The use of fire-pots in Indian administered Kashmir is common during the colder months of the year. These wicker basket hand-held braziers are called Kangri (or Kangir/Kanger). Both men and women carry them around, tucked under their long wollen cloaks called Pheran/Phiran.
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| The Kangri or wicker basket brazier / fire-pot. |
Wherever the men go, if you see one wearing a wollen pheran, you can bet he has his trustworthy kangri near him or hidden underneath his cloak. Come cold winds and chilly rain or snowfall, the kangri keeps them warm in their walkabouts town or when they are waiting for customers or friends to arrive.
Women carry them too, and that gives an impression, albeit false, that women there are pregnant all the time. In fact the bulge in the belly is the kangri being held underneath their pheran
There are shops where the locals can go and buy hot charcoals for their pots. The man that owns the shop (see pic below) and his wife and family works hard to keep the wood stoked so that he can provide customers with hot charcoal embers when theirs run out.
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| A Kashmiri men in pheran with his kangri by the rodside near him (by the green post). |
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| They are NOT pregnant - they are just keeping their pots in there. These women in pheran seemed to carry their pots a little higher that the men do. |
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| No, she is not handicapped and definitely not pregnant! She is merely holding the kangri with her right hand. |
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| The water bong and a kangri - all that a man would need in Kashmir. |
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| The fire-pot man in Pahalgam - see this post about him: Faces of Kashmir - The Fire-Pot Man |
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| The women of the family are responsible for the hard work of bringing in the firewood for the charcoals. |
