Cream Dhoti and Angavastram with Golden Woven Border

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Silk Dhoti and Angavastra with Golden Zari Border

These lengths of the finest kind of art silk textile, one, a lower wear – antariya, dhoti in people’s usage almost universally used, and other, an uttariya or upper wear, a sash type garment worn over shoulders and around breasts usually classified as angavastra, are a pair of wears scheduled for both, the rite performing priest, and the host, presiding over such rite. The fashions are popular among Indian wearers, the Hindus in particular but also Buddhists and Jains. Its fabulous beauty appealing every eye with its rich appearance apart, the fine golden zari worked over silk’s plain field in its base colour doubles its gorgeousness. The simplicity with which the pair of the wears has been crafted is beyond par. Not expensive or beyond one’s reach, in grace and in highlighting the wearer’s distinction this extremely simple pair of wears is incomparable.

Besides, as ritual wears, this pair of textile lengths has scriptural sanction. Though not direct even the Rig Veda acclaims resplendence as the highest virtue of the divine ensemble. However, the Upanishads and Smriti-texts – most significant among post-Vedic scriptures, considered only unstitched lengths of silk or linen, or even a tree bark or grasses, but not cotton, as the costumes of yajna and rite-performing priests and hosts. They mandate that participants of yajna or other rites – the priest as well as the host, shall be in unstitched silk or linen garments when performing a ritual and that alone shall sanctify the act. Thus under scriptural tradition, an unstitched silk or linen piece alone has the scriptural sanctity of ritual wear. This pursuance of such Upanishadic tradition even in recent times transforms its performance into a rite as when an Upanishadic seer performed it during post-Vedic days.

Otherwise simple lengths, and unadorned plain fields crafted of silk textile in its base colour the textile pieces have an unusual sheen, the primary source of their rare beauty. The broad minutely patterned border rendered in golden zari reveals rare lustre as revealed the textile’s base colour creates its own magic and affords to the ensemble rare distinction. While portraying the beauty of Ushas the Rig-Veda links her resplendence with her divinity, a message revealing in between the lines – what is beautiful is also divine. It is thus that in Vaishnava and other ritual traditions, appearance has been given as much priority as its ritual part and hence the performing priest and the host both are expected to have a distinct and attractive appearance. Obviously, the right type of ritual costume is also an essential component of the holy act. This costume, besides its scriptural sanctity, discovers its beauty in the depth of its simplicity, in its whole concept – the idea of a plain field in silk’s natural colour and an extremely friendly border.

This description by Prof. P.C. Jain and Dr Daljeet. Prof. Jain specializes in the aesthetics of ancient India. Dr Daljeet is the chief curator of the Visual Arts Gallery at the National Museum of India, New Delhi. They have both collaborated on numerous books on Indian art and culture.

Wrapping Culture: The Art of Wearing a dhoti

Dhoti is an unstitched garment or a large fabric, measuring about 5 yards in length, that is wrapped by men around their waist and legs. In Vedic civilization, wearing Dhoti was a part of their everyday attire. However, modern civilization has changed the clothing styles and preferences of Indian men and women. Indians have now imbibed the western culture. That being said, one cannot ignore the fact that some sections of men can still be seen wearing dhotis such as the farmers of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, some secular politicians, the pujaris or priests in Hindu temples, and some traditional martial artists. It is undoubtedly the emblem of the unmatched Indian culture. Dhoti is called by different names in different places such as "Mundu" in Kerala, "Laacha" in Punjab, "Mardaani" in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, "Veshti" in Tamil Nadu, "Dhotar" in Maharashtra, etc.

Draping a perfect Dhoti: The neat and comfortable way

Tying a perfect dhoti is not a difficult task and can be wrapped in various ways. If you want to experience the comfortable drape of the dhoti, you need to know how to wear the dhoti in the simplest way, the steps of which are mentioned below:

Step 1 - Bring the cloth to the front

Take a long piece of unstitched cloth of your choice. Make sure it is clean and does not have any wrinkles on it. Bring the cloth from the back to the front on the waist so that there is the same length of the cloth on either side of your body.

Step 2 - Tie knots to keep the cloth in place

Measuring on both your index fingers, tie two knots near the navel. The knots should neither be too tight nor too loose on your waist. Now the cloth is divided into two sections; left and right.

Step 3 - Set pleats on the left side

Take the left section from between your legs. Make a series of structured and aligned folds between both the loose ends, and tuck it at the back. Remember, it is the way the folds have been set that makes the dhoti look elegant.

Step 4 - Make folds on the right side

Now that the left section is set, it is time to work on the right section of the cloth. You have to make similar pleats on this side too and make sure that they remain intact. Now tuck it at the waist and your dhoti is ready.

Different ways of styling Dhoti

The lightweight cotton fabric of the dhoti is available in various colors having a stripe of a colorful border making it appear rich and sophisticated. This clothing is suited especially for the summer season. A lot of innovations have been made to the Dhoti, one of them being its availability in silk fabric also. The silk varieties are worn on special occasions and marriage ceremonies, while the cotton varieties are worn as daily wear. The Indian dhoti is not only extremely comfortable for men but also adds an element of dignity and manliness to their personalities. The way of styling the Indian dhoti differs from place to place and has indeed evolved a lot due to global influence.

In the South Indian states men either fold their dhoti into half and tuck it at the waist reaching only to their knees which is mostly worn on informal occasions, or a full-length dhoti which is mostly plain white bearing a golden border. They wear it with an unstitched piece of cloth known as “Angavastram” draped over their shoulders. Some men wear the dhoti along with a shirt which they call a “Chokka”.

Men in North India style their dhoti with a Kurta and the combination is called “Dhoti-kurta”. Men of the “Jaat” community of Haryana are also seen clad in Dhoti Kurta.

Traditional men of West Bengal wear a Dhoti made of Tussar or Silk along with a Kurta on the festivity celebrations of Durga Puja and Saraswati Puja.

The Gaudiya Vaishnavas or the devotees of the worldwide-known Hare Krishna Movement have positively adopted the Vedic culture of wearing Dhoti as their everyday attire. The Brahmacharis wear saffron colored dhoti along with saffron Kurta while the Grihastha men wear white colored dhoti along with white Kurta. Some unmarried boys pair their dhoti with a simple T-shirt or collared shirt making it look more like a fashionable garment. The youth of this movement inspires others to reconnect with the rich tradition and culture of Bharat due to which wearing a dhoti has gained a lot of popularity.