Dupatta

Dupatta (Hindi: दुपट्टा, Punjabi: ਦੁਪੱਟਾ/ਚੁੰਨੀ, دوپٹا, Urdu: دوپٹا‎) (alternative names include chādar-orni/orna (Bengali: ওড়না), chunri, chunni and pacheri) is a long, multi-purpose scarf that is essential to many South Asian women's suits and matches the woman's garments. The dupatta is most commonly used with shalwar kameez and the kurta, but is also worn over the choli or gharara. The dupatta has long been a symbol of modesty in South Asian dress.

History and origin

The word dupatta is a combination of 'du-' meaning two, and 'patta' meaning strip of cloth, originally from Sanskrit. Early evidence of dupatta veil or scarf can be traced to the Indus valley civilization, where the sculpture of the Priest King whose left shoulder is covered with some kind of a chaddar, suggests that the use of the dupatta dates back to this early Indic culture. Early Sanskrit literature has a wide vocabulary of terms for the veils and scarfs used by women during ancient period, such as Avagunthana meaning cloak-veil, Uttariya meaning shoulder-veil, Mukha-pata meaning face-veil, Sirovas-tra meaning head-veil. Dupatta veil is believed to have evolved from ancient Uttariya veil, worn by women in ancient period as part of three-piece attire.

Dupatta (film)

Dupatta (Punjabi: ਦੁਪੱਟਾ) is 1970 Punjabi film directed by Mohinder Wahi, starring Ravinder Kapoor, Indira Billi, Joy Mukherjee, Sunder, and Sonia Sahni.

Music

Sapan Jagmohan composed the music for playback singers Mohammad Rafi, Mahendra Kapoor and Asha Bhosle. Varma Malik wrote the lyrics.

References