Word of the Day
Sari (SAWR-ree)
A garment traditionally worn by Hindu women consisting of several yards of cotton or silk material that is draped around the body
Common clues: Indira's dress; Delhi wrap; Hindu dress; Bombay garment
Crossword puzzle frequency: 8 times a year
Frequency in English language: 37938 / 86800
A sari (also spelled saree) is a garment worn by many women in the Indian subcontinent. It consists of a long strip of cloth which can be wrapped in various styles. The most common style is wrapped around the waist, then one end is draped over the shoulder. It is usually five to six yards of unstitched cloth worn over a midriff-baring blouse (known as a choli), and a petticoat. Some sari styles require nine yards of cloth.
The word 'sari' is believed to derive from the Sanskrit word 'sati', which means strip of cloth. This evolved into the Prakrit 'sadi' and was later anglicised into 'sari'.
Some versions of the history of Indian clothing trace the sari back to the Indus valley civilization, which flourished in 2800-1800 BCE. One ancient statue shows a man in a draped robe which some sari researchers believe to be a precursor of the sari.
Ancient Tamil poetry, such as the Silappadhikaram and the Kadambari by Banabhatta, describes women in exquisite drapery. This drapery is believed to be a sari. In the Natya Shastra (an ancient Indian treatise describing ancient dance and costumes), the navel of the Supreme Being is considered to be the source of life and creativity. Hence the stomach of the dancer is to be left unconcealed, which some take to indicate the wearing of a sari.
It is generally accepted that wrapped sari-like garments, shawls, and veils have been worn by Indian women for a long time, and that they have been worn in their current form for hundreds of years.
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Sari”
|
|