Sari, Sadi, Xari, or Saree — however you say it, the saree is the quintessential piece of ethnic garb in any Indian woman’s wardrobe. An unstitched stretch of woven fabric that can be draped, wrapped, and worn around the body in many different ways, the history of the saree goes back to the Indus Valley Civilisation almost five thousand years ago. 

From then until the Islamic period beginning in 13th century CE, Indian women wore the saree virtually the same way — covering their lower body by wrapping one end of the saree around their waist and draping the other end over and across their torso, partially covering their breasts or even keeping them bare. All the sculptures and statues of yakshis, apsaras, and goddesses found on temple arches and among excavated relics and ruins from the IVC period to the early common era show both men and women leaving their upper bodies uncovered, with only chest bands or jewellery and other ornaments partially covering women’s breasts.

The stitched choli — a precursor to the now ubiquitous blouse — was a much later fashion phenomenon that emerged across different parts of the country at different times. As Islamic rulers ascended the throne of Delhi in the 13th century CE, and Islamic ideas of modesty and propriety took over Indian society, Indian women’s sartorial styles changed drastically. Jama or loose-fitting long-sleeved shirts, tight-fitting angia — an early iteration of bralettes — and sheer odhnis layered over sarees became the norm during this time. While the women of the royal courts in North India wore the angia as part of their ensemble, the women of the West Indian and Deccan courts preferred ghagra (long skirts) and choli (short-sleeved or sleeveless blouses).

There was also a caste and class aspect to how Indian women dressed, as women from historically oppressed caste communities like Nadar and Ezhava in the Kingdom of Travancore remained bare-chested because they were not allowed to wear upper garments in public at all until the Channar revolt in 1859.

In Bengal, too, women usually wore the saree without any upper garment until the early colonial period. Most women in early colonial Bengal spent their lives cloistered in the ‘andarmahal’, or inner quarters of the house, away from the public gaze. However, as discourses around the abolition of Brahminical 'kulin' polygamy and Sati burnings, and the campaigns for women’s education and widow remarriages became mainstream, women started coming out of their cloistered inner quarters and took up public spaces.

This transition from the inner world of the ‘andarmahal’ to the outer world at large coincided with the widespread adoption of Western etiquettes and sartorial styles in the urban centres of colonial India like Calcutta and Bombay. Influenced by the pearl-clutching notions of Victorian propriety, Indian social reformers of the time looked at nudity as a sign of backwardness and aimed to dress Indian women more “appropriately”.

Jnanadanandini Devi — the wife of Satyendranath Tagore, the older brother of Rabindranath Tagore and the first Indian to become an Indian Civil Service officer — was a pioneer of Indian women’s fashion at the time. A woman about the world, Jnanadanandini travelled extensively with her husband and developed a new way of draping the saree, drawing inspiration from both traditional Bengali drapes and the Gujarati-Parsi-style gara drape she came across while living in Bombay. Jnanadanandini also popularised blouses, jackets, and chemises after she was reportedly refused entry to clubs under the Raj in Bombay for wearing the saree over her bare chest.

First used to describe an informal, loose-fitting sheer white cotton outer garment made popular by Queen Maria Antoinette of France in the 1780s, the ‘chemise à la reine’ or simply the ‘chemise’ became particularly popular among Bengali women in the 1800s. The loose fit of the garment and the breathability of the cotton fabric — readily available in Bengal — made it a favourite of Bengali women who wore it as an undergarment under their sarees. By late 19th century, the chemise had become an essential part of how Bengali women wore sarees.

But as French influence in colonial India diminished, the chemise was eventually supplanted by a combination of the British blouse and petticoat — an ensemble worn by Indian women to this day.

Learn more about the different ways Indian women wear sarees here.

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