''kanchuka'' (''Kanchuka, Kanchuli'') was an upper-body garment, both half and full-sleeved jacket of a long length reaching the hips or even longer to the knee length. Kanchuka, because of its fit also defined as a soldier's dress. Rank ladies and young girls used the garment.
Types
Kanchuka has been proclaimed since the rule of king
Harsha
Harshavardhana ( IAST Harṣa-vardhana; c. 590–647 CE) was a Pushyabhuti emperor who ruled northern India from 606 to 647 CE. He was the son of Prabhakaravardhana who had defeated the Alchon Huna invaders, and the younger brother of Rajy ...
(1st century) in Kashmir. The records refer to the garment as the foremost recorded
bodice
A bodice () is an article of clothing traditionally for women and girls, covering the torso from the neck to the waist. The term typically refers to a specific type of upper garment common in Europe during the 16th to the 18th century, or to the ...
used in India.The
Basava Purana (1237 A.D.) suggests that young girls were also wearing the same.
Bāṇabhaṭṭa
Bāṇabhaṭṭa ( sa, बाणभट्ट) was a 7th-century Sanskrit prose writer and poet of India. He was the ''Asthana Kavi'' in the court of the emperor Harsha, who reigned c. 606–647 CE in north India, first from Sthanvishvara (T ...
states it as a very lightweight garment.
See also
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Adivasah
Adivasah ('', , )'' is an upper garment of Vedic times clothing; It is a type of over garment similar to a mantle or cloak. Vedas refers (dress) as a set of clothes with these two main components where Vasa is for the lower body and Adivasa for t ...
*
Uttariya
An uttariya () is a loose piece of upper body clothing. It is a single piece of cloth that falls from the back of the neck to curl around both arms and could also drape the top half of the body. An Uttariya is similar to a veil, a long scarf an ...
References
Clothing
Indian clothing
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