भारतीय वस्त्र

The tradition & historical record

Clothing in India varies with the different ethnicities, geography, climate, and cultural traditions of the people of each region of India. Historically, clothing has evolved from simple garments like kaupina, langota, achkan, lungi, sari, to perform rituals and dances. In urban areas, western clothing is common and uniformly worn by people of all social levels. India also has a great diversity in terms of weaves, fibers, colors, and the material of clothing. Sometimes, color codes are followed in clothing based on the religion and ritual concerned. The clothing in India also encompasses a wide variety of Indian embroidery, prints, handicrafts, embellishments, and styles of wearing clothes. A wide mix of Indian traditional clothing and Western styles can be seen in India. ¹

India's recorded history of clothing goes back to the fifth millennium BC in the Indus Valley Civilisation, where cotton was spun, woven and dyed. Bone needles and wooden spindles have been unearthed in excavations at the site. The cotton industry in ancient India was well developed, and several of the methods survive until today. Herodotus, an ancient Greek historian described Indian cotton as "a wool exceeding in beauty and goodness that of sheep". Indian cotton clothing was well adapted to the dry, hot summers of the subcontinent. The grand epic Mahabharata, composed in about 400 BC, tells of the god Krishna staving off Draupadi's disrobing by bestowing an unending cheera upon her. Most of the present knowledge of ancient Indian clothing comes from rock sculptures and paintings in cave monuments such as Ellora. These images show dancers and goddesses wearing what appears to be a dhoti wrap, a predecessor to the modern sari. The upper castes dressed in fine muslin and wore gold ornaments The Indus Civilisation also knew the process of silk production. An analysis of Harappan silk fibres in beads has shown that silk was made by the process of reeling, a process allegedly known only to China until the early centuries AD. Kimkhwab is an Indian brocade woven of silk and gold or silver thread. The word kimkhwāb, derived from the Persian, means "a little dream", Kimkhwāb, known in India from ancient times, was called hiraṇya, or cloth of gold, in Vedic literature (c. 1500 BC). In the Gupta period (4th–6th century AD), it was known as puṣpapaṭa a, or cloth with woven flowers. During the Mughal period (1526–1857), when kimkhwāb was extremely popular with the rich, the great centres of brocade weaving were Benares (Vārānasi), Ahmādābād, Surat, and Aurangābād. ¹

In India, women's clothing varies widely and is closely associated with the local culture, religion, and climate. Traditional Indian clothing for women across the country in Indian includes saris worn with choli tops; a skirt called a lehenga or chaniya worn with choli and a dupatta scarf to create an ensemble called a ghagra choli; while many south Indian children traditionally wear Langa voni.. Across India, saris are traditionally worn by married women, although in areas such as Rajasthan and Gujarat, for example, the chaniya choli (as it is called there) is worn by all ages. In many rural parts of India, traditional clothing is still worn today due to ease of materials, comfort and accessibility. Jewellery is hugely significant for Indian men and women. Men traditionally wear rings with stones or necklaces, and for women, there is an assortment of jewellery that includes maang-tikka, earrings, nose rings, necklaces, bangles, waist chains, anklets and toe-rings - these all form part of the traditional Solah Shringaar for married Hindu women. A Hindu religious mark called a tilak is usually applied with sandalwood or vermillion between the eyebrows, and as such, the modern iteration of the tilak known as a bindi is also worn. Indo-Western clothing is the fusion of Western and South Asian fashion. Other clothing includes the churidar, gamucha, kurti, kurta, dhoti, lungi and sherwani. The traditional style of clothing in India varies with male or female distinctions. This is still followed in rural areas, though it is changing in the urban areas. ¹

A saree or sari is a female garment in the Indian subcontinent. A sari is a strip of unstitched cloth, ranging from four to nine metres in length, that is draped over the body in various styles. These include: Sambalpuri Saree from East, Mysore silk and Ilkal of Karnataka, Kanchipuram of Tamil Nadu from South, Paithani from Maharashtra and Banarasi from North, among others. The most common style is for the sari to be wrapped around the waist, with one end then draped over the shoulder baring the midriff. The sari is usually worn over a petticoat. Blouse may be "backless" or of a halter neck style. These are usually more dressy with a lot of embellishments such as mirrors or embroidery, and may be worn on special occasions. Women in the armed forces, when wearing a sari uniform, don a half-sleeve shirt tucked in at the waist. Teenage girls may wear half-sarees, a three-piece set consisting of a langa, a choli and a stole wrapped over it like a saree. Women usually wear full sarees. Indian wedding saris are typically red or pink, a tradition that goes back to India's pre-modern history. Saris are usually known by different names in different places. In Kerala, white saris with golden borders are known as kavanis and are worn on special occasions. A simple white sari, worn as a daily wear, is called a mundu. Saris are called pudavai in Tamil Nadu. In Karnataka, saris are called Seere. The traditional production of handloom sarees is important to economic development in rural communities. The Sari Series provides a documented resource of over 80 different regional drapes of India. ¹

Mundum Neriyathum ¹

Mundum Neriyathum is the oldest remnant of the ancient form of the saree, which covered only the lower part of the body. ¹

The salwar is a generic description of the lower garment incorporating the Punjabi salwar, Sindhi suthan, Dogri pyjama (also called suthan), and the Kashmiri suthan. The salwar kameez has been traditionally worn by the women of the Punjab region and neighbouring areas, including Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir, where the ensemble has been called the Punjabi suit, salwar suit or simply suit. The Punjabi suit also includes the "churidaar" and "kurta" ensemble which is also popular in Southern India where it is known as the "churidaar". The material for the dupatta usually depends upon that of the suit and is generally of cotton, georgette, silk, chiffon, among others. The suthan, similar to the salwar is common in Sindh where it is worn with the cholo and Kashmir where it is worn with the Phiran. The Kashmiri phiran is similar to the Dogri pyjama. The patiala salwar is an exaggeratedly wide version of the salwar, its loose pleats stitched together at the bottom. ¹

Churidaar is a variation on the Punjabi suit, which is worn by women across India as casual attire or dressed up for occasion… ¹

The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Clothing in India”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. ¹

clothing in India is garments in the south Asian country of India, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition. ²

The source record links this tradition to 3 external registers, which can be verified through the citation. ²