Most of men and women like to wear shalwar kameez on Eid in Pakistan and different designs of this dress are offered to the buyers by famous brands of Pakistan.
In this July 23, 2014 photo, women do Eid shopping in Karachi
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| Eid and Dress How Shalwar Kameez came to Pakistan from the Turkish Empire. |
Few days are left for the month of Ramadan to end and the rush of shoppers in the markets is increasing day by day while men , women and children are busy shopping for Eid .
Most of men and women like to wear shalwar kameez on Eid in Pakistan and different designs of this dress are offered to the buyers by famous brands of Pakistan.
Shalwar Kameez is also considered as the national dress of Pakistan but perhaps few of those who love and wear Shalwar Kameez know the history of this dress.
Nox Today has tried to shed light on the history of this dress and find out how it reached the home of almost every Pakistani.
Shalwar Kameez is an important part of the clothing culture of Pakistan and India and is considered to be simple and modest clothing.
In the big cities of Pakistan, apart from Shalwar Kameez, you will see people in jeans, pants and shirts, but in remote areas you will see all the people dressed in Shalwar Kameez.
According to a research paper based on the history of shalwar kameez published in Turkey's International E-Journal of Social Sciences, the Indus civilization settled around the Indus River was a strong civilization until 1700.
The traders of this civilization were associated with the Persian Gulf of the time and there is archaeological evidence of men wearing chughes or shawls and women wearing short skirts with headgear.
The era before the sewing of shalwar kameez
The history of shalwar kameez has been meticulously researched by the Turkish Journal of Social Sciences.
According to the same research paper, people wore unstitched clothes from the post-medicinal period of the Indus civilization (600 BC to 1000 BC) to the Mayurian Empire in India.
The lower part i.e. 'antaria' i.e. lower garment in place of shalwar and the cloth worn in place of shirt or shirt was called 'otaria' and the material used to tie the antaria was called 'kayabandh'.
If you are confused about this dress, it is similar to the tamba worn in present day India and Pakistan but now a kurta is worn with the tamba.
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| People attending Eid prayers in Rawalpindi on June 29, 2023 wear shalwar kameez |
Islam in the Middle East and Arabia
According to the research journal, when Islam spread in the Middle East and the Arab region and due to the special importance of clothing in Islam, Shalwar Kameez also started to become common among Muslims.
Now coming to the question of how the shalwar kameez reached Pakistani homes, first of all let's look at the words of shalwar kameez.
In the research paper it is written that very little information is available on the history of shalwar kameez but in the paper a great effort has been made to find out its history.
Shalwar is called 'Salwar' in Turkish. In Turkey, Arabia, and Persia, a salwar is an open trouser, tied with a cord.
Similarly, the term kameez is derived from the Arabic language and means a shirt of different lengths and from this it can be inferred that this garment came from Arabia or Persia.
According to the paper, the Arab dress, the Toub or Kameez, is a similar type of open shirt that men wear from head to toe after sewing, and this garment dates back to the Greek period and is also worn in Syria and even in South Africa.
The Seljuk Turks rose from Central Asia and began a series of conquests in Iran and Asia, and this continued until the 11th century. The Seljuk Turks also played an important role in popularizing the shalwar kameez.
After that, in the 16th century, the Ottoman Caliphate was established, so women and men in the Ottoman Caliphate started wearing shalwar kameez, in which the shalwar was called salwar and the kameez was called gumlek, and the jacket worn over it was called kabelek.
Shalwar Kameez in India
During the series of conquests of the Turks, the shalwar-kameez from the countries of Central Asia was also introduced by the Turks to the regions of Afghanistan and Iran.
It was then Mahmud Ghaznavi's rule that introduced the shalwar kameez in the then northern India in the 11th and 12th centuries when it became popular among most Muslims.
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| In this May 3, 2022 photo, women greet each other on Eid at the Badshahi Mosque in Lahore, Pakistan |
Mughal tour government and shalwar kameez
According to the research paper, when the Afghans and the Mughals continued to occupy India, the shalwar kameez became more popular in India during the Mughal rule in the 16th century.
Even though unstitched antaria and utaria were worn at that time and unstitched antaria and utaria used to be royal attire, stitched salwar kameez was popular among common people.
Now in simple words it can be said that shalwar kameez gained popularity in the subcontinent during the Mughal period and the Mughals took this dress from the Persian Empire.
After shalwar kameez came to India, antaria evolved into pajama or shalwar while utaria evolved from kameez, kurta, gagra or angarkha but it is important to remember that today saree is a variant of antaria and utaria. .
Shalwar kameez as school uniform in India
According to Singapore's official website, the shalwar kameez became popular in India during the Mughal Empire and became popular mostly among women, while after the 1980s it became so popular that some schools even introduced it as a school uniform for girls.
These same girls used to wear shalwar kameez from school to university as a non uniform while it is also known as the traditional dress of Indian Punjab.
According to Singapore's official website, like other countries, women who came to Singapore from India after the Second World War introduced the shalwar kameez in Singapore.
According to the research paper, shalwar kameez is very popular in modern India, but in different states of India, antaria and utaria are still worn, while men still wear dhoti.
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It is written in the research paper that after the partition of India in 1947, Pakistan and India became separate countries, but even today there are similarities in the culture, clothing and food of India, Bangladesh and Pakistan.
Talking about shalwar kameez, according to the research paper, the clothes worn in India's fashion industry and Bollywood are adopted in Pakistan, while after 2012, Pakistani women's clothes are also being liked in India.
Changing styles of shalwar kameez
As the shalwar kameez became popular in the subcontinent, it reached almost every home, but after that, both shalwar and kameez started to take different forms.
Types of shalwar that are still popular today
Shalwar: It is called simple shalwar for which the cloth is cut into two parts equal to the legs and stitched open or narrow according to the wearer's wish.
This simple shalwar is very popular in Pakistani shalwar kameez clothing fashion and you will mostly see people wearing this open shalwar across the country.
Patiala Shalwar: Patiala Shalwar was introduced in the city of Patiala, India and is a design of women's salwar.
The then king of Patiala introduced the royal dress which included the Patiala shalwar.
These shalwars are a type of open shalwars that are made very open and are very open up to the calves and then narrowed down to the feet.
Because of the more open stitching, this shalwar uses twice as much fabric as a normal shalwar.
Choori Dar Shalwar: As the name suggests, this is a shalwar made in the style of bangles i.e. the upper part is made like a bangle and is made straight and narrow from the hip to the ankles.
Slim Pant: As the name suggests, it is made to be very slim which is made to fit from hips and thighs to ankles. In Pakistan these days big brands have introduced this shalwar along with kurtas and kameez.
Palazzos: These are considered Pakistani style shalwar and are also popular in Pakistan. This shalwar is made completely open from the hips to the ankles.
Different shirt designs
Similarly, various types of kameez have also been introduced, including plain kameez, kurta, black kurta, Anarkali kameez and angarkha.
Everyone must have seen plain kameez which is made with full sleeves up to the knees and worn as a shirt.
Karta: Karta is a form of shirt but it is not designed like a shirt at the hips and thighs but is made straight and square.
Kali Dar Kurta: This is a form of shirt and also known as frock in Pakistan which is very popular among women.
Anarkali Suit: Named after the famous dancer Anarkali, this shirt is made like a frock with ankle length and is mostly worn with wide shalwar.
Angarkha: Angarkha is a Sanskrit word meaning protection of the body and this shirt is inspired by the longcoats worn during the Mughal era.
It is made open and fastened with a button or something else along the right or left shoulder.
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