Costume: Chatta, Jacket & Penkuppayam

I remember Neely Thalla, as people used to call her, who lived nearby and was visiting our house often. We children were amused to see her wearing only the half mundu, a white cloth tied at the waist that barely extended to her ankle. Waist up, she was not wearing anything at all but she was in her sixties at that time. Later on she started wearing a loose cloth that was tied at her neck which covered her upper torso but still left her arms, back and side torso bare.

She was part of that transitional period when the Hindu women were beginning to come out of the custom which barred them covering up of their upper body.

(Photo courtesy Anupama Sadasivan)

If Neely Thalla was remembered for her single mundu, Martha Chettathi impressed me for the intricacy of the style of the mundu that she regularly worn - even while going around her daily chores at the house; the “njori” put on by that Christian lady was an ingenious piece of craft in my little eyes.

Generally speaking for the woman, their traditional attire is the mundu (a thick cotton cloth) and a blouse, long cover-all blouses, especially for Muslim and Christian females.

The younger and teen girls used to wear a pavada (long skirt touching the calf) with long blouses (jacket or kuppayam) both made from thick cotton fabrics (cheettithuni). The pavada would have a couple of lengthy straps stitched to it by which the garment shall be fastened around the girl’s hip. Later on the girls came to use a stitched shimmy (waistcoat) as an additional undergarment.

Later on, during the 1970’s the Dhavani (or half Sari) became the standard attire of every college going girl.

The women wear mundu in the same way to that of their male counterparts except for the Christian women. The Christian ladies folded up the upper end of their `mundu` in multiple creases. This was called the “njori”. They wear the mundu in such a way that these pleats (or “njori”) are hung at their back like a half folded Japanese fan.

Muslim women’s mudu or thuni is slightly differed from the borderless mundu of the women of other communities. Their “Kachithuni” too was white but came with bright color boarders. Later on some of them switched to the “Soorithuni” which had less brighter and narrower boarders. Few women used the “Chinai” mundu which was, more or less, a colored version of the Kachithuni.

The blouses of women of each of these communities differed. The Christian “Chatta” was more like their men’s shirts and covered the waist. This could be half or full sleeve but invariably white.

 

The Muslim’s “Pen Kuppayam” is a long coverall up to their waist. It was white or of light color; could be decorated with beadings and shall be full sleeve. A version of the “Penkuppayam”; with tiny flower or polka dot prints, become in fashion later on and this was called the “Pullikkuppayam”.

The Hindu girls’ jackets (blouses) are fashioned almost the same way as of the modern Indian blouse but were reaching the waist and had sleeves that reached the elbows.

Muslim women additionally wore a white thattam (long head scarf that covered their lengthy hair).  Hindu women wore a randam mundu (or utthareeyam) – a shorter and nicer mundu – that was thrown over their shoulder across the breasts on formal occasions or while travelling. On these latter occasions the Christian woman kept their Kavana (which is an embroidered uthareeyam) pinned to their Chatta.

For the underwear woman tied a thaar or onnara; a handloom cotton cloth used to drape around the waist in a particular style, under the outer garment. They also wear a bodice which was the predecessor to the present day brassiere but served the same purpose.

By the 1970s the traditional attires were given way to the more modern costumes like saree, churdiar, blouses, tighter and shorter shirts, jeans, pants etc. in addition to a variety of undergarments.