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A kurta (or sometimes kurti, for women) is a traditional item of clothing worn in South Asia. It is a loose shirt falling either just above or somewhere below the knees of the wearer, and is worn by both men and women. It can be worn over ordinary pajamas, loose salwars, churidars, or less traditionally over jeans. Kurtas are worn both as casual everyday wear and as formal dress.

Etymology

The word kurta is a borrowing from Hindustani, originally from either Sanskrit kuratu/kurtaka or Persian (literally, "a collarless shirt"). It was first used in English in the 20th century. A kurta worn by females is called a kurti.

Distribution

The kurta is traditionally worn in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, and is also popular in Nepal and Sri Lanka. The kurta is worn with a dhoti, paijama, shalwar, lungi or jeans. The kurta is similar to the perahan worn in Afghanistan, the phiran of Kashmir, and the daura of Nepal.

Styles

The straight-cut kurta is a loose shirt falling either just above or somewhere below the knees of the wearer, and is traditionally worn by men. However, women do also wear the straight-cut kurta or its shorter version, the kurti. They were traditionally worn with loose-fitting paijama (kurta-paijama), loose-fitting shalwars, semi-tight (loose from the waist to the knees, and tight from the calves to the ankles) churidars, or wrapped-around dhotis; but are now also worn with jeans. Kurtas are worn both as casual everyday wear and as formal dress.

Imported straight-cut kurtas were fashionable in the United States in the 1960s and 1970s, as an element of hippie fashion, fell from favor briefly, and are now again fashionable. Women from the Indian subcontinent may also wear this Western adaptation of fashion in the Indian subcontinent.

Some styles button or are tied at the shoulder seam and have plackets rather than slits. The opening may be centered on the chest, or positioned off center.

Traditional forms of kurta do not have a collar. Modern variants may feature stand-up collars of the type known to tailors and seamstresses as "mandarin" collars. These are the same sort of collars seen on achkans, sherwanis, and Nehru jackets.

Kali kurta

A kali or kalidar kurta is similar to a frock and has many panels. The kalidar kurta is made up of several geometrical pieces. It has two rectangular central panels in the back and the front. The kali kurta is worn by men and women.

Bhopali kurta

The Bhopali kurta (taking its name from Bhopal) is a loose kurta with pleats at the waist, flowing like a skirt reaching midway between the knees and the ankles. It is worn with a straight pajama. The Bhopali kurta was popular with the local royal families and is believed to have been adopted from the dress of Turkey by Sultan Jehan Begum who reigned between 1901 and 1926 C.E.

Hyderabadi kurta

The Hyderabadi kurta is named after the former royal state of Hyderabad and is a short top which sits around the waist, with a keyhole neck opening. It was popular with the local royal households. Traditionally, the Hyderabadi kurta was of white material, but modern versions can be of any colour. Over the kurta, some versions have net material, the combination of which is called jaali karga, worn by men and women.

Lucknowi kurta

The traditional Lucknowi kurta can either be short or long, using as much as 12 yards of cloth. The traditional Lucknowi kurta styles have an overlapping panel. However, the term "Lucknowi kurta" now applies to the straight-cut kurta embroidered using local Chikan embroidery.

• Chikan embroidery, Lucknow

Dogri kurta

The Dogri men's kurta is open at the front but flares out at the hips.

• Men and boys wearing a variation of the suthan and Dogri kurta

Overlapping kurta

The overlapping kurta does not flow straight but is similar to a mini gown.

• Man on the right in overlapping kurta, 1848
• Mrinal Kulkarni in an overlapping kurta

Straight-cut kurta

The straight-cut traditional kurta (known as "Panjabi" in West Bengal, Bangladesh (Template:Lang-bn) and Assam (Template:Lang-as) and as "Punjabi" in Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat) or simply Punjabi kurta consists of rectangular fabric pieces with perhaps a few gusset inserts, and is cut so as to leave no wasted fabric. The cut is usually simple, although decorative treatments can be elaborate.

The sleeves of a traditional kurta fall straight to the wrist; they do not narrow, as do many Western-cut sleeves. Sleeves are not cuffed, just hemmed and decorated.

The front and back pieces of a simple kurta are also rectangular. The side seams are left open for 6–12 inches (150–300 mm) above the hem, which gives the wearer some ease of movement.

The kurta usually opens in the front, and the front opening is often a hemmed slit in the fabric, buttoned at the top. The traditional straight-cut kurta does not have a collar, but modern versions do.

The use of side slits in the straight-cut kurta can be traced to the 11th century C.E. female kurtaka worn in parts of north India and was a short shirt, with sleeves extending from the shoulders, to the middle of the body, and had slashes on the left and the right sides. This is the same as the modern straight-cut kurta which has side slits and is worn by women in Punjab.

Regional embroidery, prints and designs

Straight-cut kurtas using regional embroidery designs are labelled according to the region from where the patterns originate.

Multani kurta

The Multani kurta is crocheted using designs of Multan (Punjab, Pakistan). Local Ajrak prints are also used. The Multani kurta is also known as the Saraiki kurta.

• Pakistani Saraiki Ajrak fabric Pakistani Saraiki Ajrak fabric
• Saraiki Ajrak
• Saraiki kurta

Punjabi phulkari kurta

A Phulkari kurta is embroidered using the Phulkari embroidery of the Punjab region.

• Punjabi straight-cut kurta, Ferozepur, 1845
• 'Phulkari' (bridal shawl), Punjab, early 20th century, cotton, silk and embroidery, Honolulu Academy of Arts
• Phulkari from Punjab, India, 20th century, khadi, silk, plain weave, embroidery, Honolulu Museum of Art
• Punjabi woman in short Punjabi kurta 1874

Punjabi bandhani kurta

Bandhani tye-dyeing is popular in the Cholistan Desert area of the Punjab region. Bandhani patterns are used on kurtas.

• Rohi (Cholistan) woman's bandhani dress (Punjab, Pakistan)

Muktsari kurta

The traditional Punjabi kurta of the Punjab region is wide and falls to the knees and is cut straight. The modern version of the regional kurta is the Mukatsari kurta which originates from Muktsar in Punjab. This modern Punjabi kurta is famous for its slim-fitting cuts and smart fit designs. It is very popular among young politicians.

Delhi kurta

Styles of kurta peculiar to Delhi include the wooden beaded kurta and a kurta heavily laden with embroidery.

Sindhi kurta

The Sindhi kurta is the traditional straight-cut variety but uses local patterns to embroider the garment and also makes use of mirrors. The local art of bandhani (creating patterned textiles by resisting parts of a fabric by tying knots on it before it is dyed) is utilised, which is believed to have originated in Sindh and spread to Gujarat via Rajasthan and is also practiced in the Punjab region. Sindhi kurtas are also made out of heavy local material called rilli, and the kurtas are often called rilli kurtas. Ajrak prints are also used.

• Sindhi hat with Ajrak designs. Scarf with bandhani prints
• Ajrak
• Rilli material

Assamese Panjabi

The Assamese Panjabi is worn with a scarf (Gamosa) using local prints.

• Gamosa print
• Gamosa pari
• Man wearing a Panjabi with a Gamosa
• Gamosa

Bengali Panjabi

The Bengali Panjabi utilises local embroidery traditions. Kantha embroidery means patched cloth and is the regional style of West Bengal and Bangladesh. It is known as Fanjabi in Sylhet and Chittagong. Kantha is also traditional in Odisha. The other variety of embroidery from West Bengal and Bangladesh is the Nakshi kantha.

• Kantha (quilt) LACMA AC1994.131.1
• Modern Nakshi kantha
• Scholar in panjabi kurta, East Bengal (Bangladesh), 1860
• Man in short panjabi kurta, East Bengal (Bangladesh), 1860

Photo gallery

• A modern shin-length embroidered silk kurta
• A blue khadi kurta
• An Indian child in kurta
• Pakistan Frontier Constabulary soldiers wearing kurtas at Torkham border crossing gate
• Indian Army 15th Sikh Regiment, wearing kurtas, arrives in Marseille, France, on their way to fight the Germans during the First World War
• Assamese Gamosa and Panjabi
• Kurta, India, 20th century, cotton blend - Saint Ignatius Church, San Francisco, CA
• Man in dhoti kurta
• Bhangra dance performers in Punjab wearing kurta and tehmat
• Man in blue kurta
• Statues of women in kurta
• Kurta
• Pahari (Hill) women in kurtas, Kashmir, 1890

Jeans and straight-cut kurta

Kurtas are often worn with jeans. Women sometimes wear kurtas as blouses, usually over jeans pants. Jeans are sometimes preferred over pajamas or leggings as they are more durable for rough use. Most colours of kurtas match with blue jeans. In 2014, an Indian family court in Mumbai ruled that a husband objecting to his wife wearing a kurta and jeans and forcing her to wear a sari amounts to cruelty inflicted by the husband and can be a ground to seek divorce. The wife was thus granted a divorce on the ground of cruelty as defined under section 27(1)(d) of Special Marriage Act, 1954.

Leggings and ladies' straight cut kurta

Ladies' kurtas/blouses, along with leggings, are most popular in the Indian subcontinent, and the community from the Indian subcontinent in Singapore and Malaysia.

• Hand-crafted long ladies' kurta with pink leggings
• White printed ladies' kurta with pink leggings

Kurti

In modern usage, a short kurta for women is referred to as the kurti. However, traditionally, the kurti refers to waistcoats, jackets and blouses which sit above the waist without side slits, and are believed to have descended from the tunic of the Shunga period (2nd century B.C.). Kurtis are typically much shorter than the traditional garments and made with lighter materials, like those used in sewing kameez.

Material

Kurtas worn in the summer months are usually made of thin silk or cotton fabrics; winter season kurtas are made of thicker fabric such as wool or "Khadi silk", a thick, coarse, handspun and handwoven silk that may be mixed with other fibers. A very common fabric for the kurta pajama is linen, or a linen-cotton mix ideal for both summers and winters.

Kurtas are typically fastened with tasselled ties, cloth balls and loops, or buttons. Buttons are often wood or plastic. Kurtas worn on formal occasions might feature decorative metal buttons, which are not sewn to the fabric, but, like cufflinks, are fastened into the cloth when needed. Such buttons can be decorated with jewels, enameling, and other traditional jewelers' techniques.

Decoration

Tailors from the Indian subcontinent command a vast repertoire of methods, traditional and modern, for decorating fabric. It is likely that all of them have been used, at one time or another, to decorate kurtas. However, the most common decoration is embroidery. Many light summer kurtas feature Chikan embroidery, a speciality of Lucknow, around the hems and front opening. This embroidery is typically executed on light, semi-transparent fabric in a matching thread. The effect is ornate but subtle.

• Closeup of Chikan embroidery and sandalwood cufflink-style buttons on kurta
• Closeup of knot-and-loop button for a "side open" kurta
• Side-opening Chikan kurta with semi-precious-stone cufflink-style buttons
• Closeup of semi-precious-stone cufflink-style buttons
• A traditional cotton Chikan embroidery kurta with grandfather collar and wooden cufflink-style buttons
• A traditional muslin "side-open" kurta with knot-and-loop in place of buttons
• Modern Indian woman in a kurta

See also

• Angarkha
• Dashiki
• Jama (coat)
• Kurti top
• Shalwar kameez
• Tunic
• Khadi
• Khādī Development and Village Industries Commission (Khadi Gramodyog)

References

1. Merriam Webster: Kurta
2. Ghurye, Govind (1966). Indian Costume. Mumbai: Popular Prakashan. p. 118. ISBN 81-7154-403-7. Retrieved 2015-05-12. A Chinese dictionary of the latter half of the 8th century A.D. lists 'kuratu' as the Sanskrit equivalent of a Chinese word which means skirt. And Al-Biruni later noted that females in North India wore 'kurtaka', which was a short skirt extending from the shoulders to the middle of the body and had sleeves.
3. McGregor, R. S. (ed.). 1993. The Oxford Hindi-English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. 1083 pages. ISBN 0-19-563846-8.
4. ^ Oxford English Dictionary, Second Edition. 1989. The first use is attributed to W.G. Lawrence in T. E. Lawrence, Home Letters, 1913, "Me in a dhoti khurta, White Indian clothes."
5. Tulasī Rāma Vaidya, Triratna Mānandhara, Shankar Lal Joshi (1993), Social History of Nepal
6. Urmila Phadnis (1973), Sri Lanka
7. Nira Wickramasinghe (2015), Sri Lanka in the Modern Age: A HIstory
8. Kemper, Steven (2001), Buying and Believing: Sri Lankan Advertising and Consumers in a Transnational World. "The straight cut kurta was adopted during 1930s - 1940s but is only worn by certain men on certain occasions."
9. ^ "Regal chic", The Telegraphk, Calcutta, April 24, 2004. Quote: "The first sequence was a range of traditional saris in silk and cotton, moving on to kurtis and jeans and short kurtas in silk and georgette."
10. ^ Karampuri, Aradhana (2005), Punjabi Dress Drafting and Cutting
11. Bhandari, Vandana (2005), Costume, Textiles and Jewellery of India: Traditions in Rajasthan
12. Rashtriya, Sahara, Volume 2, Issue 2 (1991)
13. Jamila Brij Bhushan (1958), The Costumes and Textiles of India
14. Illustrated Weekly of Pakistan, Volume 20, Issues 27-39 (1968)
15. Cine Blitz, Volume 29, Issue 1 (2003)
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18. Mohan Lal Nigam, Anupama Bhatnagar (1997), Romance of Hyderabad Culture
19. Javed, Arifa Kulsoom (1990), Muslim Society in Transition
20. Aslan, Reza (2011), Tablet & Pen: Literary Landscapes from the Modern Middle East (Words Without Borders): Literary Landscapes from the Modern Middle East
21. Mukherji, P. C., The Pictorial Lucknow (1883)
22. Ravi Bhatt. The Life and Times of the Nawabs of Lucknow
23. Ishaq, Muhammad (1977), Bangladesh District Gazetteers: Faridpur, Volumes 7-8
24. Ghosh, G.K. (1992), Tribals and Their Culture in Assam, Meghalaya, and Mizoram, Volume 3
25. Oxford Dictionary of English. "(Punjabi) a long kurta (loose collarless shirt)"
26. Madhya Pradesh District Gazetteers: Hoshangabad (1827)
27. Gazetteers: Vadodara District 1979
28. The March of India, Volume 13 (1961)
29. Kashyap, Pooja (10.08.2010) The Times of India. "Eastern India's first revolving restaurant opens in Patna"
30. Gupta, Shilpy (2009), Human Rights Among Indian Populations: Knowledge, Awareness and Practice
31. Ghurye, Govind Sadashiv (1966), Indian Costume
32. Yadava, Ganga Prasad (1982), Dhanapāla and His Times: A Socio-cultural Study Based Upon His Works
33. Sharma, Brij Narain (1966), Social Life in Northern India, A.D. 600-1000
34. Official Journal of the European Communities: Legislation, Volume 30, Issues 248-256 (1987)
35. The Journal of industry and trade, Volume 21. Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India., 1971
36. Naik, Shailaja D. (1996), Traditional Embroideries of India
37. Nasreen Askari, Liz Arthur, Paisley Museum and Art Galleries Merrell Holberton, (1999) Uncut cloth
38. Punjab District Gazetteers: Attock district, 1930. Printed 1932
39. Asoke Kumar Bhattacharyya, Pradip Kumar Sengupta (1991), Foundations of Indian Musicology: Perspectives in the Philosophy of Art and Culture
40. Puneet Pal Singh Gill (04.01.2012) The Chandigarh Tribune. "Muktsari-style kurta pyjama a fad"
41. United States Treaties and Other International Agreements, Volume 21, Part 3 (1971)
42. Ranjan, Aditi, and Ranjan, M. P. (2009), Handmade in India: A Geographic Encyclopedia of Indian Handicrafts
43. Pakistan Exports, Volume 28 (1977)
44. Census of India, 1971: Series 3: Assam, Volume 6, Part 3
45. Fraser, Bashabi (2008) Bengal Partition Stories: An Unclosed Chapter. Anthem Press
46. Redclift, Victoria (2013) Statelessness and Citizenship: Camps and the Creation of Political Space. Routledge
47. Naik, Shailaja D. (1996), Traditional Embroideries of India
50. ^ PTI (2014-06-28). "Wife's jeans ban is grounds for divorce, India court rules". GulfNews.com. Retrieved 2015-10-28.
51. Jaime Koh, Stephanie Ho Ph.D (2009), Culture and Customs of Singapore and Malaysia
52. Forbes, Duncan (1861), A Smaller Hindustani and English Dictionary
53. Bahri, Hardev (2006), Advanced Learner's Hindi English Dictionary
54. Panjab University Research Bulletin: Arts, Volume 13, Issue 1 - Volume 14, Issue (1982)

Notes

• Tarlo, Emma (1996): Clothing Matters: Dress and Identity in India. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 382 pages. ISBN 0-226-78976-4.
• Bhandari, Vandana (2004): Costumes, Textiles, and Jewellery of India. Mercury Books. 192 pages. ISBN 1-904668-89-5.

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