Srinagar, Sept. 10 -- A carpet can begin with code. A ceiling can be built from a pattern. A field can depend on distance, area and water. Yet counting, measurement, shape and sequence are present in all of them. In Kashmir, these ideas appear in familiar crafts, buildings, gardens, fields and traditional measurements. They shape how things are planned, made and used.

A striking example is the talim, a coded system in Kashmiri carpet weaving. A carpet design is converted into instructions for weavers. The talim records colours and the order of threads, allowing the design to be reproduced row by row. A picture becomes instructions and is recreated through weaving. The process requires counting, memory and coordination. The carpet is an o...