The tradition of papier mache has had a long cultural lineage, and its history is linked with the formation of ethnic and religious identities in Kashmir. The beginning of the craft of papier mache is closely associated with the advent of Islam in Kashmir. Aurel Stein states that Islam came to Kashmir in gradual significant phases, and spread mostly through the influence of Sufi pirs.[6] The process was accelerated in the latter half of fourteenth century after Rinchana, a Buddhist prince from Ladakh, converted to Islam and reigned as Sultan Sadruddin, the first Muslim ruler of Kashmir. Papier mache is said to have been brought to Kashmir by the eighth sultan of Kashmir, Sultan Zain-ul-Abidin, from Samarkand in the fifteenth century.[7] However, in the collective memory of the people of Kashmir, the craft and its popularisation is associated with Mir Sayyid Ali Hamadani of Iran, lovingly known as Shah-i-Hamadan. He is said to have come to Kashmir with 700 craftsmen from Iran, who taught the local Kashmiris carpet making, woodwork, papier mache and most of the handicraft work that continues to be practised there till date.
