Stitched Garments of India - Early Period

Many of the pieces of art presented herein are pre-7th century, which some may feel predates the start of "SCA Period". I've chosen to include them for one important reason; While I have no wish to perpetuate the myth that things in India "never change" and have "been the same for thousands of years", the Indian attitude towards time is a fairly unique one. The author Benoy K. Behl writes, “…in Indian thought the concept of Time is not seen as a constant progression in which whatever has happened is finally over and left behind. Rather, each moment has a life of its own and does not become less important with the passage of time.” It is this philosophy that has allowed artistic conventions such as those outlined in the pre-Medieval Natya and Vastu Sastras to be taken as seriously today as if they were written yesterday. Similarly, the changes that can be seen between Indian garments of today and those depicted thousands of years ago are comparitively minimal when viewed against Western counterparts. However, the changes are quite evident when closely regarded, as this document will hopefully demonstrate.

Prior to the developement of the Mughal Empire, stitched garments played a very minor role in the costume of India. The first examples are concurrent with the development of Buddhism and the code of modesty that differed from that of Hinduism. However, there are some Hindu examples of stitched garments, primarily worn by the warrior class, presumably for protective purposes. Most of the examples given here are Buddhist in origin.

Tunics (Angarka)

By far the most common of stitched garments throughout the world, the tunic has its place in India as well. It is the most frequently seen type of stitched garment in early Indian art as well as being one of the earliest. Those seen most often are long sleeved, and have lengths varying from hip-length to ankle-length, although some shorter tunics can be seen worn with short dhotis. A wide variety of textile decoration can be seen, including painted or printed cloth, bandhani¹, and large bands of constrasting fabric on upper arms and around necklines.

One significant type of tunic is that seen worn by military men. These tend to be short-sleeved, split at the front and back of the skirt, and about knee-length. Many depictions portray what appears to be quilting in a vertical stripe pattern, while others seem to show a type of “fish scale” patterning that could either signify chain mail, a coat of plates, or some other armored version of the garment.

Tunics seem to be primarily a male garment, however I have seen tertiary evidence of them being worn by women as well, some of which is covered in the section below.

Coats (Kancuka)

There is little to differentiate between coats and tunics or the same area and time period. They are of the same basic shape, however coats always have a single center front opening, and tend to be seen in shorter lengths, sometimes as high as waist-length. Early coin stampings show what may be lines of buttons along the front of a coat, however the crude styling of such images provides little hard evidence.

The kancuka is one garment that has significant examples in Hindu, rather than Buddhist art. I have yet to see a Hindu example of a coat on any figure not identified as a warrior.

Like the tunic, the coat is also mainly seen worn by men, however one example from the Ajanta Caves shows a woman wearing what researchers have described as a cholaka, a short, half-sleeved jacket worn over a choli or other long-sleeved under-tunic. There is also tertiary evidence² of women wearing hip-length, open fronted tunics of light material held together at the breast with a single button.

Cholis

When I first began pursuing an Indian persona, I ran into several wide-spread myths. The first of these was the infamous “midriffs aren’t period” argument. Spawned as backlash to the prevalence of cabaret-style Middle Eastern costuming, it only took a small amount of research to learn that this argument simply does not apply to Indian garb. Period Mughal miniatures are some of the more commonly seen examples of Indian art, and reveal a wealth of midriffs (and more) revealed by short to the point of pointless cholis.

The second myth is that the choli was something introduced by the Muslim conquerors of India, as a way to get the shameless Hindu women to cover themselves. This is probably due to the proliferation of Mughal artwork and the inaccessability of other examples of period Indian painting. However, even a quick glance at the Ajanta cave paintings of the Gupta Empire (300-900 C.E.) shows several examples of at least two different styles of choli. It seems most likely now that the choli was actually developed as an answer to the more modest Buddhist fashion sense as that faith grew stronger in the Indian subcontinent.

Styles

• • Short Side-laced Cholis

    • This is the most common style seen throughout early period. The basic shape is that of a very short T-Tunic, with lacing in place of the side seams. They generally have rounded necklines just large enough to fit the head through and short sleeves that cover the very top of the upper arm. Some appear to have trim or decoration around the bottom hem and sleeve hems.

  • Apron-front back-laced Cholis

    • To date, the only period examples I have found of this type of garment are from the Ajanta Cave paintings. There are two examples I know of, one with long sleeves of dark blue bandhani with a white body, and another in red with short sleeves of an all over bandhani pattern. In at least one of these pictures, the artist has drawn fabric ties coming off the back of the garment

Other Garments

Although my own research has revealed little information regarding other types of garments, other authors with a wider range of resources at hand have mentioned two other types of garment.

• • Trousers

    • Far from being the voluminous salwar seen today, the trousers of early India were likely very close-fitting garments. Illustrations from the Ajanta caves depicts men wearing either tight trousers or hose under tunics.

  • Skirts

    • It is often difficult to determine from statuary and painted works whether a skirt-like garment is truly a stitched skirt, or some type of draped garment. If the authors of several books on Indian costume are to be believed, early skirts were of a simple tube-like construction with a drawstring waist.

¹Bandhani is a type of tie and dye technique that leaves very small, typically white circles on the body of the fabric. Most early Indian bandhani is in a simple all-over polka dot pattern.

²Fig 37, Ancient Indian Costume; “Tunic: With front opening, held at the neck by button; long ruched sleeves have ruching held by jeweled bands or buttons; tunic is fork-length and form fitting.”

Bibliography

Alkazi, Roshen Ancient Indian Costume (New Delhi, 1983)

Behl, Benoy K. The Ajanta Caves (New York, 1998)

Pal, Pratapaditya Indian Sculpture Vol. 2 (Los Angeles Museum of Art 1988)

Poster, Amy G. Realms of Heroism: Indian Paintings at the Brooklyn Museum (New York, 1994)

Sivaramamurti, C. South Indian Paintings (New Delhi, 1994)