Saffron's and Paisley's

After it being pointed out in class, I began to notice the perpetual recurrence of saffron's and paisley's in Agha Shahid Ali's poetry. A quick google search revealed (to me) that saffron is a spice produced by pounding flower petals to make an orange paste, that at the time was almost as valuable by its weight than is gold, and remains among the world's most costly spices. Kashmir possesses the world's finest saffrons and they thus serve to depict it's claim to wealth and glory. His references to saffron's also function to reinforce the mesmerizing images of vast expanses covered with royal purple, that are often illustrated by writers and artists attempting to justify Kashmir's common appraisal as 'paradise on earth'. The saffron has also often been regarded as a symbol of Kashmir itself, encompassing both the portrayal of its ‘exquisite’ qualities, as well as its violent creation, like the paste - the result of a violence - the smashing of fragile flower petals.

As the pioneer of highly-prized shawls, often covered in abstract, fossil-like shapes known as paisley's - the symbol is associated with Kashmir and it thus serves to demonstrate another of it's claims to glory. Not only are the shawls admired worldwide, but curved paisley designs have seeped into western fashion trends. It's use in Agha Shahid Ali's poem could thus possibly indicate not only a sort of cultural pride, but also the kind of cultural borrowing, exchange and fluidity that interplays with other factors to produce the condition of exile.

These two delicate, beautiful images recur in such poems as ‘Farewell’, ‘The Last Saffron’, and ‘The Country Without a Post Office’, serving as miniature emblems for Kashmir as an earthly paradise. In ‘The Last Saffron’ (and several other poems), the narrator is rowed on a boat to an island where a keeper guards the ‘world’s last saffron’ — it presents an image of a fast fading Kashmir and thus depicts the transient nature of time and space for the exile. Furthermore, the constant use of saffron's and paisley's is in accordance with the tendency of the exilic figure to cling to and seek refuge in past glory. It also depicts the exile's resolve - the desperate urge of protecting or reviving that past at all costs - even death. 

"on the day I'll die, past the guards, and he, keeper of the world's last saffron, rowed meon an Island the size of a grave. Ontwo yards he rowed me into the sunset, past all pain."