Are you wearing Persian Pickles ?

The Soul of India would like to introduce you to a traditional pattern that can be found in cloth design almost everywhere:

The Paisley pattern is a design that uses the boteh, a droplet-shaped vegetable motif of Persian or Indian origin. These designs became very popular in the West in the 18th and 19th centuries and  followed imports of post-Mughal versions of the design from British India, for example on Cashmere shawls.

Design scholars call the distinctive shape boteh and believe it is the convergence of a stylized floral spray and a cypress tree, symbol of life and eternity.

In Bengali (Bangla), the Paisley design is known as Kolke, in Pakistan, Paisley designs are widely termed the Carrey design. Carrey in Urdu means mango seed. In Punjab, this pattern is referred to as an “Ambi”. Ambi is derived from the word Amb which means mango in Punjabi.In Tamil Nadu, the design is known as Mankolam (Mango design). The traditional design is also used in gold jewelleries.

The manga maalai (Mango necklace)with matching earrings is a traditional bharathanatyam/temple jewellery.It is a prominent design in Kanchipuran silk sarees. It resembles a mango and has sometimes been associated with Hinduism.

Resembling a twisted teardrop, the pattern is of Iranian origin, but its western name derives from the town of Paisley in central Scotland, where the designs were produced.

Quilt-makers call it “Persian Pickles”.

Find the pattern on our website!