Mahal

There is no actual city, or area that was responsible for the so-called Mahal carpets. At the end of the 19th century, Arak (Sultanabad) was both the main manufacturing town and the marketing centre for all the weavings made round about. To the north was the Feraghan area, to the west Saraband, and to the east the Mushkabad and Mahallat regions. Towns included Malayer, Saruk and Lilihan. This was one of the most productive weaving areas of western Iran and indeed still is. It is possible that the name Mahal was originally derived from Mahallat, although it is not likely that all weavings called Mahal and marketed as such were actually made there, just as all the carpets called Mushkabad were not necessarily made there rather than anywhere else in this area. It seems that initially the best carpets made in Arak were sold as Sultanabads (or, if made in the Ziegler factory, as Zieglers), the best rugs made in Saruk and the surrounding areas and small towns and villages were sold as Saruks, and those carpets in what could be described as the typical Feraghan style were sold as Feraghans. The best examples of other distinctive types, those from Lilihan, Malayer and Saraband, were also sold under the names of those specific places. All other rugs and carpets were divided into two main groups: the best were sold as Mahal and the rest as Mushkabad. In recent years, the name Mahal has been used to describe a particular group of carpets, usually floral, which like most of the weavings from this area, are asymmetrically knotted; the majority have bleached white cotton warps and dyed blue cotton wefts.