Tr

Traditional Indian
Costumes and Textiles

Preface
To read and enjoy this book it will suffice to possess a modest knowledge of
creativity. We all are born creative; but today due to various educational burdens we
are some times not able to nurture this in our life. To open this angle of our life is
exactly what I have done in Traditional Indian Costumes and Textiles

Costumes and Textiles have occupied a prominent place in the world, across
geographic regions and climatic conditions, since ancient times. People naturally
utilized whatever material was conveniently available. Over time, the designing of
textiles and costumes developed in the hands of artisans as they enriched fabric and
garments. In fact, contemporary textiles and costumes reflect our spirit, our
consciousness and the vibrancy of the society in which we live. This is how textile and
costume designing has evolved in India.

Artisans and craftsmen have played a pivotal role in textile designing since
prehistoric times. The vision vocabulary of the artisan and functional usage of
particular artefacts have led to important contributions in the development of artistic
designs. The division of techniques, however, was not clear-cut and quite often one
technique could flow into the other, leading to variations in characteristic forms and
styles.

The preservation, revival and study of the best of the textiles and costumes are
necessary to provide a guide to good craftsmanship. These designs embody the
synthesis, over time, of indigenous talents, the new cultural impacts, and the imagery
of sign and symbol. Fashion designers and craftsmen today create crafts whose
designs and ornamental motifs are truly characteristic of India, and these have become
the inspiration for future generations.

The dates when specific patterns in textiles and costumes appear and reappear
are illuminating, for they reveal how designs and styles repeat themselves. Often a
pattern seems typical of a far later time than that of its actual making. All fashion
arises at a particular moment in history. People demonstrate how they belong, where
they are in place and time, by shaping the lines and colours of their clothes and
furnishings in their homes. A fresh modification of the old motif and style,
ornamentation or design is generally how innovation is accepted in designing.

Textiles and costumes go back to mankinds earliest times and belong to a very
old tradition of design and symbols. Although reinvented several times, the basic art
forms retained their shape and artistic appeal through the centuries. Like other art
forms, traditional textiles and costumes also link the past with the present. Through
the centuries, the skill of the artisan has been employed for design creation or
modification, not for documentation. Accordingly, the burden of documentation has
fallen on museums, design centres and archives.

The changing roles of the artisans, craftsmen and designers are emphasized in
the context of emerging technology that is capable of facilitating the preservation,
dissemination and generation of new designs based on decorative forms, and also
offers enhanced capabilities in terms of colour variety and colour differentiation. It is
hoped that the influence of emerging technology will lead to a renaissance in the field
of decorative designing. Indian textile and costume designs can be innovatively used
today by interchanging motifs and their ornamentations for serving the world of
fashion and also increasing awareness about our rich cultural heritage.



August-2004 Parul Bhatnagar


Introduction

Clothes are natural to man and their proper decoration on his unclothed body is
not ugly, on the contrary it is beautiful and pleasing, perhaps we should blame the
serpent in the Garden of Eden, who was responsible for arousing Eve and making her
aware of her body. Evolution of costumes and Textiles began the day Eve strategically
covered herself with the first fig leaf! But her garments did not have a lasting quality
and she probably changed them as often as her moods. We can see from ancient
paintings and sculptures that the Indian woman was as fashion conscious as their
European counter parts.

History testifies that man has throughout been inventing and creating for their
fulfilment. It is, therefore that his essential love of nature has been manifest directly or
indirectly in all such creations. His needs, his socio-geographical environment, his
economic status are all fully represented therein. Particularly, among these, his
costumes show the utmost influence of the social life, the seasons and his field of
work. It is the "costume which establishes his individual identity in society and which
also links him up with the social hierarchy.

Textiles have been produced in India since antiquity. However, very few of the
old textiles still exist. One reason is that cloth has long been regarded solely as an
article of consumption, rather than as an art form, and designs are lost through
everyday wear and tear.

The Indian village of now bears little resemblance to its predecessor of about
four thousand years ago. Yet the bulk of early styles of costumes, such as
embroidered, painted, dyed and printed textiles, may be described as genuine
traditional art in the original sense of the term. As time went on, however, the cultural
isolation of most of the villages decreased in proportion to their growing contacts with
nearby towns, and consequently with the culture of the great temple complexes and
the royal courts which represented the then prevailing phase of Indian high art.
Practically no aspect of village culture or tribal life remained untouched as cultural
exchanges and reciprocal influences took place.

Another factor, which played an equally important role in the development of
traditional Indian textiles and costumes over several thousand years, is the countrys
geography. In the cultural and historical sense, India constitutes a vast subcontinent of
strongly contrasting physical features and corresponding variations in climate. In the
north, the weather was cold, the textiles produced were generally embroidered or if
they were woven, small handlooms were used, as the work had to be carried out
indoors. The raw material used was wool, which was freely available. In the south, the
hot and humid temperature was very good for black soil cultivation; thus the best
quality of cottons could be accessed from there. The Deccan plateau, with its waste
forests having mulberry cultivation produced silk in abundance. In the west, having
mixed climate, the best quality printing along with different styles of embroidered and
woven work was done. In the East, the cottons, silk and woollen materials were
embroidered and woven.









TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface
Introduction
Indian costumes
Indian costumes from the earliest times to the beginning of the historical period
Indus Valley Civilization Costumes
Indo Aryan and Vedic age
Mauryan and the Sungh Period
Satavana Period
Kushan Period
Gupta Period
Mughal Period
Embroidered Textiles
Woven Textiles
Painted and Printed Textiles

Embroidered Costumes


Painted Printed Textiles
Woven Textiles