The Sari

The first mention of saris (alternately spelled sarees) is in the Rig Veda, a Hindu book of hymns dating to 3,000 B.C.; draped garments show up on Indian sculptures from the first through sixth centuries, too. The “magical unstitched garment” is ideally suited to India’s blazingly hot climate and the modest-dress customs of both Hindu and Muslim communities. Saris also remain traditional for women in other South Asian countries including Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal.

The Beginning

The journey of sari began with cotton, which was first cultivated in the Indian subcontinent around the 5th millennium BC. The cultivation was followed by the weaving of cotton which became big during the era, as weavers started using prevalent dyes like indigo, lac, red madder and turmeric to produce the drape used by women.

The Name

The garment evolved from a popular word 'sattika' which means women's attire, finds its mention in early Jain and Buddhist scripts. Sattika was a three-piece ensemble comprising the Antriya - a lower garment, the Uttariya - a veil worn over the shoulder or the head and the Stanapatta a chest band. This ensemble can be traced to Sanskrit literature and Buddhist Pali literature during the 6th century BC. The three-piece set was known as Poshak, the Hindi term for a costume.

Antriya resembled the dhoti or the fishtail style of tying a sari. It further evolved into a skirt, which went onto be known as ghagra or lehenga. Uttariya evolved into dupatta and Stanapatta evolved into the choli.

Evolvement

Women traditionally wore various types of regional handloom saris made of silk, cotton, ikkat, block-print, embroidery and tie-dye textiles. 

The richer Indian women started asking the artisans to use expensive stones, gold threads to make exclusive saris for the strata, making them stand out. But sari did remain unbiased as a garment and was adapted by each group in their way. That was the beauty of the garment, that remains.

With industrialisation entering India, with the Britishers, synthetic dyes made their official entry. Local traders started importing chemical dyes from other countries and along came the unknown techniques of dyeing and printing, which gave Indian saris a new unimaginable variety.

The development of textiles in India started reflecting in the designs of the saris - they started including figures, motifs, flowers. With increasing foreign influence, the sari became the first Indian international garment.

What started as India's first seamless garment, went onto become the symbol of Indian femininity.