Fine Pashmina Ek Rukh Ring (Palladar) Shawl — Sand & Antique Paisley

A fine Kashmiri pashmina ring shawl (Palladar) in a warm sand, self-patterned across the whole field with a large floral medallion woven in the same colour, and finished at each end with a deep panel of interlocking paisleys in rose, saffron, slate blue, coral and cream on a pale ground, closed by a row of broad coloured stripes.

The name comes from the test. A Palladar is a shawl fine enough to be drawn whole through a finger ring — and that is only possible when the pashmina has been hand-spun on a charkha to a thread so fine it is barely visible against the light. Spinners who do this work have often done nothing else for decades. The weaving that follows is just as slow, because yarn this fine breaks if the loom is pushed.

Ek Rukh — woven on one face

Kashmiri weavers distinguish between do-rukha, worked so the pattern reads on both faces of the cloth, and ek rukh — one face. This shawl is ek rukh, and on a Palladar that is the correct choice rather than the lesser one.

Patterning both faces at this density would have doubled the weight of the end panels and ended the ring test for good. Working one face keeps the cloth light enough to remain a true Palladar while still carrying a full colour design. Turn the panel over and you can see exactly how it is done: the reverse shows the loose ends and floats where each colour turns back. That is not a flaw to be hidden — it is the visible record of a single-face weave, and the reason the shawl still weighs almost nothing.

The ring test, and the one honest difference

The base cloth is exactly the same ultra-fine pashmina as our plain ring shawls. There is only one difference between the two, and it is on the reverse: a plain ring shawl has a clean back with nothing to snag, and this one has loose threads across the back of the end panels where each colour turns at the end of its run. Those threads are the whole reason the front carries a design in full colour, and they are also the only thing that can catch. So yes, it passes through a ring — draw it slowly and let the panels feed. We would rather tell you that than let you find out.

Sand is the most useful ground we sell. Every colour in the border — rose, saffron, blue — sits on it without argument, and the shawl works over black, cream, navy and every shade of brown, which a strong colour does not. If you want one piece that carries a full Kashmiri border and still goes with everything, this is it.

Details

• Ultra-fine hand-spun Kashmiri pashmina
• Handwoven ring shawl — passes through a finger ring when drawn slowly
• Self-patterned sand ground with deep ek rukh (single-face) woven paisley end panels and striped edge
• Loose threads across the reverse of the panels — inherent to ek rukh weaving, not a fault
• Approx. 40" × 80"
• Dry clean only — pale grounds mark easily, so store folded and away from direct light
• Handwoven in Kashmir

Hand-spun yarn varies slightly along its length; the faint unevenness you can see against the light is the signature of hand work, not a fault.

Ships in Attan's branded box with a thank-you card, ready to gift.