Clothing of Medieval

Indian

Mohammad Raza Bhat

Sem-III
Indian Madieval Period
The Medieval Period of Indian history ( or The Medieval History of India ) is a time period between

Ancient history and Modern history i.e. from the 6th century to the 18th century.

The Medieval period started at the end of ancient age in 550 AD and it continued till the 18th century

when the Mughal empire had broken. During the medieval period, various dynasties ruled over India

namely;

THE MUGHALS
THE DELHI SULTANATE
Rajputs
 MUGHAL EMPIRE •

The Mughal Empire was an empire established

and ruled by a Persianate dynasty of Chagatai

Turco-Mongol origin that extended over large

parts of the Indian subcontinent and Afghanistan.

• The beginning of the empire is conventionally

dated to the founder Babur's victory over Ibrahim

Lodi, the last ruler of the Delhi Sultanate in the

First Battle of Panipat (1526).

 Mughal Costumes
The ladies and gents of the Mughal empire wore beautiful

and expensive clothes made from the finest materials and

adorned themselves with jewellery from head to toe. •

The garments of Mughal ladies were made of the finest

muslins, silks, velvets and brocades. •

The muslins used for their clothes were of three types: Ab-

e- Rawan (running water), Baft Hawa (woven air) and

Shabnam (evening dew). • Muslins called Shabnam were

brought from Dacca and were famous as Dhaka malmal.

 Men's Clothing

Jama: The Yaktahi Jama (an unlined Jama) originated in Persia

and Central Asia, where it was worn both short and long, over a

pai-jama to form an outfit known as the "Bast Agag". In Persian,

the word "Jama" means garment, robe, gown or coat. The

definition of the Mughal Jama is a side-fastening frock-coat with

tight-fitting bodice, nipped-in waist and flared skirt, reaching the

knees.
 Men's Clothing

The Chogha: This is a very ancient garment which we have seen

all throughout the Persian, Mongolian and other areas. The word

Chogha in Mughal times referred to a long sleeved coat, open

down the front, usually down to hip length or knee length.

 Men's Clothing

Patka, a long decorative cloth tied elegantly several times round

the waist is an essential part of the Mughal attire. The sash is tied

is such a fashion that its decorative ends are displayed in the

front.
 Men's Clothing
Paintings of the period indicate that the paijamas were loose and

flowing from the waist to the knee, where they became snug

down to the ankle. Often the fabric on the lower legs is wrinkled,

suggesting that the paijamas were longer than the leg itself and

pushed up, just like the sleeves of the jama, in a display of

conspicuous consumption. At no time do the paijamas match the

jama in colour, and solid colours appear to have been the fashion

during Akbar’s reign

 Women's Clothing

Peshwaz : was a ladies outfit similar to a gown or jama coat with

front open, tied around the waist, having full sleeves, and the

length was full neck to heels. Peshwaj was one of the magnificent

costumes of the mughal court ladies. The material was used to be

sheer and fine muslins with decorated borders of zari and

lacework.
 Women's Clothing

Lehenga Choli became popular as an attire amongst women

mainly in North India, during the 10th century. The lehenga

evolved through fine craftsmanship with the arrival of Mughals

in India and their subsequent rule from the 12th to the 18th

century. The original, ancient form of lehenga was mainly stitched

from cotton, after which royal fabrics and embroideries like silk &

brocade were used, making lehenga further evolve into royal

attire.
 Women's Clothing

Dhilja was a pajama made of silk with a wide cut and straight in

shape. The Dhilja was a garment of the Mughal clothing of ladies

in the Indian subcontinen in the late 17th to early 19th centuries.

 Women's Clothing

Churidar :- Cut on the bias, much longer than the leg, so that

folds fall at the ankle, worn by men and women.

Shalwar :- A triangularly cut pai-jama with a quilted band at

the ankle (poncha) worn by men and women.

Garara :- A woman's pai-jama cut loose to the knee and

adding gathers.
Farshi :- A woman's pai-jama cut without folds to the knees,

and then gathered into pleats to the floor.

 Accessories

Armlets
Armlets worn by royal ladies were adjustable with either clasps or

strings. They appeared in pure gold or enameled gold and were studded

with many gemstones and pearls.

 Accessories

Waist Belts and Hip Chains

Waist-belts were chiseled out of gold to adorn the waists of emperors

and empresses and festooned with gemstones and pearls.

Golden hip-chains strung with gemstones or pearls decorated the hips

of empresses.
 Accessories

Rings and Hand Ornaments

The Mughal emperors wore multiple showy rings, made of pure gold

or enameled gold or jade. Some Mughal rings are so huge that they

cover two or three fingers. The ring centerpieces are either circular or

square in shape and embedded with bulky gemstones.

 Accessories

Nose rings
Nose rings are produced out of fine gold or silver. They vary

from cute tiny pins studded with minuscule gemstones or

pearls to great circular hoops covered with multiple gemstones,

pearls, and quality beads. Like earrings, nose rings may be

joined to long strings fastened to the hair with tiny hooks.

 Head Wear

Turban :- Mughals tied their turbans, then added decoration by

way of bejeweled bands, pin jewellery or other ornamentation.

Caps: Caps worn were heavily ornamented and in a variety of

styles.
 Footwear

Footwear :- Ornamented shoes with turned up toes (Jhuti) were

Persian in style, and were worn by men and women.

The Kafsh, worn by nobles and kings The Charhvan, with a

curling tongue fixed to the toe The Salim Shahi, decorated in

gold The Khurd Nau, very lightweight, made of kid leather

 Makeup
Mehndi, or henna, for the hands, lipsticks of a hundred hues to

redden lips, topees and clothes for hair-dos, “kasturi” and

“manjans”, “datoons” and toothpastes for pearly teeth are all

readily available.
The Mughal queens were known to use the powder of emerald,

turquoise, and pearls as make-up for the eyes, the way we use

eye-shadow.
‘Solah Shringar’ means 16 Bridal Adornments that encompasses

sixteen steps that women follow for her beautification from

head to toe in the medival period.

 The impact of Mughal dress on the Indian lifestyle is found immensely during modern times. We

find the recall of Mughal design and textiles and its technique in the modern era, particularly in

bridal wear. Almost all the fashion designer of India tried their best to re-use modern methods in

their design to create a classic sense in the fashion world by using the Mughal dress design.

Designers like Sabyasachi Mukherjee brought a new taste in dress designing from Mughal touch.

Reminiscing about the Mughal era and bringing the grandeur of the period alive, The gowns,

resplendent with ruffles and texture, have like a fairytale feel. The embroidery's over-the-top use of

feathers lends glamour to the ensemble. Ethnicity is kept intact, fusing it with modern construction
to make the ensemble fit for a modern bride. Fine fabrics, such as rich velvet and Benarasi silk as the

base for lehengas used. Intense thread work embroidery has been meticulously worked upon. Ritu

Kumar, a famous Fashion Designer who generally works on Mughal touch, has taken it upon her to

revive many of India" s dying traditional embroideries, crafts and weaves. In fact, the profusion of

zardozi embroidery got more importance. She researched and brought back this long-forgotten

Mughal craft to mainstream fashion and gave a new outlook and liking for this craft which became

the main pattern for the Indian brides. She brought a new blend of lehengas for the brides by giving

the touch of Mughal craft into it.

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/f5/90/96/f5909620ee1ec63d485f30660af08d72.jpg https://i.pinimg.com/736x/86/ad/94/86ad948d9a153fd1d4e106140668c11c.jpg
https://shaadiwish.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/red-anita-dongre-lehenga.jpg
 RAJPUT EMPIRE

During the 7th and 8th century a new clan of

people emerged who came to be known as

Rajputs. They belonged to the warrior class of

people and were located in Rajasthan and

some central parts of India. The Rajputs were an

image of feudalism and chivalry. Though they

were devoted warriors, the Rajputs fought

amongst themselves and weakened their

Empire.
 Texyiles & Clothing•
The state records of Jaipur mention special departments in charge of royal costumes

While the Ranghkhana and the Chhapakhana are departments that took care of

dyeing and printing the fabrics respectively.

The siwankhana ensured its immaculate tailoring Two special sections, the

toshakhanaand the kapaddwadra, took care of the daily wear and formal costumes of

the king. •
Rasjasthani daily wear such as Saris, Odhnis and Turbans are often made from

textiles using either blockprinted (above) or tie-and-dye techniques. •

Richly brocaded material from Banaras and Gujarat, Embroidered and woven

Kashmiri shawls and delicate cottons from Chanderi and Dhaka were procured at

great cost. •
 Rajput men's Clothing

Rajput's main costumes were the aristocratic dresses (court-dress) which includes

angarkhi, pagdi, chudidar pyjama and a cummerbund (belt).

Angarkhi (short jacket) is long upper part of garments which they used to wear over a

sleeveless close fitting cloth.

Nobles of Rajputs generally attired themselves in the Jama, Shervani as an upper

garment and Salvar, Churidar-Pyjama (a pair of shaped trousers) as lower garments.

The Dhoti was also in tradition in that time but styles were different to wear it. Tevata

style of dhoti was prominent in Desert region and Tilangi style in the other regions.
 Rajput women's Clothing
Choli - upper garment heavily embroidered in the front and tied with strings at the

back.
Also called Angia, Chola, Cholaka & Kanchuki.
Cholaka - fitted Choli-type blouse with an apron front, long sleeves of dark red brocade

with white middle tied at the back with strings.

Antariya - Lehnga style, of silk with purple, green and yellow stripes with lozenge

patterns in white.
Ghaghra - An enoromous gathered skirt tied at the waist with drawstrings.
Odhani - a light-weight richly embroidered shawl'
Rajput Empire Accessories

Jewellery preferred by women were exquisite

in the style or de. sign. One of the most

jewellery called Rakhdi (head ornament),

Machi-suliya (ears) and Tevata, Pattia, and

the aad (all is neck-ace).

Rakhdi, nath and chuda shows the married

woman's status. The footwear is same for

men and women and named luff made of

leather
 NIZAMS OF HYDERABAD
The Nizam-ul-Mulk of Hyderabad, popularly known as the

Nizam of Hyderabad, was a monarch of the Hyderabad

State, now divided into the states of Telangana, Karnataka

and Marathwada region of Maharashtra. Nizam, shortened

from Nizam -ul -Mulk, meaning Administrator of the Realm,

was the title of the sovereigns of Hyderabad State was the

premier Prince of India., since 1724, belonging to the Asaf

Jah dynasty .

• Hyderabad was the largest and most prosperous of all

princely states in India. Hyderabad State had its own army,

airline, telecommunication system, railway network, postal

system, currency and radio broadcasting service. In spite of

the overwhelming Hindu majority, Hindus were severely

under -represented in government, police and the military.

 Men's Clothing
The Sherwani is the traditional men's garb of Hyderabad.
It is a coat-like tunic with a tight-fitting collar (hook & eyelet fastening), close-fitting

in the upper torso and flaring somewhat in its lower half.

It usually has six or seven buttons, often removable ones made from gold sovereigns for

special occasions.
The material is usually silk or wool.
A groom may use gold brocade for his wedding sherwani, but otherwise good taste

dictates understated colors, albeit with rich and textured fabrics.

The sherwani is usually worn over a silk or cotton kurta (long shirt) and pyjamas (baggy

pants with a drawstring at the waist).

Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru adapted its design and turned it into his trademark

Nehru Jacket, further popularizing the garment.

 Womens Clothing

Female The Khada Dupatta or Khara Dupatta(uncut veil) is an outfit

composed of a kurta (tunic), chooridaar (ruched pair of pants), and 6

yard dupatta (veil) and is traditionally worn by Hyderabad brides.

Sometimes the kurta is sleeveless and worn over a koti resembling a

choli. The bride also wears a matching ghoonghat (veil) over her

head.
 Nizams Jewellery

They used to wear jewellery as follows ,

tika , Jhoomar , Nath , Chintaak also

known as Jadaoo Zevar, Kan phool ,

Satlada , Ranihaar , Jugni , Gote , Payal ,

Gintiyan.
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