New Delhi: There is so much to like and behold in coastal Kerala in Onam festival that even God would be happy to come down to visit ‘God’s own country’. There are exciting boat races, gorgeous looking flower decorations, huge and lavish feast called Onasadya and a virtual pomp show and revelry that are truly colourful and breathtaking in Kerala every year on the harvest festival of Onam.
Guess what makes Onam the popular regional festival of Kerala? It is the return of King Mahabali, the noble ruling demon King that is the prime reason of celebration. People of Kerala decorate their homes with fresh flower mats called ‘Pookalam’ in order to welcome the King Mahabali. The tradition of making Pookalam Designs on the floor along with wearing festive clothes and jewellery is as integral to the Onam celebration.
Onam is basically a festivity of food, colour and attire. One of the customary delights during ‘Onam’ a festival that is widely celebrated in Kerala is the beauty of Kasavu embroidered attires among the young and the older women especially while participating in their folk dances. Perfect for the tropical climate Kerala has most of the year; the Kasavu is one of the most comfortable pieces of fabric woven ever. On one hand, the men are spotted in dhotis and on the other hand, women are known to wear the traditional kasavu attires.
Kerala Sari is a misnomer for the two-piece mundu set called Mundum Neriyathum in Malayalam. Mundu is the piece of garment worn on the lower half of the body and is common to both men and woman. As for Neriyathum, the word roughly translates to upper garment.
Also called Setu Sari, Kerala Kasavu and Mundum Neriyathum (Nereyathum), kasavu saree is a cultural handloom saree of Kerala made of pure cotton. It usually comes in 6 to 7 inches of pallu which is decorated with beautiful designs in the form of flowers, mangoes, peacock, Radha Krishna, coloured borders and fancier variations.
From the land of ‘God’s own country’, Kerala’s Kasavu emerges as one of the finest traditional saris which define the essence of the beauty of every woman in Kerala. It is a handloom designed material which enhances its glamour through the intrinsic borders soaked in the colour of pure gold—which was made of real gold filaments or copper plated fibres.
Origin
The Kerala sari is always an object of much fascination. It’s simplistic style and understated elegance has a deep-rooted cultural significance.
It all began in the beautiful land of Kerala under the kingdom of the the Highness Maharaja Balaramavarma and his chief minister Ummini Thampi who brought about the revolution of handloom industry. The chief minister invited the weavers from the nagercoil region of Tamil Nadu called ‘Shaaliyars’ and gave them a place of pride. The Shaaliyars successfully made an industry with the available cotton market and hand-wove elegant garment for the royal families of Travancore. Soon the weavers and the hand woven sarees and mundus became popular among the Dutch and the portuguese who exported them in shiploads. Soon the handloom industry was spread to different areas like that of the Chendamangalam in Ernakulam district and Koothampalli in Thrissur district. Today there is no part of Kerala and probably a south Indian cloth store anywhere in the world that doesn’t sell these pieces.
Another, lore goes that during the reign of demon king Bali, the locals encouraged this form of weaving gold and cotton to make it a trademark of the people of his kingdom. So every family in Kerala owned and wore only this gold and cotton clothes theme so that one could easily differentiate outsiders and invaders into their lands. Even to this day, when Onam is celebrated, people of kerala have to wear this traditional costume because of the belief that their great emperor Bali returns to bless the people of his land and everyone seen in this dress invites auspiciousness and good luck into their lives.
While its mythological past can never be traced amidst a spate of tales both from fantasy and fiction, the historical evidences are well documented:
The origin of Mundum Neriyathum can be traced back to third century BC when Shramana tradition was spread all over Kerala. Shramanas followed simple life style. They used to wear hand woven cotton cloths which are yellowish off-white in color. The tradition of golden coloured borders (Kasavu) along the Mundum Neriyathum might have been influenced by the Graeco-Roman "Palla" or Palmyrene.
It should also be noted that traditional clothing of a region is closely associated with the local culture, climate and landscape. Mundum Neriyathum was well adapted to the tropical climate of Kerala. If one notice the traditional clothing all across India, one can see that local people tends to wear cloths with colour contrasting to the landscape of that region. For example, the traditional colourful Rajasthani clothing match with desert landscape of Rajasthan; or radiant traditional dress of Kashmiri women contrasting with the whitish landscape of Kashmir. Likewise, the off-white coloured Mundum Neriyathum contrast well with vivid landscape of Kerala.
History
Kerala Kasavu which was originally known as ‘Mundum Neryathum’ traces itself way back to the Buddhist era. Slowly and gradually this ethnic fabric spread out its essence to the southern parts of India and became richly prominent in Kerala. However, the style of the fabric also finds its original essence from the Graeco-Roman culture which was known as ‘Palmyrene’.
This attire was gradually considered as a long piece of fabric which possessed a coloured gold border that was displayed as a long garment and pinned onto to the left side of the shoulder. However, this attire till the 1970s was not worn as a typical sari, as the pallu was not considered as something that had to be draped as an upper garment.
The artwork presented on the sari symbolized and defined the personality and the cultural aspect of women who had their cultural roots deep in the soil of Kerala.
Present Era:
In the present era- golden borders have now been replaced with different kinds and colour of zaris and the work and designs which represent the traditional culture, are now crafted in the essence of Resham, enhancing the look and glamor of the sari.
Regular Kasavu blouses have now paved the way for designer blouses, which are more in sync with today’s generation and modern fashionable tastes and trends. The upper clothing of the mundu is no longer traditionally tucked inside the Kasavu blouses, since now as per the modern trends these pallus go over the left shoulder which gives the entire attire a sophisticated look.
Now, with the modern patterns and designs in these attires, it can be treated as a festive costume as well as an everyday outfit suiting ever occasion and season throughout the year.
Kasavu is equally stylish, simple and trendy enough when it comes to bringing out the fashionista in you; just like these celebrities.
In this world of globalisation and fashion; the whole spate of fashion designer are bombarding the market revolutionising the Kerala Kasavuwhich has brought back the old textiles blending itself perfectly with the new trend flaunting itself perfect.
Identified with celebrations and festivity, Kasavu has now transcended borders along with the global Malayali. One can say therefore that, this is an encouraging trend as it might not just help the handloom weavers with brand building and design development but also promote a sustainable growth and diversification in the industry.
“Kerala is the state where all the traditions follow. Like to eat on banana leaf, before eating there is shudhikaran that is to put the water around the banana leaf. Gold and white colours are the colours of the Lord Vishnu and Onam is said to holds significane to lord Vishnu also, therefore wearing theme based clothes of white and gold, hold a lot of significance and no traditional occasion in Kerala is complete without people wearing this special Kasavu costume,” says Praseetha Menon, a Keralite.
References:
www.fashionlady.in
www.utsavpedia.com
ww.thenewsminute.com
www.hastavarnastudio.com