Monpa Tibetan Rug Carpet Weaving Tawang Arunachal Pradesh

The Monpa community of Tawang district in Arunachal Pradesh weave Tibetan-style woollen rugs and carpet in the high-altitude village clusters of the Tawang valley, using mountain sheep wool on wooden frame looms in a tradition shared with Tibetan communities across the Himalayan borderland. Monpa carpet weaving uses a cut-pile technique where wool strands are tied onto the warp using the Tibetan (symmetrical) knot, then cut and trimmed to create the pile surface. The patterns draw from Tibetan Buddhist iconography and geometric traditions: the dragon and phoenix, auspicious cloud bands, lotus roundels, and the snow lion are recurring motifs in Tawang carpet designs. The natural wool is dyed using both traditional plant dyes (walnut, madder, indigo) and modern synthetic dyes for brighter palette options. Monpa weavers, predominantly women, produce rugs for domestic use — prayer room floor mats, seat rugs for monastery platforms, and sleeping rugs for cold altitude nights — and for the Tawang tourist market. The carpet tradition is closely linked to the Tawang Monastery (the largest Buddhist monastery in India), which uses Monpa-woven carpets for its assembly halls. The Arunachal Pradesh government and the Craft Development Institute support Monpa weaving revival through design training and marketing in the state emporium.