Spinning in the Himalayas, Part 2: Spinner and Charkha

For centuries, the Gurung people of Nepal’s Annapurna mountains have herded sheep and spun wool on charkhas to make yarn for blankets and cloaks. Learn about the hardy shepherds and sheep, plus get a glimpse into their fiber prep methods, in Part I of “Spinning in the Himalayas.”

The Charkha

Gurung spinners in the mid-hill villages of Ghandruk, Ghalegaun, and Sikles use a spindle wheel they call a charkha or a rad in the local Gurung language. The term charkha calls to mind Ghandi’s charkha from neighboring India. In rural Nepali villages, however, the charkha is simply, a rough, homemade spindle wheel. Nepali social activist and devotee of Ghandi, Tulsi Mehar Shrestha, is credited with bringing the charkha from India into Kathmandu in the 1920s, but evidence in paintings from the nineteenth century show that fiber has been spun on charkhas in Nepal for at least 200 years and quite likely, for much longer.

A charkha from the village of Sikles; photo by Kathleen Mahoney

Shrestha did have a significant impact on hand spinning in Nepal. As a young man he spoke out against the oppression of marginalized people, especially women. He was an early social reformer and advocated programs to help women become financially self-sufficient. Then Prime Minister Chandra Shumsher J. B. Rana accused Shrestha of being anti-national and gave him the choice between exile or life imprisonment. Shrestha left for India and stayed with Mahatma Gandhi at Sabarmati Ashram for about five years, learning to spin on a charkha and to weave cotton. Shrestha’s experiences with Mahatma Gandhi gave him a greater insight into the lives of the underprivileged, instilling an even greater commitment to return to Nepal to work for social change. Gandhi wrote a letter to the Nepali Prime Minister requesting Shrestha be allowed to return to Nepal where he could work on behalf of the Nepalese people. The request was granted. Shrestha returned to Kathmandu in 1923 with some charkhas and a bale of raw cotton donated by Gandhi and began his spinning program.

Shrestha started distributing cotton to women in villages and encouraged them to spin with the charkha. In 1927, he established Shree Chandra Kamdhenu Charkha Pracharak Mahaguthi, the first social nongovernmental organization in Nepal, which focused on empowering women. Today, the organization manages two stores in Kathmandu, Mahaguthi, specializing in Nepalese handicrafts.

Click on any image below to open it in full-screen mode and to learn more about the charkhas from the three villages.

Nepali Charkha

Older spinners in Ghalegaun and Ghandruk remember when men used hand spindles to spin nettle on their way to the fields and back to help the women with the thread production; sometimes they spun wool that way as well. But this practice ended long ago, and now it is only women on charkhas who produce wool yarn for weaving. In Sikles, women spin wool and