Srinagar: Kangri and Kashmiris in winters so the saying goes—are as inseparable as the fabled Layla and her lover Majnun. Before serving water or kahwa, the traditional firepot filled with embers is the first thing handed over to a guest during the four months of winter, when the mercury nosedives 20 notches below the freezing point in Kashmir. Kangri, or kanger as it is called in local parlance, comprises a clay vessel (kondul) encased in a multi-layered wicker frame with two handles, making it a portable heater. As the maple-like leaves of chinar trees turn crimson, marking the arrival of Harud (autumn), these firepots are readied and stored in bulk for the days of harsh cold that will soon envelop the Valley.
The ability to shuffle a hot kangri adeptly beneath the pheran—the long, loose woolen gown intrinsic to the region—is what characterises a true Kashmiri. Many can hold it tucked under heavy quilts the whole night with ease. This ubiquitous firepot, which also finds a mention in Kashmiri historian Kalhana’s 12th-century chronicle Raja Tarangini, has other uses too—roasting potatoes, carrots, and eggs to satiate the winter cravings while cooped up at home or burning incense for its aroma and to dispel evil during weddings and festivities. A tall ornamented kangri filled with almonds is a traditional gift given to a newlywed daughter ahead of the first winter at her new home.
The most prized Chrar Kangri from Charar-e-Sharief has an intricately woven willow encasement and is among the three well-known varieties, the others being the ones from Bandipora and Anantnag, each with its distinctive design and durability. Then there are kangris prepared in other parts of Kashmir, each variety with its distinctive durability and design.
Besides the social aspect, the hot charcoal-filled Kangri has been used as a crude weapon to attack rivals during petty fights or political battles.
In south Kashmir’s Kulgam, about 65 kilometers from the capital Srinagar, several villages have perfected this craft over generations. Every year, these kangri artisans get busy preparing thousands of traditional firepots. All through the year, Nazir Ahmad Mir, 50, who picked up the craft of weaving kangris from his village, has been collecting twigs from wetlands. These are boiled, peeled and dried to prepare the wicker that is then woven around earthen pots to prepare kangris.
“For the last 30 years, this trade has sustained my family. It takes me one-and-a-half hours to weave a Kangri. Our village readies 1200 kangris a month and we sell them to traders,” says Mir from Bumrath village, who himself prepares five such firepots daily.
“Each kangri is sold for Rs 150-200 depending on the demand. Kangris from some other areas fetch even higher prices.” But the demand and prices have declined this year, rues Mir. “Modern electric heating gadgets have hit our trade. Now there is less demand. The government should provide us financial aid like soft loans on the pattern of farmers' Kisan Credit Cards for sustaining this craft,” he adds.
Ahsan Ul Haq Banday, a trader from Srinagar who introduced Turkish wooden heaters, sees the demand for modern heating gadgets is growing. Even the underfloor electric heating systems in Kashmir are witnessing an increasing demand but the lack of uninterrupted electricity is restricting its wider use.
“Every year there is an increase in Turkish Bukhari,” Banday told ETV Bharat. This is evident from his shipment increasing to three containers this year from the partially one in the last five years. “The heater is safe, reliable, and affordable,” says Banday. A single Turkish heater costs around Rs 18,000-1,75000 depending on the model with facilities like cooking and oven. “We have 25 models and the demand is growing not only in Kashmir but in Ladakh as well for these products, especially with the record dip in temperatures. Electric heating systems or ACs work erratically in minus temperature coupled with lack of uninterrupted electricity.”
But not many could afford it and hence have to rely entirely on the traditional firepot. Like Gulzar Ahmad of Srinagar’s downtown, a daily wager says that his family of three including two school-going children have no access to hot water this winter in the face of rising electricity charges and installation of smart meters. He says that Kangri is the only gadget keeping them hot amid the harshest 40-day period of chillai kalan starting from December 21.
The Valley falls short of about a third of the 2,500-megawatt electricity demand during winters, triggering power cuts ranging from four to 12 hours daily that leave even the portable electric room heaters redundant.
A senior engineer from Kashmir Power Development Corporation Limited pleading anonymity as he was not authorised to speak says they are working to ensure a round-the-clock power supply. He cited that power reform measures like smart meters and insulated cables besides augmenting the power generating capacity are underway to curb pilferages and improve electricity supply.
But modern heating systems, notes poet-satirist Zareef Ahmad Zareef, are unlikely to replace the quintessential kangri as it has its own place in the history and culture of Kashmir. Though many compare it with Italy’s Brazier, however, the origins of kangri has evolved over centuries from the plain manan (a large earthen vessel) to its current shape: the well-ornamented willow encasement with bright colours, an influence of travellers from Central Asia.
“Not only kanger but the pheran, too, improved and changed under the influence of Central Asia,” says Zareef. “Just like a coat or gown could not change the utility of a pheran, modern heating systems can’t replace a kanger with a pheran. It warms each part of the body—hands, legs and even the face.”
That said, if handled carelessly, a kangri can result in burns or even blazes, gutting structures and posing danger to life. Then there are the stray cases of death due to asphyxiation, if used in poorly ventilated rooms. And not just such safety hazards, the use of these firepots is also associated with a peculiar skin cancer with a documented history of over 150 years. It is even called ‘Kangri cancer’, the name coined by W.J. Elmslie, who came to Kashmir and set up a missionary dispensary in 1865. A year later, he reported about the high incidence of this deadly disease in the maiden issue of the Indian Medical Gazette. A heat-induced skin carcinoma (cancer arising in the outer layers of the skin), it develops along the inner thigh and the lower abdomen—areas that tend to be in constant contact with the kangri.
The Regional Cancer Centre of the Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS), Srinagar, alone has been reporting about 60 such cases annually.
Dr Malik Tariq Rasool, a radiation oncologist who has treated and studied dozens of such patients at the institute, says awareness and replacement of Kangri by modern heating gadgets to a large extent has curbed the fatal disease. “Kangri cancer affects people aged above 60, as it can take up to two decades for heat to damage skin,” explains the oncologist. “What starts as discolouration of skin because of cellular damage can turn into a deadly cancer over a period of time. Over the next 40 years, we might not see this disease.”
Given such safety and health hazards—and not to forget the fate of star-crossed lovers Layla and Majnun—some caution is advisable before hugging that kangri through the cold winter night in Kashmir.
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