Indians have mainly worn clothing made up
of locally grown cotton. India China Indus civilisation knew the process of silk production.
Recent analysis of Harappan silk fibres in beads have shown that silk was made
by the process of reeling, the art known only to China
Indus Valley Civilisation period
Evidences for textiles in Indus Valley
Civilisation are not available from preserved textiles but from impressions
made into clay and from preserved pseudomorphs. The only evidence found for
clothing is from iconography and some unearthed Harappan figurines which are
usually unclothed. These little depictions show that usually men wore a long
cloth wrapped over their waist and fastened it at the back (just like a close
clinging dhoti). Turban was also in custom in some communities as shown by some
of the male figurines. Evidences also show that there was a tradition of
wearing a long robe over the left shoulder in higher class society to show
their opulence. The normal attire of the women at that time was a very scanty
skirt up to knee length leaving the waist bare. Cotton made head dresses were
also worn by the women.
Fibre for clothing generally used were
cotton, flax, silk, wool, linen, leather, etc. One fragment of colored cloth is
available in evidences which is dyed with red madder show that people in
Harappan civilisation dyed their cotton clothes with a range of colors.
One thing was common in both the sexes that
both men and women were fond of jewellery. The ornaments include necklaces,
bracelets, earrings, anklet, rings, bangles, pectorals, etc. which were
generally made of gold, silver, copper, stones like lapis lazuli, turquoise,
amazonite, quartz, etc. Many of the male figurines also reveal the fact that men
at that time were interested in dressing their hair in various styles like the
hair woven into a bun, hair coiled in a ring on the top of the head, beards
were usually trimmed.
Vedic period
The Vedic age or the Vedic period was the
time duration between 1500 and 500 BC
The garments worn in Vedic period mainly
included a single cloth wrapped around the whole body and draped over the
shoulder. People used to wear the lower garment called paridhana which was
pleated in front and used to tie with a belt called mekhala and an upper
garment called uttariya (covered like a shawl) which they used to remove during
summers. "Orthodox males and females usually wore the uttariya by throwing
it over the left shoulder only, in the style called upavita". There was
another garment called pravara that they used to wear in cold. This was the
general garb of both the sexes but the difference existed only in size of cloth
and manner of wearing. Sometimes the poor people used to wear the lower garment
as a loincloth only while wealthy would wear it extending to the feet as a sign
of prestige .
Sari was the main costume for women in
Vedic culture. Women used to wrap it around their waist, pleated in front over
the belly and drape it over their shoulder covering their bust area and
fastened it with a pin at the shoulder. ‘Choli’ or blouse, as an upper garment
was introduced in the later Vedic period with sleeves and a neck. A new version
of sari, little smaller than sari, called dupatta, was also incorporated later
and it was used to wear along with ghaghara (frilled skirt up to feet). The
word sari is derived from Sanskrit शाटी śāṭī which means 'strip of cloth' and शाडी śāḍī or साडी sāḍī in
Prakrit, and became sāṛī in Hindi. Most initial attires of men in those times
were dhoti and lungi. Dhoti is basically a single cloth wrapped around the
waist and by partitioning at the center, is fastened at the back. A dhoti is
from four to six feet long white or colour strip of cotton. Generally, in those
times, no upper garment was worn and Dhoti was the only single clothing that
men used to drape it over their bodies. Later on, many costumes evolved like
kurtas, pajamas, trousers, turbans, etc. Wool, linen, diaphanous silks and
muslin were the main fibres used for making cloth and patterns with grey strips
and checks were made over clothes.
In the Rig Veda, mainly three terms were
described like Adhivastra, Kurlra and Andpratidhi for garments which
correspondingly denotes the outer cover (veil), a head-ornament or head-dress
(turban) and part of woman's dress. Many evidences are found for ornaments like
Niska, Rukma were used to wear in the ear and neck; there was a great use of
gold beads in necklaces which show that gold was mainly used in jewellery.
Rajata-Hiranya (white gold), also known as silver was not in that much of use
as no evidence of silver is figured out in the Rig Veda.
In the Atharva Veda, garments began to be
made of inner cover, an outer cover and a chest-cover. Besides Kurlra and
Andpratidhi (which already mentioned in the Rig Veda), there are other parts
like as Nivi, Vavri, Upavasana, Kumba, Usnlsa, and Tirlta also appeared in
Atharva Veda, which correspondingly denotes underwear, upper garment, veil and
the last three denoting some kinds of head-dress (head-ornament). There were
also mentioned Updnaha (Footwear) and kambala (blanket), Mani (jewel) is also
mentioned for making ornaments in this Vedic text.
Mauryan period
During the Mauryan dynasty (322–185 BC)
evidence of female clothing is available from the statues of Yakshis; the
female epitome of fertility. The most common attire of the people at that time
was antariya, which they used to wear as a lower garment. Generally made of
cotton, linen or muslin and decorated with gemstone, it is fastened at the
centre of the waist tied in a looped knot. A cloth was covered in lehnga style
around the hips to form a tubular skirt. An embellished long piece of cloth,
hanging at the front, wrapped around the waist is pleated into the antariya is
called patka. Ladies in the Mauryan Empire often used to wear an embroidered
fabric waistband with drum headed knots at the ends. As an upper garment,
people’s main garb was uttariya, a long scarf. The difference existed only in
the manner of wearing. Sometimes, its one end is thrown over one shoulder and
sometimes it is draped over both the shoulders.
In textiles, mainly cotton, silk, linen,
wool, muslin, etc. are used as fibres. Ornaments latched on to a special place
in this era also. Some of the jewelleries had their specific names also.
Satlari, chaulari, paklari were some of the necklaces. Similarly, bajuband,
kangan, sitara, patna
Gupta period
The Gupta period is called the golden age
of India
The antariya worn by the women turned into
gagri, which has many swirling effects exalted by its many folds. Hence dancers
used to wear it a lot. As it is evident from many Ajanta
paintings, women used to wear only the lower garment in those times, leaving
the bust part bare. Later on, various kinds of blouses (Cholis) evolved. Some
of them had strings attached leaving the back open while others was used to tie
from front side, exposing the midriff. Calanika was an antariya which could be
worn as kachcha and lehnga style together. Women sometimes wore antariya in
saree style, throwing one end of it over the shoulder, but the main feature is
that they did not use it to cover their heads as it was prominent in earlier
periods.
Clothing in Gupta period was mainly cut and
sewn garments. A long sleeved brocaded tunic became the main costume for
privileged people like the nobles and courtiers. The main costume for the king
was most often a blue closely woven silk antariya, perhaps with a block printed
pattern. In order to tighten the antariya, a plain belt took the position of
kayabandh. Mukatavati (necklace which has a string with pearls), kayura
(armband), kundala (earring), kinkini (small anklet with bells), mekhala
(pendant hung at the centre, also known as katisutra), nupura (anklet made of
beads) were some of the ornaments made of gold, used in that time. There was an
extensive use of ivory during that period for jewellery and ornaments.
During Gupta period, men used to have long
hair along with beautiful curls and this style was popularly known as gurna
kuntala style. In order to decorate their hair, they sometimes put headgear, a
band of fabric around their hairs. On the other hand, women used to decorate
their hair with luxuriant ringlets or a jewelled band or a chaplet of flowers.
They often used to make a bun on the top of head or sometimes low on the neck,
surrounded by flowers or ratnajali (bejewelled net) or muktajala (net of
pearls).
Mughal period
The Mughal dynasty included luxury clothes
that complemented interest in art and poetry. Both men and women were fond of
jewellery. Clothing fibres generally included muslins of three types:
Ab-e-Rawan (running water), Baft Hawa (woven air) and Shabnam (evening dew) and
the other fibres were silks, velvets and brocades. Mughal royal dresses
consisted of many parts as listed below:
Men
Jama: This was considered as the main royal
garb of Mughal emperors. It is a tight fitting frock coat with flared skirt up
to knee length fastened on the right side of the body.
Patka: Used to keep the jewelled sword
around the waist of jama. The patka is a type of girdle made of a fine fiber
which is hand painted, printed or embroidered
Chogha: These are embroidered, long sleeved
coats generally worn over jamas, angrakhas and other garments. It is generally
up to knee length and is open from the front.
Pagri or turban: This was common attire of
Mughals and their subjects, as it proclaimed their status. To give a turban to
somebody means you are relinquishing your powers to them. On the other hand,
the forcible removal of a turban was considered a mortifying disgrace.
Women
Mughal women wore a large variety of
ornaments from head to toe. Their costumes generally included Peshwaj, Yalek,
Pa-jama, Churidar, Shalwar, Dhilija, Garara and the Farshi , they all included
head ornaments, anklets, and necklaces. This was done as a distinctive mark of
their prosperity and their rank in society. Headdresses were often worn by
Mughal women and were available in various styles.
During the Mughal period there was an
extensive and pervasive tradition of wearing embroidered footwear, with
ornamented leather and decorated with the art of Aughi. Lucknow
Rajput period
Rajputs emerged in 7th and 8th century as a
new community of Kshatriya people. Rajputs followed a traditional life style
for living which shows their martial spirit, ethnicity and chivalric grandeur.
Men
Rajput's main costumes were the
aristocratic dresses (court-dress) which includes angarkhi, pagdi, chudidar
pyjama and a cummerbund (belt). Angarkhi (short jacket) is long upper part of
garments which they used to wear over a sleeveless close fitting cloth. Nobles
of Rajputs generally attired themselves in the Jama, Shervani as an upper
garment and Salvar, Churidar-Pyjama (a pair of shaped trousers) as lower
garments. The Dhoti was also in tradition in that time but styles were
different to wear it. Tevata style of dhoti was prominent in Desert region and
Tilangi style in the other regions
Women
"To capture the sensuality of the
female figures in Rajput paintings, women were depicted wearing transparent
fabrics draped around their bodies". Rajput women's main attire was the
Sari (wrapped over whole body and one of the end thrown on the right shoulder)
or Lengha related with the Rajasthani traditional dress. On the occasion
(marriage) women preferred Angia. After marriage of Kanchli, Kurti, and angia
were the main garb of women. The young girls used to wear the Puthia as an
upper garment made of pure cotton fabric and the Sulhanki as lower garments
(loose pyjama). Widows and unmarried women clothed themselves with Polka (half
sleeved which ends at the waist) and Ghaghra as a voluminous gored skirt made
of line satin, organza or silk. Other important part of clothing is Odhna of
women which is worked in silk.
Jewellery preferred by women were exquisite
in the style or design. One of the most jewellery called Rakhdi (head
ornament), Machi-suliya (ears) and Tevata, Pattia, and the aad (all is necklace).
Rakhdi, nath and chuda shows the married woman's status. The footwear is same
for men and women and named Juti made of leather.
Source From Wikipedia
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