Rumala Sahib are silk, brocade or fine cotton cloths, frequently embroidered, and unlike most furnishings a gurdwara owns, they are typically donated by individual families rather than commissioned wholesale by the institution, an act of seva that makes gifting a rumala a common and personal form of devotion.
A specific market of embroiderers
Professional textile artisans in Punjab produce rumala specifically for this purpose, embroidering verses, floral motifs or symbols to order for families who want to mark an occasion, a birth, an anniversary, a death, by donating a cloth for the scripture rather than a plaque or a monetary gift alone.
Custody, laundering and retirement
Sevadars are responsible for changing and laundering rumala on a regular schedule, handled with the same care given to any object that dresses the Guru Granth Sahib directly. A rumala too worn for that use is not thrown away, gurdwaras commonly cut worn cloths down into smaller ritual pieces, give them to devotees as blessed keepsakes, or retire them respectfully rather than treating them as ordinary worn out fabric.
A textile trade with its own reputation
Certain towns in Punjab have built a specific reputation for fine rumala embroidery, similar to how other regions became known for particular textile crafts, and families sometimes seek out a specific workshop by name when commissioning a cloth for an important occasion rather than buying whatever is available locally, treating the donation as a considered gift rather than a routine purchase.