Himroo

What is Himroo?

Himroo is a cloth woven from two fibres, silk and cotton, and it belongs to Aurangabad in Maharashtra. The cotton is grown around that city. Weavers there work Persian designs into it, and the result is unlike other Indian cloth, which is why buyers ask for it by name. It is a brocade, meaning the pattern is made in the weave itself and not printed or stitched on afterwards. Aurangabad also supplies shawls of the same character. The cloth was long tied to royal households and to a narrow circle of wealthy users, so most people would have met it only by reputation.

Where does Himroo come from?

Historians trace the craft's beginnings to Persia, though the sources note that this has not been proved. Its story in India is tied to Mohammad Tughlaq, who ruled in the 14th century and moved his capital from Delhi to Daulatabad. Weavers travelled with that move and settled nearby, and they chose to remain rather than return. Later, under Malik Ambar, more craftspeople arrived from distant places. When Aurangzeb governed the region and the Mughals made the city a capital, weaving there did well and its workers grew prosperous. Not every account agrees: some historians hold that local craftsmen worked out himroo themselves, with little Persian influence.

How is Himroo made?

The cloth combines silk with cotton, and that cotton grows in the area around Aurangabad. It is woven on a loom, with the pattern made together with the ground so the design sits inside the fabric instead of on top of it. Himroo reworks an older idea, kinkhwab, which in former times was woven with threads of pure gold and silver and kept for royal families. Himroo answers that tradition in plainer material. Hundreds of craftsmen and artisans were drawn to Aurangabad's handicraft trade, and weaving fabrics and shawls became one of the city's occupations.

Colours, motifs and borders

Persian designs give himroo its look, and the cloth is easy to tell apart from others; the sources call its appearance characteristic and distinctive. Its ancestor kinkhwab carried gold and silver inside the weave and was made for royal families, while himroo keeps the design language and leaves out the precious metal. Fabrics and shawls from Aurangabad are bought for their particular style and design, and the himroo woven there is asked for by that name.

How Himroo is worn

The sources treat himroo as a fabric and mention shawls made in Aurangabad, but they set out no drape and no garment pattern for it. What can be said is limited: the cloth served royal households and a narrow circle of well-off users, and it appears as woven lengths and as shawls. Nothing in the account ties it to a particular way of wrapping or tying it.

When Himroo is worn

In the use the sources record, himroo belonged to court life. Members of royal families had it, and only a handful of other wealthy people did. That was the period when Aurangabad served as a Mughal capital under Aurangzeb's governorship and its weaving trade was thriving. It was not a common everyday cloth for ordinary households. The sources name no festival, wedding or rite at which it was worn.

What Himroo means

Himroo stands for Aurangabad's craft identity, and its story shows how a weaving trade can be built by migration: weavers arrived with a move of the capital and stayed on, and later arrivals came under Malik Ambar. The city's handicraft trade drew many hands, and in Mughal times it made weavers prosperous. Even the question of who invented himroo is part of its character, since historians disagree over whether Persian weavers or local craftsmen were responsible for it.

Questions people ask about Himroo

Good reading and sources

• Himroo on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• More photos on Wikimedia CommonsPhotos and video
• Wikidata recordOpen data