by Ebey Soman

Created on: April 21, 2008   Last Updated: April 28, 2012

The history of Sari is as old as the Indus Valley Civilization, back in the 2800-1800 BCE era, where females in and around the Indian sub-continent wore Sari. However, some historians say that women and men used to wear the dhoti or lungi (mundu) at one point in time, but women's clothing styles slowly changed with influence from the Hindu and other traditional changes. With all the disagreements out there, one can agree on the fact that women in India has worn the Sari for an extremely long time, long before Europe was out of the dark ages.

The Sari (also known as sattika or saree or shari) is worn by present-day India, Bangladesh, Sri-Lanka, Pakistan and other nations near India. Overtime, many the role of Sari in society slowly evolved as society's values changed. In Pakistan, the popularity of Sari suffered and is now slowly dying out since Pakistan gained its independence from India and viewed Sari as a Hindu influence in their nation. Other nations such as Afghanistan could have used Sari in the early age, maybe even as far back as the Aryan invasion of Indus valley, but have adopted the dress into something unique.

So what is a Sari? Technically, it is a very very long piece of cloth made with silk or cotton (sometimes other threads are used for cost efficiency), each handwoven by a tailor with a unique pattern or Theme. Essentially, every Sari is different and designed from the very first thread by its maker. Zardozi or Zari work uses fancy styles with Gold or Silver threads which may sometimes be mixed in with precious stones or jewels. The cheaper sari are the ones that are made with vegetable dye printed on the cloth. Also, especially in modern times, the cheap Saris are made using polyester, nylon, or rayon and is not handwoven, but made in some factory. However handwoven sari have consistently shown more durability, quality, design and beauty since the maker invested a considerable amount of time into creating the Sari.

Early in the history of Sari, as with any clothing, there were a variety of styles and forms for wearing a Sari. Currently, thanks to better transportation, media & entertainment influence and faster information systems, most of the localized styles are giving way to the more prominent and famous Indian style. The Nivi Drape (a varied style itself) is the most popular, where women wrap the Sari around the waist and tuck it into their petticoats. Then the edge of the cloth is hand-gathered into even pleats just below the navel

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