Indian men consider women wearing sari the most attractive. Maybe this explains the fact that even nowadays over 80% of Indian female residents prefer sari to modern clothing. Sari in India isn’t just a type of clothing, it’s a special tradition, lifestyle – demonstrating Indian women’s grace. Majority of Indian women wear sari every day of their lives and this item reflects woman’s personality as well as traditions and rich culture.

The first record of sari is found in Indian epos. 3000 BC Pandav monarch played dice and lost all his land, fortune, army, relatives and even himself. Trying to win back he bet his wife Draupadi and lost her too. The winners forced Draupadi to appear in front of the public. They tried to undress her to abuse her. But kind God Krishna took compassion on the poor woman. No matter how hard the enemies tried to drape her sari off, it was endless. Draupadi remained all dressed-up.

So, what is the sari? In ancient times sari consisted of two lengths of fabric: one was tied around the hips while the other was thrown over the front covering the bust and shoulders. The ends could hang freely or were tucked in the skirt. Besides, the ends could be tied behind the back.
Modern sari is a single length of fabric – 5-9 metres long (sometimes 12 metres) and 1 metre wide. Both sides of the sari are usually adorned with embroidery, lace, pretty patterns or even gemstones. If the woman’s goal is to show her jewelry and accessories she may want to go without patterns.

The part of the sari that hangs behind is also ornamented. When the woman walks everyone who watches her can see the beauty of her attire.

Sari can come in various colors. In ancient times women used to wear only monotone saris dyed with plant juices. Sometimes sari had gadient coloring, from very pale to vibrant tones. When the painting technique was invented saris transformed into real works of art. Since then on saris were iridescent.

Some colors have special meaning in Indian culture. For example, widows were to wear only simple white saris with no accessories. If a woman had a baby she was supposed to wear yellow sari for seven days. Wedding sari was usually made of red luxurious fabric embroidered with golden threads. Green was a color of Islam and blue sari was intended for women of low castes. Now few women follow these color rules. The main thing that is imporatnt is the beauty of the garment.

Creation of sari is a men’s work, because men know better how a beautiful woman should look. Two weavers can spend up to seven months to make a sari of high quality. Men also dye and embroider saris.

At first view it seems that all saris are the same but there are lots of varieties. An Indian woman of middle class has over a hundred of saris for different occasions. Sari isn’t cheap but good sari will never lose color or wear out. It can be passed on from one generation to another.
Sari can be discussed for long but it is much better to try it on. Just find a length of fabric in your wardrobe, wrap it the right way and see how you look. Such experiments are good to know what you really like.