Saree In Ancient India

One of the most sensual attires of a woman in India is undoubtedly the sari. It is along unstitched piece of cloth, usually 6 yards long that is draped in a set pattern. It accentuates the curves of a woman and the mid-riff is usually exposed. However, the way of draping a saree may differ from place to place. The way it is draped in the north may be slightly different from how it is draped in the south. It is available in a plethora of fibers, designs and colours. The sari is usually worn with a blouse that covers the upper part of the body and underneath. It is the petticoat, which helps to tuck in the pleats of the saree to hold it in place.

Sari– a common form of clothing for women across south Asia, draped around the body in different

The word ‘Sattika’ is mentioned as describing women’s attire in ancient India in Buddhist Jain literature called Jatakas. This could be equivalent to modern day ‘sari’. The term for female bodice, the choli is derived from another ruling clan from ancient Tamil Nadu, the Cholas. Rajatarangini (meaning the ‘river of kings’), a 10th-century literary work by Kalhana, states that the choli from the Deccan was introduced under the royal order in Kashmir. The concept of Pallava, the end piece in the sari, originated during the Pallavas period and named after the Pallavas, another ruling clan of Ancient

The two-piece Keralamundum neryathum (mundu– a dhoti or sarong, neryath – a shawl, in Malayalam) is a survival of ancient Indian clothing styles. The one-piece sari is a modern innovation, created by combining the two pieces of the mundum neryathum.

It is generally accepted that wrapped sari like garments for lower body and sometimes shawls or scarf like garment called ‘uttariya’ for upper body, have been worn by Indian women for a long time, and that they have been worn in their current form for hundreds of years. In ancient couture the lower garment was called ‘nivi’ or ‘nivi bandha’, while the upper body was mostly left bare. The works of Kalidasa mentions ‘Kurpasika’ a form of tight fitting breast band that simply covered the breasts. It was also sometimes referred to as ‘Uttarasanga’ or ‘Stanapatta’.

The tightly fitted, short blouse worn under a sari is a choli. It evolved as a form of clothing in the 10th century AD, and the first cholis were only front covering; the back was always bare but covered with end of saris pallu. Bodices of this type are still common in the state of