HONOURING WITH COTTON SCARVES
Image: Prayer flags, Sikkim. Image courtesy of Kailash Pradhan
Written by Brinda Gill
“Impermanence is one of the fundamental messages of Lord Buddha. He spoke of all that exists as transient. Yet, when I travel across Sikkim I came across polyester khadas -our traditional scarves, that are discarded after being worn or when worn out. Sadly, they do not disintegrate. Their sight had me thinking if it would be possible to produce cotton khadas to preserve the precious ecology of the Himalayas”, says Sonam Tashi Gyaltsen, a product designer and entrepreneur, based in Gangtok, the capital of Sikkim.
Sonam is the founder of design consultancy Echostream working in several sectors with local communities. He is also founder of LA Design and T; the former is a product enterprise that works on products focused on finding solutions for mountain specific problems, while T is a Sikkim tea brand that uses reusable bamboo packaging.
Sikkim is a small landlocked mountainous Indian state bordering the Tibet Autonomous Region, Nepal and Bhutan. It has a multi-ethnic population and is home to a large Buddhist population. The traditional Buddhist custom of offering a khada to priests, monks, guests and at sacred sites is followed by many in the state.
Image: Sikkim. Image Courtesy of Kailash Pradhan
Khadas are typically white in colour (being symbolic of purity) and also golden yellow. They often bear motifs of the eight sacred Buddhist symbols of a parasol, a pair of fish, a treasure vase, a lotus, a conch shell, an endless knot, a victory banner, and a golden wheel.
Traditionally, silk khadas were offered and being expensive the custom was limited. However, in recent decades polyester khadas have been produced that has led to the custom of offering khadas becoming very popular: they are offered at religious, official, festive and social occasions, at weddings, welcome and farewell functions, to visiting dignitaries and tourists. To address the issue of non- biodegradable polyester khadas, Sonam had cotton khadas woven; these are plain and with printed motifs. These khadas are priced low to encourage their use. 
Image: Prayer flags. Image Courtesy of Sonam Tashi Gyaltsen
Sonam now plans to have cotton prayer flags woven to replace polyester prayer flags. Buddhist prayer flags are square or rectangular pieces of coloured cloth, strung across long horizontal strings suspended between spaces such as sacred sites, ends of bridges and trees as well as vertical flags that bear square or rectangular fabrics or one large fabric and streamers. The flags are composed of fabrics of five colours (that are symbolic of the elements) and are often printed with prayers. The flags are hoisted at open sites to convey the prayers and blessings -they bear- far and wide. Sonam hopes polyester flags will gradually make way for cotton flags that will be gentle on the environment.
Find out more: @sonam_gyaltsen