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Shahtoosh is the underfleece of the Tibetan Antelope called Chiru. It is killed extensively for its fine quality wool despite the fact that it is a protected species.
Shahtoosh is a Persian word where Shah means king and toosh means nature or from the wild. Shahtoosh shawls are also known as ring shawls since they can pass through a ring. They are the most expensive shawls in the world and are the softest and warmest.
Kashmir is the only place where the weaving of shahtoosh takes place. The shawl industry in Kashmir is as old as the hills. Handweaving is one of the earliest crafts in the state of Jammu & Kashmir. Historical documents state that very fine cloth was produced in the Kashmir Valley as early as the 3rd century BC. The famous Chinese traveller, Hiuen Tsang has mentioned people wearing clothes of white linen, fine in texture. Hand spinning was the basic occupation of the women folk while weaving that of the men.
The first among shawls to reach Europe were brought by Napoleon who, in 1796, presented Josephine a Kashmir shawl�shahtoosh. Josephine was so pleased that she set a new trend in fashion in Paris which spread throughout Europe. By 1800 AD the shawl trade between Kashmir and the West was well established. By the end of the 18th century agents from Europe, China, Kabul, Turkistan, Persia and Turkey were stationed in Kashmir. And an era began for the Chiru that talks about the countdown of the species.
The costliest shawl is the white shahtoosh which owes its price to the fact that white hair is scanty on the Chiru�s body. It is found on the male Chiru who shows of its white neck with its head held high, muzzle skywards to herd its females to organize and maintain its �harem�. The second grade is the earth color made from the underfleece of the hair found all over the body. The underfleece is protection for the Chiru against the severe cold and intolerable conditions in winter when the temperature drops to minus forty degrees Fahrenheit. It takes the lives of three Chirus to make one shawl.
According to historical documents toosh was traded to India in small amounts. The quantity was about 300 1b per annum. It was mixed with other wool and then made into a shawl. Nowadays exploitation has reached alarming proportions. The extraction per annum is approximately 3,000 Ib and the number of Chiru poached is 15,000-17,000. This figure is obviously unsustainable in a total population of 50,000-70,000.
In 1903, Capt. C.G. Rawling, a British explorer witnessed the great, spectacular migration of Chiru. He was probably the last one to actually see the largest herds of Chiru. He describes, ��almost from my feet away to the north and east, as far as the eye could reach, were thousands upon thousands of doe antelope with their young. There could not have been less than 15,000 or 20,000 visible at one time.�
Eighty-five years later George Scholler, renowned scientist, visited the Chinese Chang Tang in 1988 and again in 1990 and 1992. He found herds of Chiru but unfortunately fewer in number. The Chiru inhabits the Tibetan plateau. Seventy per cent of its area consists of high pastures and the highest amongst these is Chang Tang. They survive in the harshest of climates, in windswept cold desert with neither trees nor shrubs at an altitude of 15,000 to 17,000 ft. The antelopes have lived in this area for centuries.
The Chiru still follows its traditional migratory route. In summer a small migratory population of 150 to 200 visit the Indian State of Ladakh. The are unaware that on this track thousands of their ancestors have fallen prey to hunters. Hunters, await the herds to arrive, previously with traps, now with the most sophisticated weapons and vehicles to quench their thirst for a fast buck.
This inhuman activity, despite the maximum protection given to the Chiru all over, has pushed the animal to a threatened status. The only way to save the Chiru is by saying �no� to shahtoosh. If we do not take immediate measures the Chiru will follow the path of the Dado, the Passenger pigeon and the Cheetah in India.
When the last individual of a race of living being breathes no more another heaven and another earth will have to pass before such a one can be again.
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