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    Vedic Period

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    jkashish04
    This document provides an overview of costumes in ancient India from the Vedic period through the post-Vedic period. In the early Vedic period, costumes typically consisted of two unstitched garments - a lower garment (vasa) and upper garment (adhivasa). By the later Vedic and post-Vedic periods, costumes became more sophisticated and included three pieces - a lower wrap (antariya), shawl (uttariya), and turban (usnisa). Jewelry such as gold armlets and necklaces also became more common. Buddhist religious dress consisted of yellow loincloths, scarves, and shawls made of linen.

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    Vedic Period

    Uploaded by

    jkashish04
    188 views17 pages
    This document provides an overview of costumes in ancient India from the Vedic period through the post-Vedic period. In the early Vedic period, costumes typically consisted of two unstitched garments - a lower garment (vasa) and upper garment (adhivasa). By the later Vedic and post-Vedic periods, costumes became more sophisticated and included three pieces - a lower wrap (antariya), shawl (uttariya), and turban (usnisa). Jewelry such as gold armlets and necklaces also became more common. Buddhist religious dress consisted of yellow loincloths, scarves, and shawls made of linen.

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    This document provides an overview of costumes in ancient India from the Vedic period through the post-Vedic period. In the early Vedic period, costumes typically consisted of two unstitched garments - a lower garment (vasa) and upper garment (adhivasa). By the later Vedic and post-Vedic periods, costumes became more sophisticated and included three pieces - a lower wrap (antariya), shawl (uttariya), and turban (usnisa). Jewelry such as gold armlets and necklaces also became more common. Buddhist religious dress consisted of yellow loincloths, scarves, and shawls made of linen.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pptx, pdf, or txt
    188 views17 pages

    Vedic Period

    Uploaded by

    jkashish04
    This document provides an overview of costumes in ancient India from the Vedic period through the post-Vedic period. In the early Vedic period, costumes typically consisted of two unstitched garments - a lower garment (vasa) and upper garment (adhivasa). By the later Vedic and post-Vedic periods, costumes became more sophisticated and included three pieces - a lower wrap (antariya), shawl (uttariya), and turban (usnisa). Jewelry such as gold armlets and necklaces also became more common. Buddhist religious dress consisted of yellow loincloths, scarves, and shawls made of linen.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pptx, pdf, or txt
    of 17

    Introduction to Indian

    Costumes
    Sneha Maktedar
    Vedic Period 04
    1200- 900 B.C (Early Vedic)
    900-600 B.C (Later Vedic)
    Early Vedic
    • Vedic literature, associated with the Aryans, forms the largest literary source
    available to us.

    • The Aryans probably migrated into India somewhere near the middle of the second
    millenium. We get a fair picture of their culture and civilization through the vast
    Vedic literature available.

    • The hymns of the Rig Veda, the first examples, were composed and memorised
    before 1000 B.C.

    • The remaining Vedic literature - the Sama, Yajur and Atharva Vedas came later.
    What we know of early Aryan life in India has been historically reconstructed from
    these Vedas and from these epics Ramayana and Mahabharata.
    Early Vedic
    • Rigveda explains that a person about to participate in a religious ceremony was not
    considered complete without the prescribed garments.

    • The importance assigned to dress can be gauged from the fact that the various parts of the
    Vedic apparel were consecrated to different deities.

    • A good dress was appreciated as it may be inferred from the frequent use of words like
    suvasa (splendid garment), suvasana (well clad) and surabhi (well-fitting clothes)

    • According to Rigvedic evidence, a person's dress (vasana or vastra) consisted of only two
    garmets, namely the vasa (lower garment) and the adhivasa (upper garment).

    • Skins and grass (kusa) formed one class of Vedic dress traditionally associated with munis,
    rishis, hermits and forest tribes
    Early Vedic
    • The word atka appears to mean a closefitting garment and drapi may have been a gold
    embroidered mantle.

    • The word pesas could have been used for a kind of embroidered garment of female
    dancers, and a special apparel used by a bride at the marriage ceremony was called
    vadhuya.

    • The exact meaning of these words are doubtful.

    • The difference between the dress of men and women appears to be insignificant and one
    Rigvedic hymn says that a husband could easily exchange his garments with those of his
    wife.

    • In the Rigveda there is no mention of a headdress or footwear.


    Early Vedic

    • In the later Vedic period were composed the Brahmanas and the Upanishads.

    • Dress in the age of the later Samhitas and Brahmanas consisted of three garments: nivi
    (lower garment), adhivasa (an upper garment like a mantle or cloak)

    • Brahmana describes the various articles of dress prescribed for men intent on sacrifice.

    • It consisted of a silk lower garment (tarpaya), a garment of undyed wool, an upper


    garment and a turban (ushnisha).

    • Frequent references occur regarding urna-sutra (woollen thread)


    Nivi- The Lower Garment
    • Some authorities have explained nivi as that part of the pleated bunch of dhoti which
    is tucked in at the navel.

    • The description of the nivi also suggests the manner of wearing the lower garment.

    • Both men and women used to wear it round the waist with one of the surplus ends
    tucked in at the navel.

    • It is, however, not known whether the other end was drawn between the legs and also
    tucked in at the back like a dhoti.
    Post-Vedic Period
    600- 323
    05
    Post-Vedic Period
    • Our only source for clothing in this period is literary and cannot be verified visually.

    • This source is from the sacred texts of the later Vedas, Brahmanas and Upanishads.

    • It shows great sophistication in costume and jewellery even before the Maurya empire
    came into being.

    • The Aryans invaded the region, now known as the Punjab, before 1500 B.C. Between
    the composition of the Rig Veda and the Maurya-Sunga period in 321 B.C., there was
    the post-Vedic period during which the Aryans moved eastward down the Ganges and
    their culture adapted itself to the changed conditions as discussed below.
    The Costume
    • In the post-Vedic period and before the Mauryas
    ruled, the range of unstitched garments of an earlier
    age comprising the antariya or lower garment and
    uttariya or upper garment had now been increased
    to include a kayabandh or sash to hold up the
    antariya.

    • In addition, women wore the patka, a decorative


    strip made from cloth, woven bamboo fibre,
    leather, woollen fringes, or plaited strips of cotton,
    cloth or yarn, tucked in the antariya at centre front.
    The Costume
    • The usnisa or turban, which had been used
    infrequently in the past as a form of headgear, had
    now established itself, and was in constant use
    even by the common man.

    • In the Vedic age, mention is made of an


    embroidered skirt or pesas and brides are known to
    have worn a breast band or pratidhi straight or
    crosswise across the breasts and tied at the back.
    Antariya Styles
    • The kachcha style is a general term and
    indicates the wearing of the antariya or lower
    cloth between the legs, forming a trouser-like
    garment.

    • When the antariya was tied round the waist and


    the shorter edge taken between the legs in
    kachcha style and tucked in at the back of the
    waist, and the longer edge then pleated and
    tucked in at the front, it was known as the
    elephant trunk or hattisondaka style.
    Antariya Styles
    • An attractive way of draping the antariya was
    the fish tail or machhavalaka.

    • In this style, after tying the antariya at the waist,


    the short end was passed between the legs and
    tucked in at the back in the kachcha style, while
    the long and short borders of the longer end
    were picked up and pleated in the shape of a
    fish tail and tucked in front at the waist.

    • In addition to these unstitched garments, there is


    mention in post-Vedic literature of a cut- and-
    sewn garment called the atka which was a hip or
    calf-length garment like a kurta or tunic, worn
    by men and women.
    Footwear
    • Shoes, which in the early Vedic age had been worn only during rituals, and by soldiers,
    were now generally worn among the wealthy.

    • Dyed leather shoes and boots of many colours like red, yellow, black and magenta, with
    thick soles, or padded with cotton wool, and even gold and silver shoes were known

    • Horns and peacock feathers also adorned them. The poor wore a type of footwear which
    resembled sandals, made from straw or palm leaves and bamboo.
    Jewellery
    • Both in the Samhitas and the Brahmana texts (1000-800 B.C.) there is reference to the
    names of ornaments and jewellery of this period.

    • These were made from suvarna or gold, rajata or silver, loha or bronze, hasti or ivory,
    and sankha or mother-of- pearl.

    • It is at this period that srnga or crowns made of horn were worn, as were stupa, cone-
    like head ornaments for men.

    • In their hair, women wore a fillet or opasa and sraj, a garland of flowers, or gold
    garlands called hiranya-sraj

    • Ear-rings were known as pravatra, and the niska or coin necklace from an earlier period
    continued to be popular.
    Jewellery
    • Bahu or gold armlets, bracelets or parihasta, and ivory bangles or hasti were also worn.

    • Rings of gold and girdles retained their original names of hiranya and rasana.

    • There were many varieties of beads used in jewellery, and each had a special name
    referring to its shape or the material from which it was made.
    Religious Garments
    • Buddhist monks or bhikkhus and nuns or bhikkhunis wore the same garments as
    laymen, only their names differed.

    • The sanghati or loin cloth, the antarvasak or scarf, and the uttarasanga or chaddar, were
    all linen and dyed yellow.

    • Silken chaddars were allowed, but no skin clothing or patterned fabrics. The bhikkhunis
    could wear a bodice, kancuka.

    • Their bedding consisted of a sheet and they could carry one spare loin cloth.

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