2. Types of Garments (Introduction)

Clothes were generally indicated by the terms like Vāsas, Vasana, Vastra, Veṣa and Śukla. We hardly find any reference to the proper division of clothes of men and women. Same is the case with the shape of the garments or their modes of wearing. It is also very difficult to find whether a cloth was stitched or not. Hence we can only infer such things from the names of garments or from certain contexts. However it is evident that people wore different dress according to their age, profession, hierarchy and financial as well as social status. Similarly they wore different garments for different occasions and for different seasons.

In general, both men and women wore two pieces of cloth -an upper garment and a lower garment.

Upper Garments

Upper garments include dresses worn on the upper part of the body from head to hip. Sometimes they reach the ankle. Men and Women wore upper garments in different styles and were known by different names in different periods. Variety of upper garments was large, when compared to that of lower garments. Stitched and unstitched varieties were in vogue.

Some of the upper garments which were in fashion are–[... see following pages]

Lower Garments

Lower garments are garments, worn from waist to feet. They usually consist of two types, an undergarment and another one worn above the under garment. Unlike upper garments, varieties of lower garments were limited. Even though stitched types were in use, unstitched varieties of lower garments are mostly referred to in our literature. People in different regions adopted different styles in wearing lower garments. Mode of wearing of men and women also was different.

Some varieties of lower garments mentioned in the Sanskrit literature are described below.—[... see following pages]