Origins of the sari: a theory

[Sane Less]

Long long ago... when the wearing of clothes had just started... in a place deep inside the jungles of India, there lived a couple. The woman was very beautiful and was well into the latest trends of clothes. Because of her beauty, she had a string of admirers and she openly flirted with them and had lots of affairs with many of them. The husband, of course, did not like any of this. And he wanted to bind the lady within the house somehow. So he started looking into this beauty business and soon started designing clothes for woman-folk... but he had an evil intention. He wanted to design something that will bind women completely and make them look positively ugly, and he wanted to fool all women into thinking that it is the latest in fashion trends. The later part he had already succeeded as with his designs he realized that anything sells as long as he called it the latest fashion.

The husband created something that he called the salwar-kameez, a thing so bizarre that it just ballooned out the woman. He hoped that this will help him in controlled his wife but alas... not all men look at what clothes a woman is wearing Even wearing the repulsive salwar-kameez, she still looked beautiful and had a steady stream of men following her everywhere. The husband went back to his design-wall and starting working fanatically. He needed to think big... something beyond a simple covering of the body. That's when he struck gold... yards and yards of cloth wrapped around the body... it will take hours putting it on... will take hours taking it off (in case of a quickie... and then hours again putting it back on... so quickies would practically be out of question)... THE SARI. He went about his work of designed something that will look marvelous to the eye but will hamper the frivolous flirtation of his wife. He presented his first SARI to his wife and told her that this is what is going to be the latest fashion trend. Little did he realize that thousands of years later his invention would still bind the entire women-folk of a nation

His wife started wearing saris created by her husband... and slowly the husband could see the decline in the usual flocks of men surrounding her. What he did not realize was the exact cause. It was not the sari that was causing the decline... even though it did have an effect. Once his wife started wearing the sari she realized that she no longer needed to be slim and smart-looking... as the sari did not care what it was covering. She started hogging stuff and soon she became fat and corpulent... and men, who would never care about the clothes a woman wore, became disinterested in her as she gradually lost her beauty and elegance.

When the husband realized what he had done, he just ran screaming into the jungles... never to be seen again... but it was too late... the latest trend had become a craze by then which never lost its power for years to come


Corollary: Fashion trends began in India

[dirty]

The word 'sari' is believed to derive from the Sanskrit word 'sati', which means strip of cloth. This evolved into the Prakrit 'sadi' and the sound later decayed into 'sari'.

Some versions of the history of Indian clothing trace the sari back to the Indus valley civilization, which flourished in 2800-1800 BCE. One ancient statue shows a man in a draped robe which some sari researchers believe to be a precursor of the sari.

Ancient Tamil poetry, such as the Silappadhikaram and the Kadambari by Banabhatta, describes women in exquisite drapery. This drapery is believed to be a sari. In the Natya Shastra (an ancient Indian treatise describing ancient dance and costumes), the navel of the Supreme Being is considered to be the source of life and creativity. Hence the stomach of the dancer is to be left unconcealed, which some take to indicate the wearing of a sari.
Odissi dancer wearing a fishtail wrap.
Enlarge
Odissi dancer wearing a fishtail wrap.

Some costume historians believe that the men's dhoti, which is the oldest Indian draped garment, is the forerunner of the sari. They say that until the 14th century, the dhoti was worn by both men and women.

Sculptures from the Gandhara, Mathura and Gupta schools (1st-6th century CE) show goddesses and dancers wearing what appears to be a dhoti wrap, in the "fishtail" version which covers the legs loosely and then flows into a long, decorative drape in front of the legs [1]. No bodices are shown.

Other sources say that everyday costume consisted of a dhoti or lungi (sarong), combined with a breast band and a veil or wrap that could be used to cover the upper body or head. Some argue that the two-piece Kerala mundum neryathum (mundu in malayalam is the same as dhoti or sarong and neryath means a cloth to cover the upper body similar to a shawl) is a survival of ancient Indian clothing styles, and that the one-piece sari is a modern innovation, created by combining the two pieces of the mundum neryathum.

It is generally accepted that wrapped sari-like garments, shawls, and veils have been worn by Indian women for a long time, and that they have been worn in their current form for hundreds of years.

One point of particular controversy is the history of the choli, or sari blouse, and the petticoat. Some researchers state that these were unknown before the British arrived in India, and that they were introduced to satisfy British ideas of modesty. Previously, women only wore the one, draped cloth and casually exposed the upper body and breasts. Other historians point to much textual and artistic evidence for various forms of breastband and upper-body shawl.

It is possible that the researchers arguing for a recent origin for the choli and the petticoat are extrapolating from South India, where it is indeed documented that in some areas, women wore only the sari and exposed the upper part of the body. Poetic references from works like Shilappadikaram indicate that during the sangam period in ancient South India, a single piece of clothing served as both lower garment and head covering, leaving the bosom and midriff completely uncovered. In Kerala there are many references to women being topless, including many pitcures by Raja Ravi Varma. Even today, women in some rural areas do not wear cholis.

[2gud]

Origin of Sari:

Ek generation mein India mein itnee "sari" ladkiyan paida hogayi ki it became impossible to stitch dresses for all of them. Abb itni "sari" ladkiyon ko binn kapdon ke thodi rakkh sakkhte the, to kisee mahaan aatma ney upay nikala aurr iss duvidha sey peedit janta ko bola, "Yeh silayi vilayi band kardo, aurr pehnado sari ladkiyon ko sari!"

[Sane Less]

yeh Dir_yi pai tho kut/paste marath hai Put some light of your own, pai

Good one, 2Goti pai

[Cancer]

Sari .......................................

[Cancer]

one more.............................

[2gud]

Originally Posted by Cancer

Sari .......................................

Aap kyon aisey katley aam parr utrey hain... Sari is my weeeeaaaaakest point, aurr aisa nazakat kay saath pehni hai yeh ladki iss photu mein, jaise koi creative pathni bedroom mein apney pati keliye pehna ho... ek to ghar sey beghar apney jaaney mann sey door, humm kisi tarah waqt kaat rahein hain badi mushkil sey, aur ec pey dill behla lete hain roj office kay baad... aurr aap hain ki aisi puraney yaadon ko taaza karr deti hain jeena mushkil hojata hai mera

[dirty]

Ye sari ka kapda shrink ho gaylea lagta ......

[dhurandhar]

Originally Posted by Sane Less

Long long ago... when the wearing of clothes had just started... in a place deep inside the jungles of India, there lived a couple. The woman was very beautiful and was well into the latest trends of clothes. Because of her beauty, she had a string of admirers and she openly flirted with them and had lots of affairs with many of them. The husband, of course, did not like any of this. And he wanted to bind the lady within the house somehow. So he started looking into this beauty business and soon started designing clothes for woman-folk... but he had an evil intention. He wanted to design something that will bind women completely and make them look positively ugly, and he wanted to fool all women into thinking that it is the latest in fashion trends. The later part he had already succeeded as with his designs he realized that anything sells as long as he called it the latest fashion.


Corollary: Fashion trends began in India

I told you that thinking otherwise is not for you

Salwar kameez came AFTER Islam's "visit" to India...strangely enough there were no tailors in ancient India (ancient bole to Ramayan - Mahabharat era)...have you seen Lord Rama or Krishna in "Kurta - payjama"??...look at all outside carvings on temples...all Goddesses are naked on top

this is because Indians were very private people who would not want to share their vital statistics with a tailor. Also, the caste system prevented Brahmins and others being touched by then lowly service community of farmers, blacksmith, craftsmen etc

[2gud]

Originally Posted by dhurandhar

I told you that thinking otherwise is not for you

Salwar kameez came AFTER Islam's "visit" to India...strangely enough there were no tailors in ancient India (ancient bole to Ramayan - Mahabharat era)...have you seen Lord Rama or Krishna in "Kurta - payjama"??...look at all outside carvings on temples...all Goddesses are naked on top

this is because Indians were very private people who would not want to share their vital statistics with a tailor. Also, the caste system prevented Brahmins and others being touched by then lowly service community of farmers, blacksmith, craftsmen etc

Abb merey theory kaa waat matt lagana bey

Chall abb gana gaa pataa karlun ki tu mera bicchda bhai to nahin?

[Sane Less]

Originally Posted by dhurandhar

I told you that thinking otherwise is not for you

Salwar kameez came AFTER Islam's "visit" to India...strangely enough there were no tailors in ancient India (ancient bole to Ramayan - Mahabharat era)...have you seen Lord Rama or Krishna in "Kurta - payjama"??...look at all outside carvings on temples...all Goddesses are naked on top

this is because Indians were very private people who would not want to share their vital statistics with a tailor. Also, the caste system prevented Brahmins and others being touched by then lowly service community of farmers, blacksmith, craftsmen etc

Looks like you missed the Corollary to my theory Fashion trends started in India and then moved elsewhere. Salwaar-kameez, kurta-pajama, topi-talwar, everything started out in India and then moved out to Arab countries. By the time it became popular out there, the sari had a strangle-hold on India fashion... which then deteriorated slowly. The periods that you are talking about... was much later... Ram/Krishna were nowhere... sculpting, carving, caste systems were formed thousands of years after the invention of sari. By this time, the womenfolk had moved on to better fashion senses, where they realized the time wasted just wearing saris... and they just started wearing bottoms only... or tops only... or just a simple lehenga... or any of those variations of the basic sari

[tantric_yogi]

Sanebhai ... ... another theory. I will read thread letter. No coffee in system yte.


There is a historical story connected to discovery of Sari.

Keeping you theory of yesterday morning in mind ... here let me tell you.

About three thousand years ago ... in a village about three hour walk from Dwarikadesh ... lived a Saas and Sasur.

One day ... Saas saw Sasur feeling not very comfortable. Saasu asked Sasur "Why you looking uncomfrtable?" Sasur replied "I am feeling hot"

It was month of May and heat of the summer sun was burning the sands of Kalahari desserts.

"Let's go to river so we both will cool off" ... said Saasu

So Saasu and Sasur went to river and seeing nobody else around and merry-go-around ... they took off their clothes and went in the water to cool off.

Back to the house: Jamaii raja came from the farm looking for Sasur. He asked Bahurai "Where is Saas and Sasur?" to which Bahurani replied "They been gone to river to cool off teir heat."

Back to river: Saasu and Sasur are cooling off when suddenly from korner in her eye Saasu seeing Jammaaii raja coming toward to them. Ashamed and no time to put her clothes on she tek Sasur's Dhottee and wrapped it around herself.

Jammaaiiji saw Saasuji wrapped in this strange dress and thought Saasuji looks reall nice in this new dress. So he decided to ask saasu "Saasuji, what is this?" ... misunderstanding ... Jammaii wanted to now about what she was wraaped in (sasur's dottee) but Saasu thought Saasu thought Jammaaee raja sin her in river cooling with Sasur. Ashamed Saasu replied "Jamaiiji I am ver Sarri" ...

Back to Village: Jammaairaj rushes back to Bahu "Bahu, I just saw Saasuji and she was wearing this nice-looking dress." Bahu "What was she wearing?" Jammaee: "I asked her and she said ... I am wear sari"

"You also wear what Saasu is wearing" Jammaee suggested to Bahu ...

Sanebhai ... sorry to be disappointmenting but this really is true story of discovery of Sari. I hope you were not expecting Mastram version?



Ok ... now time to coffee and go through last nights events ... letter.

[love_to_surf]

Originally Posted by Sane Less

but he had an evil intention. He wanted to design something that will bind women completely and make them look positively ugly.

yards and yards of cloth wrapped around the body... it will take hours putting it on... will take hours taking it off (in case of a quickie... and then hours again putting it back on... so quickies would practically be out of question)...

Once his wife started wearing the sari she realized that she no longer needed to be slim and smart-looking... as the sari did not care what it was covering. She started hogging stuff and soon she became fat and corpulent... and men, who would never care about the clothes a woman wore, became disinterested in her as she gradually lost her beauty and elegance.

Sane's Another BIG TIME FLOP Theory on Saree..........

1) Women look positively ugly in Saree ----- Wrong.

2)Wife attracted males in Salwar Kameez but as she started to wear saree she turned less attractive to men----- At any given time woman with Saree is more attractive than woman in Salwar kameez.

3)Woman will never turn careless about her figure after she start to wear saree -----infact she will strive hard to develope fine curves......

4)Saree takes hours and hours to put on and hours and hours to take off ------- Absolutely wrong.


When Sane realized that his Saree theory has failed miserably ...what he had done, he just ran screaming into the jungles... never to be seen again...never to be return with any more new Theories .....

Corollary: FLOP Saree theory developed by SANELESS

[dirty]

Originally Posted by tantric_yogi

Sanebhai ... ... another theory. I will read thread letter. No coffee in system yte.


There is a historical story connected to discovery of Sari.

Keeping you theory of yesterday morning in mind ... here let me tell you.

About three thousand years ago ... in a village about three hour walk from Dwarikadesh ... lived a Saas and Sasur.

One day ... Saas saw Sasur feeling not very comfortable. Saasu asked Sasur "Why you looking uncomfrtable?" Sasur replied "I am feeling hot"

It was month of May and heat of the summer sun was burning the sands of Kalahari desserts.

"Let's go to river so we both will cool off" ... said Saasu

So Saasu and Sasur went to river and seeing nobody else around and merry-go-around ... they took off their clothes and went in the water to cool off.

Back to the house: Jamaii raja came from the farm looking for Sasur. He asked Bahurai "Where is Saas and Sasur?" to which Bahurani replied "They been gone to river to cool off teir heat."

Back to river: Saasu and Sasur are cooling off when suddenly from korner in her eye Saasu seeing Jammaaii raja coming toward to them. Ashamed and no time to put her clothes on she tek Sasur's Dhottee and wrapped it around herself.

Jammaaiiji saw Saasuji wrapped in this strange dress and thought Saasuji looks reall nice in this new dress. So he decided to ask saasu "Saasuji, what is this?" ... misunderstanding ... Jammaii wanted to now about what she was wraaped in (sasur's dottee) but Saasu thought Saasu thought Jammaaee raja sin her in river cooling with Sasur. Ashamed Saasu replied "Jamaiiji I am ver Sarri" ...

Back to Village: Jammaairaj rushes back to Bahu "Bahu, I just saw Saasuji and she was wearing this nice-looking dress." Bahu "What was she wearing?" Jammaee: "I asked her and she said ... I am wear sari"

"You also wear what Saasu is wearing" Jammaee suggested to Bahu ...

Sanebhai ... sorry to be disappointmenting but this really is true story of discovery of Sari. I hope you were not expecting Mastram version?



Ok ... now time to coffee and go through last nights events ... letter.

Fuk Fuk fuk tantu ji aapke pair kahan hai.......... I want to touch them. Kya theory hai baap..... Tusi mahan ho

[smellyfinger]

Yes - why take off sari .. it lifts up for easy access. If the woman is especially ugly .. lift high enough to cover the face .. you know the rest