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A Historical Outline of Indian "habillement"

by www.fashionindia.net

Any account of historical Indian costumes runs into serious difficulties not for want of literary evidence or of archaeological and visual materials: of both of these there is a fair measure that is available. The difficulty arises when one tries to collate the information that can be culled from these sources. The descriptions in literary works, for all their great poetic beauty and elegance, are, in the nature of things, not precise and one has to guess and reconstruct.

Sometimes the descriptions are so general that they can fit more than one costume quite different from each other. All this is not to say that a broad, general idea cannot be formed of the kinds of costumes worn in the ancient, medieval or the late medieval periods in India.

What one is denied is the possibility of going into the many subtleties that Indian costumes possess. Their range is remarkably wide, according to the great size of the country, and geographical differences, and the bewildering diversity of its ethnic groups is added the complex factor of the coming in, at regular intervals, of foreign peoples into India at different periods of time and in varying numbers.

The costumes that these people brought along did not stay necessarily apart from the mainstream of Indian dresses - that one could have dealt with - but, with the Indian genius for adaptation and modification, these costumes become altered, even metamorphosed, and eventually assimilated to the broad, native Indian range of dress.

One has, therefore, to sift and isolate, and then relate and bring together, the evidence available which is not the easiest of tasks in the context of Indian history where material culture does not always get the attention it does elsewhere.

Through sharp analysis of Sanskrit, Prakrit, and Hindi, as much as Arabic and Persian sources, they have brought within reach a rich body of material. The inherent difficulty in the matter of interpreting this material and relating it to surviving archaeological and visual evidence naturally leaves some matters obscure, and others open to controversy. But a very substantial body of information has been collected.

A question that needs to be disposed of rather early is whether, in the indigenous Indian tradition, stitched garments were known or used at all. From time to time statements have been made that the art of sewing was unknown to the early Indians, and that it was an import from outside. Serious and early students of Indian costumes, like Forbes Watson, have stated, mostly on the authority of other scholars, that the art of sewing came to India only with the coming of the Muslims.' This statement needs no longer to be taken seriously.

As has been established, not only was the needle and its use known to Indians from the very beginning of the historic periods that we know of; the art of sewing was practiced, and one comes upon clear and early references to stitched garments that leave very little doubt about the matter.'

It is possible that the view that "before the invasion of India by the Mohammedans, the art of sewing was not practiced there" was formed not on the basis of any historical or scholarly inquiry into this matter but simply 'observation': observation of the dresses of two different categories of people, those who were far more rooted in the Indian soil and could thus be taken as representing the long Indian tradition of wearing costumes in a particular fashion, and those who could be linked with outsiders' who came to India late, and visibly preferred different kinds of dresses.

This observation could only have been superficial; besides, clear distinction needs to be made between the knowledge of, and the use of, sewing. It is possible perhaps also to draw a distinction between what, in the Indian context, can be designated as "timeless" costumes, and those that are time-bound".

The 'timeless' Indian dress of men, thus, consists of garments that use no stitching, garments in other words that, as Forbes Watson says, "leave the loom, ready for wear". The Dhoti, the Scarf or Uttariya, and the Turban, which have never really disappeared from any part of India, belong to this category, and their marked visibility in India could have led one erroneously to conclude that the early Indians did not use any sewn garments.

Likewise, for women, the Dhoti or the Sari as the lower garments, combined with a Stanapatta or breast-band for covering the breasts, forms a basic ensemble, and once again consists of garments that do not have to be stitched, the breast-garment being simply fastened in a knot at the back. And the Dhoti or the Sari worn covering both legs at the same time or, in the alternative, with one end of it passed between the legs and tucked at the back in the fashion that is still prevalent in large area of India.

But the preference of Indian men and women for these garments, rational and understandable in the context of the generally hot Indian climate, does not afford any proof that for long periods of time the Indians knew no other garments than those which "left the loom, ready for wear".

It is not easy to make out everything in Alberuni's description, but there is little doubt that he is referring to a dhoti when he speaks of 'turbans used for trousers', and a kaupina when he is speaking of 'a rag of two fingers' breadth bound over the loins. But the amusing reference to 'trousers lined with as much cotton as would suffice to make a number of counterpanes and saddle rugs' is not easy to make out. Possibly he is referring to dhotis of considerable length and fullness that were tucked between the legs and at the waist behind.

Similar problems arise with the accounts of Chinese writers. Wherever they speak of costume, not too much is added to our information although there is much precision and detail when it comes to their description of the trade in textiles from different parts of the country. This is understandable because one of the principal concerns of the many travellers to India was trade precisely of this kind, sometimes in these very materials.

All the same, the information made available is not without interest, and one notices carefully the comment of someone like Chau j ' u-kua, the inspector of foreign trade in Fu-kien in the 12th century, concerning the dress worn by the ruler of Malabar: -"The ruler of the country has his body draped, but goes bare-footed. He wears a turban and a loin-cloth both of white cotton cloth. Sometimes he wears a white cotton shirt with narrow sleeves".

The period of the Sultanates in northern India is marked, once again, by much interest, both on the part of the Indian writers, and of the newly-arrived Muslims in matters concerning fabrics and dyes and costumes. But the earlier difficulty of accurately interpreting this information persists, for even though long lists become available, these remain confined to names for which we have no pictorial equivalents in the matter of costumes, and no analytical descriptions in respect of fabrics and the like - in the paintings from the Sultanate period, an area in which our knowledge has increased remarkably in the last quarter of a century or so, there is much that one can observe, but to give precise names to costumes still remains difficult.

One can at best try and find relationships between terms for costumes or verbal descriptions, and the dresses that we see men and women wearing in Sultanate-period paintings, whether of the Indo-Persian style or those that we associate with western India, principally Jaina paintings produced in Gujarat and Rajasthan. When one makes the effort, however, interesting results sometimes emerge.

Thus, in the paintings of the Laur Chanda in the Prince of Wales Museum of Bombay, or the Aranyaka Parva of the Asiatic Society of Bombay, or the recently discovered Devi Mabatntya in the Himachal Pradesh Museum at Simla, the long-sleeved kutia-like garments made of fine cotton material, with fastenings at the right or the left, come remarkably close to the early description by Alberuni of the kurtakas worn by Indians which have lappets with 'slashes' both on the right and the left sides. But this kind of close correspondence is not always easy to establish in other articles.

The Varna-ratnakara of jyotirishvara of the early 14th century, the Prithvichanda-charita also of the 14th or 15th century, and the compilation by Sandesara, the Varnaka~Samuccaya, have remarkably long and detailed lists of stuffs known to India in that period, but there is no correspondingly detailed information on costumes.

An interesting development at the same time is that certain Persian writers,- including Amir Khusrau, begin using Hindi words, or words of the vernaculars, in their descriptions of Indian fabrics. in his usual engaging style, thus, Khusrau speaks of 'cloths that redeem the past life, decoration of the person and ornament of the body likejbanbariali and bibari - that are like a pleasant gift of a springtide and sit as lightly on the body as moonlight on the tulip or dew drops on the morning rose'.

Khusrau's enthusiasm for Indian fabrics, especially the fine muslins manufactured in Deogiri, far exceeds his notions of precision in the matter of description, but whatever he says is never without interest. Thus, writing of Deogiri in A.D. 1322, he says:" 12. The fineness of its cloths is difficult to describe; the skin of the moon removed by the executioner-star would not be so fine. One would compare it with a drop of water if that drop fell against nature, from the fount of the sun.

A hundred yard of it can pass the eye of a needle, so fine is its texture, and yet the point of the steel needle can pierce through it with difficulty. It is so transparent and light that it looks as if one is in no dress at all but has only smeared the body with pure water.When it comes to a description of the costumes worn by the Sultans or the notables at any of the Islamic courts of north India, the flavour changes completely, for the writers, nearly all of them Muslims of foreign extraction, suddenly seem to move into a world of terms and articles that they are familiar with.

Thus, while ibn Batutah might write in very general terms of the costumes worn by Indian women ('the women of this city and of the whole coast do not wear sewn cloths but only unsewn garments. They form a girdle with one of the extremities of the garment and cover their heads and breasts with the other.), the description by Umari of the dresses worn by the notables of Delhi suddenlv becomes animated and more vivid:"

The linen garments which are imported from Alexandria and the land of the Russians are worn only by those whom the Sultan honours with them. The others wear tunics and robes of fine cotton. Thev make garments with this material which resembles the robes (makati) of Baghdad. But these latter as also those called wasafi differ very much from those of India as regards fineness, beauty of color and delicacy.

Most of their Tartar (Tatari) robes are embroidered with gold (muzarkasa bi-dhabab). Some wear garments with both sleeves having a tiraz border of gold embroidery (zarkasb). Others, for example the Mongols, place the tiraz inscription between the shoulders.

It is in this very strain that we have other descriptions from this period, Firuz Shah T'Ughlaq and his courtiers wearing different kinds of dresses. The Sultan himself is said to have worn a kulab costing a lac of tankas which once belonged to his predecessor. In public audience, he is said to have worn a barani with embroidered sleeves, but in private he wore a shirt. The officers are said to be wearing silken robes in public and shirts in private life.

Again the Amirs and the Maliks and other officers at the Sultanate courts are described as wearing "gowns (tatailyat),jakalwat and Islamic qabas of Khawarizm tucked in the middle of the body" and short turbans which did not exceed five or six forearms. Of other Amirs we learn that they were as well dressed "as the soldiers except that they did not use belts and at times they let down a piece of cloth in front of them after the manner of the sups.

The judges and the learned men wore ample gowns (farajiyat) that resembled jaradiyat (striped material from jand, Yemen) and an Arabic garment (durra) (a garment opening in front and buttoned).

II

The art of sewing was clearly known in its many intricacies, and many references to it in the literature of early India, and the representations of men and women wearing stitched garments in early Indian art, should leave one in no doubt at all about this matter.

All that one needs to do is to bear in mind the usefulness of the distinction between the 'timeless' and time-bound' category of costumes. Here, one might say that the distinction is valid generally at the level of the dress worn by the common man, for the varied materials used for the same kind of costumes by the rich tend to vary with times, and thus become bound with it, reflecting the availability of materials and levels of skill. But at the level of the common man there is certainly a 'timeless' Indian dress, both for men and women.

It might be added that, in general terms, the first category, that of timeless' garments, falls outside the scope of this volume, for saris, dhotis and lungis, patkas and turbans and the like, are not treated here. It is only the stitched garments that are treated of here;

Each category of garments is separately catalogued, but before the entries of the more important categories, short introductory notes are provided to each category of dress, in an attempt to explain its function and range.

Here, we touch very briefly upon the history of some of the major developments in Indian costumes, for they form the background to the costumes that figure in the present collection.'

From the earliest period of Indian proto-history, the Harappan culture, the evidence about textiles and dresses is scant but not unimportant. The survival of an actual fragment of cotton cloth, and the upper garment draped around the body like a shawl as seen in a sculpture, offer interesting examples, although it is difficult to give to these pieces any kinds of names.

The lower garment worn by women, much like a sari or dhoti of later times, is reminiscent of the descriptions of the niti in Vedic literature. Elaborate head dresses, with tremendous decorations and pannier-like projections, give some clue to the range of fashions prevalent in this regard.

Access to literary sources, in the Vedic period followed by the Pauranic or the classical, we get a whole body of material with regard to the materials for costumes, for it is with much pride and beauty of words that these textiles and materials are referred to.

Not only do we hear of yarns (tantu), warp or loom (tantra), and woof (otu) but of 'well-woven' and 'perfumed' garments in the category of vasas. Materials like woollen blankets of a fine kind (kambala), dhussa (dursba) and panvad are spoken of, but so also is ksbauma, most probably linen. Garments made of the skins of animals as worn by gods and sages and tribals alike are referred to.

In terms of costumes, however, one is by and large in the world of timeless garments, both for women and men. The veil that women still use so extensively in India, something like the dupatta or odhani of modern times, has its early prototype in the Vedic period, and various words signifying the same article of apparel are used, with differences between one and the other that may not be easy to identify.

The words that we hear of are avaguntbana, niringi, nirangika, mukbapata, sbirova-stra, yavanika. Sanskrit writers like Bhasa, Shudraka, Bana and Bharavi, among others, weave long passages around the theme of veils worn by women.

Thus, Bana in his fanciful description of the ladies of Sthanvishvara says that the blue veil, which they put on was 'a mere customary appendage', really not necessary as the bees hovering around their faces, being drawn there by their sweet~smelling breath, formed a sufficiently dark 'extinguisher' or veil.

When Magha describes the ladies of Krishna's households being gazed at for a long time 'by the people as they had removed their veils', he implies clearly that generally such ladies wore veils and, therefore, could not be seen ordinarily by the people.More important than the veil, for our purposes, is the female upper garment that was used for covering the breasts.

Several terms for this are used in Sanskrit and Prakrit literature including uttarasanga, uttariyavasan uttariyavasa, udaramsbuka, samvyana, stanamsbuka, stanottariya. The poets use with much delight the presence of the upper garments for creating effects of all kinds in their writing. The erotic and decorative possibilities that inhere in the subject are adverted to again and again.

We hear thus of the upper garments of young gopa maidens slipping down "as they felt excited upon seeing Krishna enter the pool of water tenanted by the noxious serpent, Kaliya"; Kalidasa'0 speaks beautifully of the tremor of Urvashi's breasts being inferred from the slight heaving of the end of the garment that lay between the breasts; in the Dashakumaracharita, Dandin speaks of a sleeping damsel whose fine breast-garment becomes slightly displaced as she lies down; the courtesans of Bana's description have their full breasts tightly fastened by a garment as "they rush about to bring jars full of water for pouring over the king to bathe him"; and so on.

References to these simple but exciting breast-garments are profuse in this category of poetic literature, and one can see how these garments were worn from the manner in which those elegant young ladies in the paintings at Ajanta sport them.

The flat and unstitched breast-bands apart, there are numerous references in literature to stitched blouses or jackets, the various names used for them including kancbuka, kanchulika, kurpasa, kurpasaka. What the differences between these were does not become clear, but the nature of the bodice as a stitched garment comes out quite clearly from a verse like Hala's: 'the young lady as it were presents a sampling of her breasts to the eyes of the young men, having fastened her particularly dark bodice with its panels leaving an open space of the breadth of two fingers at their junctions".

We hear of ladies wearing the kurpasa bodice in the two colder seasons, the bodice fitting so tightly that the ladies are described as "having their breasts tortured by it". Again, Magha while describing the doings of the ladies of royal household of Krishna mentions how they delighted the hearts of the youths when they exposed the regions near their armpits in the act of removing their bodices which had become very tight and clinging owing to the perspiration on their bodies.

Kalhana, Bilhana, Rajashekhara, Amaru and a host of other poets can be cited whose verses specifically refer to these stitched, tight-fitting bodices that "burst open at the mere thought of the lover" in his absence.

The lower garment worn by women went by a variety of names, again, including ambara, amsbuka, antariya, jaghanamsbuka, nivasana, paridbana, vasana, vastram, vasas, sauli. As in the case of the breast garment, the poets delight in descriptions of the lower garments of young maidens slipping in all kinds of situations.

The type of the garment in general seems to come close to an abbreviated sari, short enough often for its hems to be set in motion 'owing to the wind generated by her quick movements', as in the case of Vasantasena as she is pursued by Shakal.

Bharavi describes the seductive movements of the Gandharva ladies and speaks of their lower garment, "with its gathers or knot at the navel coming, loose through the knot giving way and being held partially and precariously in its place by the girdle at the waist".

The lower garment was elegantly worn in such a fashion that one of its ends, covering one of the thighs, could be removed or blown off from its place by the wind so as to expose the thigh. One hears of 'the two garments' worn by women as a matter of routine, evidently the upper and the lower, the breast-band or bodice, and the antariya, the lower, sari-like, garment.

The frequency with which the same kind of garment for the lower limbs is referred to in poetic literature from early India, and the extraordinary variety of designs and materials from which it is said to have been made, puts one in mind of the range that the later sari of India attained to in both respects.

The lower garment is often held in place by a girdle referred to, once again, under a host of names including kaksbya, katisutra, kancbi, mekbala, rashana, rasana. The beauty of the girdle apart, the jingling of the small bells attached to the girdle is yet another theme after the heart of the poets.

The young maiden going out to meet the lover surreptitiously has to take the necessary precaution of leaving her girdle behind lest its sound should attract unwelcome attention; wives taunt their husbands about their being drawn to the jingling sound made by the jewels on the girdles of the other woman ; young ladies in their excitement or confusion put on girdles instead of necklaces around their necks; and so on.

The ensembles that these articles of attire make must have been extraordinary, varied and beautiful, considering also the variety of textiles and designs and colours that one knows of so well from early India.

Minor differences and modifications apart, this dress seems to remain as a standard 'for women for an uncommon length of time, not only because women's dresses tend to be more conservative but also because these garments together belong to the 'timeless' garments of India.

In the case of men, the greatest variety, judging from the evidence of sculpture and painting that has survived, lay perhaps in the head-dress. Basically, the head-dress made from a fabric, as distinguished from a crown worn by kings and deities spoken of in literature, took the form of a turban of an unstitched kind.

There are many names that one comes upon, including usbnisba, kirita, patta, veshtana, vesbtanapatta, sbirovesbtana. The manner of wearing the turban evidently varied as much in ancient India as it did in medieval, turban-proud Rajasthan, and we have elaborate verbal descriptions as also visual evidence that point to the fondness of men for this article of apparel. It is entirely possible that certain styles of wearing, or certain fabrics, were favourites among certain peoples.

Almost certainly, different persons were also entitled to wear only given types of head-gear. The range of turban-styles that we encounter is reminiscent of the many styles in the 19th century, each style having a specific name for it as recorded by Forbes-Watson." The turban apart, however, there are close-fitting caps that one finds soldiers and some foreigners wearing in Indian sculptures and paintings, even though these remain exceptions to the rule that every head was covered by a turban, the laterpagri orpag.

That the turban afforded to the poets many an opportunity comes out in a description like that of Bana who refers to the river Mandakini as 'a fold in entirely unknown in the region that he came from.

Trousers of a close-fitting kind were not unknown in early India,, judging from the evidence of sculptures. Kings and soldiers alike are seen wearing it, but the written references to this garment are extremely scanty. One is, in any case, not certain of what is being referred to in some of the terms used for men's lower garments.

There are specific references to the clothing of religious men, special mention being made of the sanghati or double chadar that the Bhikshuks of the Buddhist orders were meant to wear. This was combined with an antarvasaka or loin-cloth and a dupatta or loose upper garment, also called the uttarasanga. Short tunics are also heard of, but not seen too often. At the same time, drawers of the kakshya types, stitched and worn quite tight around the loins, especially by soldiers and men needing to be active in their movements, the prototypes of the laterjangbias, make frequent appearance.

This press release was published on 21 Sep 2004 . For more information, please contact by e-mail: :bhasha@online.fr