Clothing

by G. V. Umadevi

Clothing is the first sign of civilization. Our Indian way of clothing oneself is unique. I would like to give you a short description of Indian dressing. Women have worn saris for over 5,000 years.

Girls up to the age of twelve wear long skirts, down to the feet and a blouse or frock, which is called a dress in the United States. When they come of age, girls wear a half sari (about 2 ½ yards of material) over their skirts, which cover their upper body. After marriage they wear a full sari.

A sari is 6 to 9 yards of cotton, silk or tree bark woven by hand loom or power loom. On the hand loom the weaving takes 4 to 6 months. Cotton saris are worn for daily use. Silk saris are worn during marriages and other festive occasions. One corner of the sari, called a palloo, goes over the shoulder and flows down the back. Beautiful Indian designs decorate the palloos. Some saris have borders woven with gold and silver threads. Silk saris are made from silk worms or synthetic spun silk. In the north, the cities of Arni and Kancheepuram –in the state of Chennai -- are famous for silk saris. Kashmir is famous not only for woolen clothes but for silk also.

The sari, worn in different styles all over India, is the identity of a woman. One can identify a woman from her way of wrapping it: what state she comes from, her language, her culture, festivals, etc. No one has to ask any questions.

In the upper north, women in saris cover their heads unlike the southerners. The reason for this: for thousands of years foreigners invaded our country. Islam entered our land through the Khyber Pass in the 7th century and they ruled us up to the 17th century, until the British Invasion. During the early Muslim period, girls were abducted, raped and forced into marriages. To attempt to protect their wives and daughters, men adapted the system of covering the faces and heads of their wives and daughters.

Women swim, go on bicycles, play tennis, volleyball, etc. wearing saris. Now it is changing and women have started aping the West. Today men and women dress alike – wearing salwars (similar to pants) and kameez (long shirt) and covering their head with a dupatta (scarf). Today not all women wear a dupatta.

Boys wear short pants up to the knee, called knickers and shirts. All over India men wear pants, shirts and suits just as in the West. But at home, after work, they switch to Indian dressing -- a 2/3 yard long piece of cloth with a silver or gold border called dhoti. In the North, men wear a pyjama (which means py – leg and jama – dress) and long shirts called jubba.