• – Sonam Chhomo

In the areas of Lahaul, Spiti and Ladakh, Tibet, Bhutan, Sikkim, and possibly Arunachal Pradesh, we have these traditional styled tables and mattresses in living rooms that are indigenously connected to our communities.

Now, I am no historian. I do not know (even though I searched relentlessly on jstor) how to answer this booming question in my head- what was the origin point of these tables and mattresses- because as of now no one can say that only one community created it. If there is an oral story in any of these communities, it might ignite a few of our confused minds. If there is none, then it is safe to assume that the origin story got lost somewhere in transition, while people migrated from one part of the world to another in search of a better future centuries ago. There must have been a point at which our ancestors must have stopped, claimed a land and said, “This is it. This is where I want to live, eat, sleep and die”. Out of their desire to live, they must have sought to make these lands their own by making their memories alive- by recreating their possessions and objects. 

As a descendant of such a family, I, hereby, introduce the modern readers to my modern tale of salchowk and thultan, the tables and mattresses as called in Lahaul valley. You must be thinking why tangible materials like tables and mattresses sound important in this article. The answer is simple- Material possession is a way of reconciling with a certain past. It symbolizes and strengthens the cultural identity of a society (1).

Salchowk is the table, made with wood and adorned, sometimes with paintings or Buddhist scriptures or plain wood depending on the socio-economic privilege of the owner. These tables, known as ritual tables are kept in Tibetan Buddhist monasteries and inside people’s prayer rooms. Other tables are designed more specifically for living rooms. These living rooms become the dining as well as living areas. 

Thultan is, what we call in modern times, a mattress. This is created by using a unique combination of coconut mesh, cotton/wool cloth and stitching thread. The cotton/woolen cloth is first stitched into five or six narrow row like compartments. These compartments are later filled with coconut mesh, which gives it a bouncy and cushion like effect. Thultans have always been used in these areas. In medieval times, a thultan was even given as a gift during weddings (2). 

Overtime, generations of thultans have been collected in the ancestral houses that it’s even safe to assume that we can build an entire tower of thultans inside our two-storey houses. 

The arrangement of thultans and salchowks are done according to the space provided in the room. In most cases, one salchow is often equal to one thultan meaning that one person sits on one thultan and eats/drinks using one salchow designated in that place. In simpler terms, each individual has his/her/their own unique dining spaces. It’s just you need to cross your legs and sit! 

In the modern age, there are also variations in the way thultans are arranged. For instance, nowadays thultans are also accompanied by cushions to support your back or thultans are added on top of another mattress or thultans are stacked on top of wooden covers to give it a modern finishing of sorts.

In the modern age, variations have also extended to the availability of such mattresses or ways of living. Many families are now adopting new furniture styles which are easier to maintain, found in markets and sometimes appeal to a wider range of people. It is also an age where as a result of many factors there aren’t many families who create or gift thultans. Of course, there are families who help in stitching thultans but lack of markets pose a threat to a wide-range availability of this cultural material. 

I am personally not sure about other areas because material possessions can also be a subjective outlook of families/villages/regions. Nevertheless, such unique ways of creating something should always be preserved for the sake of our cultural identity. And I believe that furnitures like salchowks and thultans can pave the way for a better cultural identity in its own small, significant way. 

Sources: 

1. The case of diasporic objects, Anna Pechurina, Sage publications, 2020
2. Oral history of the thultans by a relative 
3. Image taken from pinterest
4. Visual art created on canva