Kurta

A kurta (Urdu: كُرتا‎,Hindi: कुर्ता,Bengali: পাঞ্জাবী, Punjabi: ਕੁੜਤਾ, pronounced [ˈkʊrt̪aː]) is an upper garment for men and women, originating in South Asia, with regional variations of form.

Etymology

The word kurta is a borrowing from Urdu, Hindustani, originally from either Sanskrit kuratu/kurtaka or Persian (literally, "a collarless shirt"). It was first used in English in the 20th century. A kurta worn by females is called a kurti.

Distribution

The kurta is traditionally worn in Pakistan, Bangladesh and India and is also popular in Nepal and Sri Lanka. The kurta is worn with a Dhoti, Paijama, Shalwar, lungi or jeans. The kurta is similar to the perahan worn in Afghanistan, the phiran of Kashmir and the daura of Nepal.

Styles

The straight cut kurta is a loose shirt falling either just above or somewhere below the knees of the wearer, and is traditionally worn by men. However, women do also wear the straight cut kurta or its shorter version, the kurti. They were traditionally worn with loose-fitting paijama (kurta-paijama), loose-fitting shalwars, semi-tight (loose from the waist to the knees, and tight from the calves to the ankles) churidars, or wrapped-around dhotis; but are now also worn with jeans. Kurtas are worn both as casual everyday wear and as formal dress.

Kurta (village)

Kurta (Georgian: ქურთა; Ossetian: Курта) is an abandoned village in the former South Ossetian autonomous oblast of Georgia. Populated largely by ethnic Georgians, it was one of the towns that remained under the control of Georgia between the unilateral secession of South Ossetia after the 1991–1992 South Ossetia War and the 2008 South Ossetia War.

Kurta is situated nine kilometers north-east of Tskhinvali, the secessionist-controlled capital of South Ossetia, on the right bank of the Greater Liakhvi River, and is strategically placed along the Trans-Caucasus Highway (TransCam) between Tskhinvali and Java. After the Parliament of Georgia passed a resolution on the establishment of the Temporary Territorial Unit on April 11, 2007, Kurta became the headquarters of the Provisional Administration of South Ossetia headed by the ethnic Ossetian Dmitry Sanakoyev. The Georgian government also allocated 1,850,000 lari to rehabilitation of the village's infrastructure.

Kurta and its environs are part of the Greater Liakhvi Valley Museum-Reserve. The village itself houses a late medieval Georgian Orthodox church of St. George.