Pune team documents Kashmir’s endangered craft of building houseboats

Houseboats are made from deodhar, which has become increasingly difficult to source due to the depleting forest cover.

Nearly a year after the team started documenting this craft, master craftspersons and their teams were recently felicitated at the School of Designs in Srinagar in the presence of the director of Jammu & Kashmir’s Department of Handicrafts.

Funded by the British Museum’s Endangered Material Knowledge Programme, this documentation project sheds light on how the network of lakes and rivers that make up the Valley gave rise to the construction of floating dwellings.

The study is led by Sayali Athale and Anto Gloren. The other members of the team are Reyan U Rafiq, an interpreter from Srinagar, and researchers Ashutosh Chowhan and Anubhav Sutar from Pune. Gloren and Athale, both architects and woodworkers, have been focusing on timber in building for a while and visited the Valley a few times.
“Kashmir has an amazing range of craftsmanship, including boat building. The shikara even has a GI tag (a Geographical Indication tag, which is a form of intellectual property protection), but the craft of constructing houseboats has never been documented. Since this practice is now endangered, we felt it necessary to help document it,” says Gloren.

For centuries, the tradition of making boats shaped the region’s culture and character. In the 19th century, these floating houses, called doongas, started being used for tourism — resulting in the well-oiled myth that the British invented houseboats.

“The houseboat has evolved from several variants, and the doonga was the last of its indigenous lineage. The existence of doongas has been recorded since the early 18th century. Yet, in popular narrative, the credit for the invention of the houseboat is given to its late 19th century British patrons. This misrepresentation of the houseboat as being an English invention and not an evolution of the local doonga has meant that it is seen as colonial heritage rather than a local tradition,” says Athale.

For centuries, the tradition of making boats shaped the region’s culture and character.

“The houseboat is perceived as an import serving tourists, and the history of the communities of local people dwelling in boats before the arrival of the British is often forgotten. Through our research, in tracing its predecessors, we hope to also influence this narrative and help redirect it for the future generations,” she adds.

Due to increasing pollution of lakes, the construction of new houseboats was prohibited in 1988. Before its ban, there were thousands of houseboats on Dal and Nigeen lakes, and the Jhelum. Fewer than 750 houseboats remain today. While Srinagar’s lakes are increasingly threatened by climate change and siltation, the future of houseboats is closely tied to the life of the lake itself.

“Due to the limitations, the number of craftsmen with the specific skill of houseboat hull construction has reduced over the last 35 years. With the loss of another craftsman in January this year, only four senior craftsmen remain on record who possess this knowledge. While their sons have assisted them in constructing houseboats, their primary professions are not houseboat building. With the passage of these senior craftsmen then, it remains to be seen if the knowledge tradition will be continued,” says Gloren.

Houseboats are made from deodhar, which has become increasingly difficult to source due to the depleting forest cover. Forest policies also do not permit harvesting of local timber. Trees that are felled from disease or natural disasters or ones that fall naturally are auctioned by the forest department.

“Given their low quantities, this wood is expensive and often unaffordable for houseboat owners. Additionally, the most important structure of the houseboat, the pasch, which are on both sides of the hull, are to be made from a single piece of wood 50-60 feet long. Such long pieces of wood are increasingly difficult to find. Thus, the practice of construction in deodhar itself is constrained,” says Athale.

In the meantime, houseboats have turned into a vehicle for tourism. Only locals remember that the houseboat’s ancestors, including the doonga, were, historically, a part of everyday life, and important for the Valley’s trade and commerce.

To document the tradition of boat building in the Valley, the team, first, got in touch with the community of boat builders — only to come across a modern impediment.

“At a time when craftsmen were interviewed, often by social media users, they were sceptical about the study’s earnestness, although they did entertain us with enthusiasm,” says Gloren.

After a year of working with the same people, the team managed to build trust, which led the artisans to share important details of boat building.

“Master craftsmen Ghulam Ahmed Najar, his brother Mohammed Subhan Najar, both in their 60s, and their young apprentice, Adil Basheer Penchoo, have assumed the role of teachers. They allowed us to film them working, and explained details. We met wasta (a master craftsman in Kashmiri) Abdul Khaliq during the first week of our study, but lost contact with him. We visited his workshop a few months later to interview him. We also bumped into another craftsman, Mohammad Yusuf Kahwa, rather serendipitously while at a market in Srinagar,” says Athale.

Their documentation shows how the houseboat, the doonga and its cargo version, the bahast, were all constructed using deodhar. A reduced version, the sand boat, is now constructed using imported silver oak. “While the life of a deodhar boat is around 60 years, a silver oak boat will last only a few seasons,” says Gloren.

The team was able to secure rare material in film, drawing and oral recordings because they saw a boat being built. “This happened because seven houseboats were gutted in a fire in 2022 and special permission was granted by the Central government to rebuild them. Their reconstruction was probably the last opportunity to document this process. We have captured it in video, drawings and oral narration… so that it can be revived by the future generations of Kashmir in case it is lost now,” says Athale.

Released in 2023, a new policy on houseboats permits minor repair of existing houseboats.

“Through the ups and downs in the local events and resultant fortunes of the people, their love for handwork remains inspiring to study. They find hope and courage through their hand work and we are thankful that we had the opportunity to support this in some way,” says Gloren.