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Choli / Lehenga (Lehnga, Lehanga):
Indian Lehanga choli has traveled a long way from Mughal royal courts to Wedding
Pandals. It is interesting to know about lehanga history, which says that it is
attired by women since Mughal era. It has acquired the status of festivity
wardrobe. Consisting of beautiful pleated skirt called Lehanga and tight fitting
blouse called Choli along with the graceful odhni or Dupatta, lehanga tradition
is driving women crazy not just in India but worldwide. Whenever we talk about
Dandiya, the first thing that comes to our mind is Chaniya Choli available in
exotic colors and ornamented designs.
It was very popular among royal ladies of the Mughal times. At that time it
was considered as a dress that had the ability to bedeck Indian beauty in the
most modest manner. Dupatta was actually meant to cover heads while offering
prayers to God and as a sign of respect before elders. Even today, the essence
of Mughal culture is very much intact and is depicted in traditional Mughal
designs. This tribal outfit is so much in vogue that it has virtually replaced
our traditional Sari in wedding pandals or Mandap.
Today, most of the brides chose to wear a designer Bridal Lehanga in colors
of pink, red and maroon on their special day. This garment has undergone some
transformation in terms of styles. The gamut of Lehanga Choli is very wide and
ranges from Traditional cum Embroided Lehanga to Sharara, Garara and Lancha to
specially designed Indian wedding Lehanga. Though we have witnessed innumerable
changes in its styling and designing but one thing is for sure that the fashion
of Lehanga choli tradition will never fade.
Though Indian wedding dress include saris, ghagra choli, but the most famous
traditional dresses for India bridal is lehnga choli which are heavily
embroidered with thread. The lehnga with chunri or veil in a bright red and
multicolored tie and dye bandhini design is almost mandatory. The Rajasthanis
use chunri to cover the bridal bed on which the grooms sit for the tilak
ceremony after the marriage and is later used as a veil by the bride.
Among the people of Uttar Pradesh lehnga is used for the gath bandhan (tying
the knot) ceremony during the marriage rituals. The brides of Bihar, however,
are simply dressed in a new unstitched saffron or turmeric yellow sari but among
the zamindars the sari undergoes atransformation. During a special ceremony
specialists of bandhini are invited to make the chunri.
Phulkari, the traditional hand embroidery of Punjab is manifested in the
trousseau in the form of a shawl or veil and muslin veils in a range of colours
edged with gold, are also included.
The Jammu belle is dressed in tight trousers somewhat similar to riding
breeches. The kurta is usually made up of velvet and heavily embellished with
gold thread embroidery. The dress in olden days was stitched out of a specially
hand-woven silken cloth. The bride’s kurta and chunni were usually of the same
colour, an auspicious red or pink or maroon and the trousers could be
contrasting green.
In Maharashtra brides wear a Paithani sari, terrific Lehnga and shawl
with its gold brocade border woven intricately with birds, flowers and
geometrical patterns. Other woven saris from this region, such as Chanderis,
Indoris, Maheshwaris also form part of the trousseau with yellows, ochres and
greens being the dominant colours.
The ensemble of the Muslim bride from Hyderabad is the zari-encrusted blouse
with a skirt. The veil is edged with gold tassels and embroidered all over.
Tissues and brocades are used in abundance.The Tamil bride has a minimum of five
saris worn during the various rituals of the marriage ceremony. For the main
wedding rites, when the mangalsutra is given to her, she is dressed in the nine
yards red and gold sari made on the looms of the famed Kancheepuram weavers of
Tamil Nadu.
For the church wedding, the Mangalorean, Goan and other Christian brides of
India wear white, with a veil on their heads during wedding. White too, is the
traditional colour of the Parsi bride. Resplendent she could be in either an
embroidered sari for which the community is famed or something as westernized as
Chantilly lace. The ornaments worn during the ceremony come from the groom’s
family. The Bengali bride’s jewellery is all in gold. Her bridal sari is of
Benarasi silk with brocade weave and her veil is of tissue.
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