South Indian Clothing 9th-13th c. CE

This page is a constant work in progress, and information is culled from a wide variety of sources, both literary and visual. Every year I discover something new about the clothing of this time period and region, so this in an ongoing record of my discoveries.

Cloth

The Veshti

This simple drape has a variety of different names, and in the present day may be referred to as laacha in Punjabi, mundu or veshti in Malayalam, dhuti in Bangla, veshti in Tamil, pancha in Telugu, dhotar in Marathi, or panche in Kannada. It is also known as dhoti in Hindi, however this word also is

used to refer to the pants-like drape discussed later on this page. The veshti illustrated here is a very simple garment that is draped much like a sarong. The cloth used for it can be between 2 to 5 yards long, with or without borders, and with or without the pallav (decorative end piece) commonly seen on saris.

Within medieval Indian art, the veshti is seen worn on men and women of all occupations and distinction. Later in the time period, the drape does appear to lose some status and appears on attendants, servants, and laborers more often than royalty or deities.

Veshti are very comfortable and can be made of cotton for hot weather wear or silk for more festive occasions. It would even be possible to make one of lightweight wool for a warmer garment!

Most medieval examples of veshti show them worn alone or with a sheer shawl, however the Ajanta cave paintings (1st-8th c. C.E.) portray women wearing veshti in combination with choli blouses. Men are also portrayed wearing hip or knee length tunics over veshti. Though the Ajanta paintings show royalty and commoner alike wearing veshti, by the 13th century they are considered to be a lower class of garment suitable for saints and serving girls but not deities or royalty. The earliest examples of veshti depicted in art appear to be of a primarily blue and white stripe with ikat ‘arrow’ details. There are also depictions of veshti in a simple red on white plaid pattern. Later examples depict all-over patterns of flowers or repeated small designs generally laid out in a diagonal grid pattern. I have been fortunate enough to find fabric in blue and white that closely mimics a resist-dye technique, however small repeats of a design in red or yellow would also be a good approximation of printing techniques used in period.

Towards the last half of the medieval era examples of veshti appear with little or no all- over design and are instead decorated with borders along the bottom and visible end. Tthese were probably woven-in designs and could be closely approximated using modern saris that have been cut down. It is sometimes possible to find used saris that have had the fancy pallav/pallu end removed which is perfectly suitable for use as a veshti.

Since modern saris can sometimes be cost-prohibitive and are not always easily found in desirable color combinations or medievally appropriate patterns I have found that a good approximation of the look can be acquired using various combinations of manufactured trims.

The Dhoti

The dhoti is a length of cloth ranging from 5 to 6 yards in length, draped around the legs in such a way as to create an effect similar to that of a pair of pants. This drape can be seen on statues throughout the era, often stylized to appear as a much more form-fitting garment than the loose dhoti worn by men in South India today. It is seen on both men and women, although often the version seen on men is much shorter, possibly created with a narrower cloth. In later periods the end of the cloth (what is associated in the modern era with the heavily-decorated "pallu" of a sari) is left to hang in front of the groin, creating the so-called "Fishtail" look.

Several examples of dhotis can be seen in the images in the "Mekhala" section below.

The Stanapatta / Breast-Band

It's an unfortunate fact of modern society that women are not allowed to go running around topless in public (In -most- states...Thank you New York!). Since most SCA events are considered 'public' as far as local laws are concerned, I have fretted long and hard over how to solve the issue of having a persona who would have mostly gone topless to being an American citizen who, well, -can't-. Being a South Indian Shaivaite Hindu in the mid 13th century, the very Muslim-influenced choli is, well, just not acceptable.

Somewhere in all my digging through dusty libraries, I once stumbled upon an Indian statue of the 10th century or so, that pictured one of Vishnu's wives. She was depicted as wearing a strange chest covering that was basically a band around the breasts (that barely covered the nipples...possibly about an inch and a half wide to two inches) that had shoulder-straps of a similar width. As is much of the clothing of that time, this garment was carved with much the same look as jewelry. Given the findings on the mekhala (see above) as well as a few other morsels of information gathered here and there, I believe it was actually cloth, and heavily decorated with the same sort of ornamentation that would be found on the mekhala.

On 10/6/99, I actually acquired a copy of that glorious, dusty old book (Indian Sculpture, Vol. 2 by Pratapaditya Pal) and was able to find that sculpture once more. It is a copper alloy statue of Rukmini from a series depicting Krishna and his wives from twelfth century Tamil Nadu. The author makes a note of the fact that Rukmini is supposed to be the dignified older wife, and points out her breast-band as one of the factors in determining the identity of the goddess. There is a similar thirteenth century statue of the same triad showing the Sridevi/Rukmini/Lakshmi wearing the same sort of breastband. I am still looking for documentation on how significant this is.

In addition to being able to see that image of Rukmini again, I was also able to peruse the book much more leisurely, and found several examples of breast-bands, ranging from extremely thin strips of cloth to rather significant examples of jewelry. One piece I found particularly interesting was a rather small photograph of a ninth century Tamil wall piece of Durga on a wall of a Saivite temple in Takkolam, showing a rather substantially cut breast-band. I am going to attempt to acquire a better photo of this image and hopefully get it scanned. I will continue to distill what I gather onto this page.

I will say one other thing. Those Ancient Indians had very similar aesthetic values when it comes to breasts as modern man. They tend towards being very round and high-placed, and are apparently quite perky all on their own.

Ahh, to be made of bronze.

Breast-bands of a wider nature and more obviously composed of a simple strip of cloth tied around the breasts can be seen in images at Ajanta.

Accessories

Jewelry is vital to the look of any Indian outfit.

The Mekhala / Hip Belt

I've often wondered about the many beautiful Afghani pieces I've seen for sale at Pennsic and other events. I've seen a few that had been backed with a strip of cloth, which not only tended to make the necklace or belt look more substantial, but also kept it from being "grabby". To me, this would be the ideal for a hip belt, giving it a good weight, and adding to it's integral strength. Though the Afghani plaque-belts I've seen look fairly close to the pictures I've seen of Indian mekhala, I felt there was a better answer.

I've wanted to construct as period a mekhala as possible for a long time now, but from all the statue-gleaned documentation I've found, they all looked to be constructed more like jewelry than like a belt. I despaired of ever being able to afford the materials for a truly jeweled belt, let alone the time.

Into my life walked "Shillapadikaram" (alt. spellings Cillapadikaram), a 3rd century novel written by Prince Ilango Adigal, a Jain Prince of the Chera kingdom. Aside from it's beauty as a story, it also provided a very detailed picture of life in Ancient India. One of the little tidbits, merely a sentence long, that made me quite literally fly from my bed rambling my poor Lord's ear off, was a description of the belt worn by one of the characters, Madhavi. In it, the belt is described as being 'of thirty-two strands of pearls, backed on blue silk, and embroidered all over with flowers.' Whoah, said I. Not only did this back up the idea of the mekhala having a cloth base to it, but also refuted the piece of information I had recently gathered as to embroidery being virtually unknown in India before the Muslim invasions.

For all that this is a nice start on documentation, it is a pre-SCA period source. But from all the statues I have seen from as early as the 2nd century until as late as, well, now, the style of the mekhala seems to change very little. The major differences seem to lie in the draping of various strands of beads and what-not from the girdle itself, while the base stays mostly the same.

Images

References

Shillapadikaram, The Ankle Bracelet by Prince Ilango Adigal - BIG TIP: If you're looking for references to this book, it is usually best to search for 'Ilango Adigal', since the spelling of Shillapadikaram varies so greatly. I highly recommend the translation by Alain Danielou. I got my copy from Amazon.