive and vibrant. The index figure of his left hand has a visible mark developed by needle pricks while embellishing the shawls.
“This indelible mark is a unique symbol of a Sozni artisan. It is our identity card,” Beigh says while threading a needle.
In some of the distinct designs the embroidery work is exhibited on both sides of the fabric. “We have done embroidery on shawls in a style which appears identical on both sides of the fabric. This is done very rarely,” Beigh emphasizes.
Beigh has inherited the art and learned lessons from his elder brother Ghulam Hassan Beigh. “This art is in our genes. I don’t remember exactly the number of shawls I have done. I am so deep in this art that for me my world starts with it and ends with it,” he beams.
Beigh considers it his moral duty to spread this art by teaching his family members or any other person who wishes to. “To me this work is like worship. This has given me everything; name, fame and contentment. Every member of my family knows this art. I am quite sure they’ll carry it forward even after my death,” he says.
For his outstanding contribution in Sozni craft, he has received several awards from time to time. In 2006, he received Shilp Guru Award for his work on ten samples of shawls. He has also won State Award in 1984 and National award in 1992. Beigh’s mentor brother Ghulam Hassan had also received state and national awards for the craft.
All the members of Beigh family – sons to daughters, nephews to sons-in-law, daughters-in-law – are engaged in the craft. “I feel very proud to have all my family members actively involved in this craft. They all feel quite privileged to keep alive the hereditary craft instead of switching to some other work,” says Beigh proudly.
Beigh has made significant contribution in improving the Sozni craft by introducing new designs. He has created many design proto-types and various color combination of silken threads. “Till date, I have trained more than 1500 persons. I also make my own samples of designs which were highly appreciated by art-lovers,” he says.
Shabir Ali, the younger son of Beigh is following the footsteps of his father. He has made his presence felt at both state and national level. He has received national and state awards. Besides that, in 2007 he got best of the best award in “The Art in Action Award” from Oxford London.
“More than 3500 artisans had come from all over the world for demonstration of their works. But, I was given the first prize for my Kani Sozni work,” Shabir says. Elder son, Mehboob Ali Beigh has received three state awards in 1987, 1988 and 1989. He has also received national awards for his work in Jamawar shawl in 1996 and another for Sozni in 1997. “We are illiterate. But this art had given us everything. Our work keeps us so engrossed and busy that we don’t get time to think of other things,” Mehboob says.
The craft has provided the family members opportunity to visit foreign countries to display and demonstrate their crafts. They have participated in various national and international trade fairs. Out of the 16 awards the state has conferred on Sozni artists, seven have been won by members of the Beigh family.
The family members acknowledge if they had been literate, they could market their craft better.
“Now we cannot lament over what we don’t possess. We always keep our translators along whenever we travel to some foreign country. But on the contrary we could not have achieved the name what we are today,” says Beigh.
Her daughter-in-law, a graduate also chose to get associated with the art of their in-laws rather than opting for some other job. “Before my marriage, I didn’t know this skill. But, I was so much fascinated by the environment here that I also learned it,” she says while making exquisite designs with a blue thread on a black shawl. “I am working on this shawl for more than one and a half year now. Whatever money will come that will be purely mine.”
Mostly it takes three years of hard work for an artisan for a full sozni embellishment of a shawl, which goes on to cost more than one and a half lakh rupees. “The embroidery is done on both sides with unique designs. The whole surface is filled with designs without leaving any space,” Beigh says.
Ghulam Muhammad Beigh, nephew and son-in-law of Ali Muhammad has also won state and national awards. “We have received so many awards and prizes that that we don’t participate in the competitions anymore. Instead we are made to judge the people for their performances,” says Ghulam Muhammad.
He says that these shawls are sought mostly by the elite in India and abroad.
The family is hopeful about the future prospects of this art. It will last forever due to its uniqueness and beauty, they say, but they want help from government to take the art to more and more people.
“Presently government is mulling to fight unemployment in the state. We are openly inviting interested people to come forward and learn this art to earn their living. But, one needs to have patience to work whole day at one place which is hardly found in today’s generation,” says Beigh who strongly argues that there is no decline in this art.
Beigh family wants any possible help from the government like a stipend for the people while learning at the place where the award winners work under one roof to keep the art alive.
“We have trained more than fifty girls who are now married. They are self-employed and are earning good money. This gives us immense pleasure to see our apprentices independent and self-sufficient,” the family members say.
Despite making “good returns”, (about Rs 500 for a day’s work) the family says very few men are coming forward to learn the craft. So far, it is mostly the girls.
The family has kept a huge stock of precious samples in an album. Some unique shawls done by Beigh have been preserved, as the family considers them priceless.
