GI No. 587 – NGOTEKHERH

Ngotekherh is a traditional cloth (Handicraft) of the Mizo people. It is either draped or wrapped around the waist by women. It is a culturally significant textile/cloth of the Mizo people. Ngotekherh is a traditional puan highly prized by the Mizos. In the beginning this puan was popularly known as Puanhruih and it appears to have received this name from the word Hruih which in Mizo language means transverse stripes on cloth. The weaving of this stripes too was specially designed whereby the woof almost completely hid the warp from common view.

In fact, in the early days gradual development of puan-weaving such as speciality was looked upon as the great achievement in the weaving technique and their continued efforts to stabilize a distinctive design for this type of puan ultimately led to what it is today.

This puan is also now known as Ngotekherh where the word Ngote in Mizo language refers to a pet name for a little boy or a girl and kherh is synonymous with hruih. It may not be unlikely that the name Puanhruih got gradually changed into Ngotekherh in view of its daintiness and newly evolved beauty in its design.