Six yards of pure grace
The history of Sari is recorded back to the Indus Valley civilization, which flourished during 2800 – 1800 BC around the northern part of the Indian subcontinent. The word ‘Sari’ evolved from ‘Satika’ means three portions of the body head, chest and lower part.
Sari has been mentioned in “Kadambari’ and ‘ Silappadhikaram’ both a famous literary pieces in Kannada and Tamil respectively.
There are 80 recorded ways to wear Sari. Let’s look at that:
1 Nivi sari – This style originated from Deccan region, the pleats of sari ispassed through the legs and tucked into at the back. This allows free movement while covering the legs.
2 Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarati, Rajasthani – It is worn similar to nivi style but with loose end of sari aanchal or pallu placed in the front, therefore this style is known as sidha anchal or sidha pallu. This style is also worn by Punjabi and Sindhi Hindus.
3 Bengali and Odia style is worn with single box-pleat.[68] Traditionally the Bengali style is worn with single box pleat where the sari is wrapped around in an anti-clockwise direction around the waist and then a second time from the other direction.
4 Himalayan – Kulluvi Pattu is traditional form of woolen sari worn in Himachal Pradesh, similar variation is also worn in Uttarakhand.
5 Nepali: Nepal has many different varieties of draping sari, today the most common is the Nivi drape. The traditional Newari sari drape is, folding the sari till it is below knee length and then wearing it like a nivi sari but the pallu is not worn across the chest and instead is tied around the waist and leaving it so it drops from waist to the knee, instead the pallu oor a shawl is tied across the chest, by wrapping it from the right hip and back and is thrown over the shoulders.
6 Madisar – this drape is typical of Iyengar/Iyer Brahmin ladies from Tamil Nadu. Traditional Madisar is worn using 9 yards sari. The Parsi ‘gara’ is a quintessence of embroidery, art and history.
7 Pin Kosuvam – this is the traditional Tamil Nadu style
8 Kodagu style – this drape is confined to ladies hailing from the Kodagu district of Karnataka. In this style, the pleats are created in the rear, instead of the front. The loose end of the sari is draped back-to-front over the right shoulder, and is pinned to the rest of the sari.
9 Karnataka – In Karnataka, apart from traditional Nivi sari, sari is also worn in “Karnataka Kacche” drape, kacche drape which shows nivi drape in front and kacche in back, there are Four kacche styles known in Karnataka
10 Kerala sari style – the two-piece sari, or Mundum Neryathum, worn in Kerala. Usually made of unbleached cotton and decorated with gold or coloured stripes and/or borders. Also the Kerala sari, a sort of mundum neryathum.