page_title: Choli
section_title: Evolution
hierarchical_section_title: Choli / Evolution
caption_attribution_description: Woman's blouse. Cotton and glass. Kutch, Gujarat.
context_page_description: A choli is a blouse or a bodice-like upper garment that is commonly cut short leaving the midriff bare, it is worn along with a sari in the Indian subcontinent. The choli is also part of the ghagra choli costume in the Indian subcontinent.
  In Northern Gujarat bordering Rajasthan, Palanpur in particular, Polku, Gujarati: પોલકું word was used.
context_section_description: The choli evolved from the ancient stanapatta, also known as kurpsika or kanchuki, which was one of the forms of three-piece attire worn by women during the ancient period. This consisted of the antriya lower garment; the uttariya veil worn over shoulder or head; and the stanapatta, a chestband, which is mentioned in Sanskrit literature and Buddhist Pali literature during the 6th century BC. 
  Paintings from Maharashtra and Gujarat from the first millennium BCE are considered the first recorded examples of the choli. Poetic references from works such as Silapadikkaram indicate that during the Sangam period (third-century BCE to fourth-century CE in ancient South India), a single piece of clothing served as both lower garment and upper shawl. Paintings and sculpture indicate that the stanapatta evolved into the choli by the first century CE, in various regional styles. Rajatarangini, a tenth-century literary work by Kalhana, states that the choli from the Deccan was introduced under the royal order in Kashmir.
  Early cholis were front-covering and tied at the back. Cholis of this kind are still common in state of Rajasthan. In Nepal, the garment is known as a cholo, and in Southern India as a ravike. Both of these styles are tied at the front, unlike Northern Indian cholis, which are tied at the back. In parts of the Hindi Belt, mostly in Rajasthan, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, women wore vest-like garments, known as kanchli, over choli; this complete costume is known as the poshak.
caption: Choli from Gujarat at the Peabody Essex Museum.
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