ALL ABOUT SAREE
A sari or saree is the contemporary female apparel in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. A sari is a very long unstitched cloth, estimating from four to nine meters in length, which can be draped in varied styles. The most usual style is for the sari to be wrapped around the waist, with one end then draped over the shoulder leaving the corset naked. The sari is basically worn over a petticoat, with a blouse known as a choli forming the upper apparel. The choli has short sleeves with a low neckline and is usually cropped, and particularly stitched for making it comfortable to wear. Cholis may be "backless" or a tube style. These styles are usually more classy, with a lot of karigari work such as zardosi or embroidery, and can be worn on special festivals.
HISTORY OF SAREE
The history of Indian sari can be trace back to the Indus valley civilization, which prospered from 2800-1800 B.C.E. The earliest known description of the sari in the Indian region is being discovered from the Indus valley where there was a statue found wearing a drape.
Ancient Tamil poetry, such as the Silappadhikaram , describes women in exquisite drapery or saree. In ancient Indian civilization and the Natya Shastra, the navel is considered as the Supreme and termed of life and creativity, hence the midriff is being purposely left bare while draping a saree.
Some clothing historians thought that the men's dhoti, which is the most mature Indian draped apparel, is the antecedent of the sari. They say that until the fourteenth century, the dhoti was worn by both the gender.[2][1]
Other script say that everyday clothes comprises of a dhoti or lungi , including with a chest band and a cover-up that could be used to cover the upper body .
It is generally accepted that wrapped saree-like garments, shawls, and unstitched piece of cloth have been worn by Indian Ladies for a long span, and that they have been worn in their present form for huge amount of years.
The history of the saree blouse and the petticoat is a subject of disagreement. Some historians believe that these were unknown before the English rule arrived in India, and that they were introduced to satisfy British ideas of modesty. Formerly, women only wore one draped cloth and casually exposed the upper body and chest. Other historians point to much descriptive and artistic evidence for various forms of chest band and upper-body veil which were worn much earlier.
In South India, it is documented that Ladies from many religion wore only the sari and exposed the upper part of the body until the early of twentieth century.
Years later with the emergence of foreigners in our country, the prosperous Indian women started asking the craftsman to use expensive diamond, gold and silver threads to make exclusive saris for the stratification, which could make them applauded, clearly. But sari did remain unbiased as a apparel and was adapted by each community and religion, in their own way. This is the beauty of the clothing, that still remains.
STYLES OF DRAPING
The most common style of draping a sari is wrapped around the waist and the chest, with one end dangle over the shoulder. However, the saree can be draped in several varied styles. Some styles require a saree to be different in length and fabric.
Some of the styles are:
- North Indian: It is the most common way of wearing a sari, most of the population wear a saree in the north Indian stlye. The sari makes one wrap around the waist, pleats, and makes one more half wrap, with the loose end or "pallu" going over the shoulder. The North Indian Style refers to the dangle in the Northern area like Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Bihar, Uttrakhand States.
Variations of the North Indian Style:
- In the north, the Pallu may also be dangle all over the right shoulder, or over the torso and then over the shoulder. This is basically done as a gesture of respect for aged. The drape over the head is considered to be of Muslim domination from the intermix cultures which is more common found in the North due to invasions.
- Nivi(sari drape) – styles originally worn in state of Tamil Nadu; besides the modern nivi, there is also another name which is known as kaccha nivi, where the pleats are gone through the legs and then insert into the waist from the back. This allows free and rapid movement while protecting the legs.
- Gujarati – This is also commonly known as Ulta Palla where the saree is actually draped over the right shoulder rather than the left, and the palla is kept till the hips and then one side of its is tucked at the back of the waist.
- Maharashtra – This drape is very indistinguishable to that of the male Maharashtrian dhoti. The center of the saree is placed at the back of the center, both the ends are brought forward and tied firmy, then the two ends are covered around the legs. When worn as a saree, an extra-long fabric is used and the ends are then move up over the shoulders and the upper torso. This style is particularly worn by women of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradeshand Tamil Nadu.
- Dravidian – Worn ain adjacent parts of Tamil Nadu.
- Madisaara style – This drape is typically worn by Brahmin ladies from the states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala
- Kodagu style – This drape is restricted to the women coming from the Kodagu district of Karnataka. In this style, the pleats are form in the end, instead of the front. The insecure end of the saree is dangle from back to fore over the right shoulder, and is pinned to the irrelevant part of the sari.
- Gond – This tye of Draping is basically found in several parts of Central India. The fabric is first draped over the left shoulder, then layout to cover the body.
After one more wrap around the waist, the other end is draped over the shoulder. The loose end is known as the pallu. It is dangle diagonally in front of the chest. It is worn from the right bottom to over the left shoulder, baring the midriff are of women. The navel can be completely disclose or not is totally depend upon the women by calibrating the pallu, depending on the social status in which the saree is being worn. The loose end of the pallu from the back of the shoulder is often exquisitely decorated. Some styles are worn with the pallu draped from the back towards the front.
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