Hindu Voice UK, April 2007

Fashion in clothing is an ever-changing phenomenon, which varies every year with the changing of the seasons. Much of the Western fashion has gained inspiration from traditional clothing from other cultures, particularly those from the East. Last summer we saw traditional batik design which originated from Rajasthan and Gujarat in Western India, hit the top London stores with the designs being printed on skirts, shawls, handbags, tops, pyjamas, just to name a few! One piece of clothing however, which has stood the test of the seasonal changes of the shop rails and shelves, is the Sari.

Whenever you go to a celebration of a Hindu festival or even a Hindu marriage ceremony nowadays, be it in the UK, USA or even India, you will see the bride in her beautifully painstakingly embroidered sari, along with her mother, sisters, bridesmaids, aunties, and grandmothers all looking elegant and beautiful dressed in their Indian clothing. Virtually all the female attendants at an Indian wedding will be dressed in cultural clothing. The men on the other hand will most probably be dressed in western clothing, brandishing their Italian designer shirts, shoes and suits!

Somewhere along the line, the men made a very bad decision to abandon their traditional attire to favour the grey suit. Indian men, 200 years ago had worn clothing such as the dhoti (laccha - Panjabi, Vetti - Tamil) or lungi, which was suited for the climate and the common occupation of the region. Sadly, the Indian men around the world lost their national and personal character when they adopted the Western business suit as a symbol of their manhood.

The Indian and Hindu women on the other hand have decided not to relinquish their elegant dress but to preserve the traditional attire. They have worn the sari and have kept the tradition alive for many millennia, as historians state that the sari can be traced back more than 3,500 years. For those women who have been wearing the sari, albeit on special occasions or those special individuals who wear it daily in today's 21st century, have made quite an accomplishment

The sari plays an important part in a Hindu girl's life. From the early days when she ran around her mother, playfully wrapping the sari around her, then to the days where she used to pretend to play with her friends whilst dressing-up in her mothers sari to the day she put on her first sari all on her own. And of course, not forgetting the most important wedding sari that is lovingly preserved and cherished throughout her whole life.

The sari has been mentioned in Hindu Sanskrit literature from the Vedic period, which insists that pleats (referring to the sari) be a part of every woman's dress. The texts state that the pleats must be tucked in at the waist, either the front or back, so that the presiding deity Vayu, the God of the Wind, can carry away any evil influence that may strike a woman.

Saris are usually made using cotton or silk fibres and can also be made using modern day fibres. The most simplest of clothing has survived many invasions; emperors have come and gone, leaving their own mark on the ancient Indian civilisation, but refrained from altering the sari. Although saris nowadays differ in their design due to the region that they originate from, the sari culturally links all the women of India together. Women wearing saris in the UK, or anywhere else in the world are also part of this same oneness.

But as the youth go towards jeans and t-shirts, the question is will the sari survive for another thousand years?