History of clothing Classical period

 Classical period

Early classical period

Early classical period has ample evidence of dresses worn by ancient Indians in several relief sculptures which depict not only the dressing styles, but also architecture and lifestyle of the period. Buddhist reliefs from Amravathi, Gandhara, Mathura, and many other sites contain carved reliefs from Jataka tales and exhibit the fashion of the period between the 2nd century BCE to Gupta periods.

• Shunga royal family wearing traditional Indian attire, West Bengal, 1st century BCE.

 

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Scene of the life of the Buddha, wearing kāṣāya, Gandhara, 2nd–3rd-century CE (Kushan period),

 

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Relief depicting men in antriya and uttariya, 1st century CE.

 

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Andhra attire, Amaravati style

 

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Warrior wearing Achkan or long coat or chiton, and boots from Udayagiri and Khandagiri Caves, Orissa, 2nd century BCE.

 

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Kushan emperor Kanishka, 2nd century CE, from Mat near Mathura, wearing Achkan, sash and outer coat.

Gupta period

The Gupta period lasted from 320 CE to 550 CE. Chandragupta I was the founder of this empire. Stitched garments became very popular in this period. Stitched garments became a sign of royalty.

The antariya worn by the women turned into gagri, which has many swirling effects exalted by its many folds. Hence dancers used to wear it a lot. As it is evident from many Ajanta paintings, women used to wear only the lower garment in those times, leaving the bust part bare but these depictions may be a stylistic representation of mother goddess cult since Indus Valley Civilization. Whereas women with stitched upper body garment or tunic have been shown from pre-Mauryan period as early as 400 BCE in a folk art depicted on Pazyryk rattling mirrors. Ujjain coin from 200 BCE depicts a man wearing achkan. Depictions from terracotta clay tablets from Chandraketugarh show women wearing clothes made of muslin. Various kinds of blouses (cholis) evolved. Some of them had strings attached leaving the back open while others were used to tie from the front side, exposing the midriff.

Clothing in the Gupta period was mainly cut and sewn garments. A long sleeved brocaded tunic became the main costume for privileged people like the nobles and courtiers. The main costume for the king was most often a blue closely woven silk antariya, perhaps with a block printed pattern. In order to tighten the antariya, a plain belt took the position of kayabandh. Mukatavati (necklace which has a string with pearls), kayura (armband), kundala (earring), kinkini (small anklet with bells), mekhala (pendant hung at the centre, also known as katisutra), nupura (anklet made of beads) were some of the ornaments made of gold, used in that time. There was extensive use of ivory during that period for jewellery and ornaments.

During the Gupta period, men used to have long hair along with beautiful curls and this style was popularly known as gurna kuntala style. In order to decorate their hair, they sometimes put headgear, a band of fabric around their hairs. On the other hand, women used to decorate their hair with luxuriant ringlets or a jewelled band or a chaplet of flowers. They often used to make a bun on the top of the head or sometimes low on the neck, surrounded by flowers or ratnajali (bejewelled net) or muktajala (net of pearls).

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Terracotta head, wearing possibly an early form of pagri from the Gupta period.

 

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Male warrior holding broad sword wearing dhoti and arm bracelets; Gupta era statues.

 

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Ancient form of Kurta with side slits and Churidar worn during the Gupta period.

 

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Females statues wearing drapes dipected at Dashavatara Temple.

 

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Male and female statues wearing drapes at Nachna Hindu temples.

In south

Chalukyas of vatapi

Chalukyas of vatapi have unique clothing, they wore veshti in different styles sometimes veshti goes under knees. The uniqueness of jewelleries is the presence of thigh band.