Dhoti and bandiMen
A plain white or off-white dhoti with a short sleeveless jacket and a gamchha over the shoulder, worn with the dhoti hitched for field work.
Worn for: Everyday
Bagelkhand · Central Highlands & Forest Belt
Dress and textiles
Dress on the plateau is the standard north-Indian rural set — dhoti, bandi and safa for men, saree or lehnga-odhni for women — and shifts noticeably in the forest districts, where Gond and Kol women wear a shorter cotton saree tied without a petticoat for movement, and heavy silver rather than gold. Bagelkhand has no court textile tradition of its own: the Rewa court bought its silks in from Banaras and Chanderi, which is why the region's material identity sits in metal, stone and forest produce instead of in cloth.
What is worn
SafaMen
A turban tied lower and flatter than the Bundeli one, usually in white or saffron. In the Adivasi villages it is often replaced by a simple wound cloth or a folded gamchha.
Worn for: Weddings and fairs
LugraGond and Kol women
A short cotton saree, roughly six to eight cubits, tied above the ankle without a petticoat and knotted at the shoulder, leaving the legs free for forest work and for carrying loads. It is a working garment, and the length is the functional detail.
Worn for: Everyday
Lehnga, choli and odhniWomen, rural plateau
A printed cotton skirt with a fitted bodice and a long head cloth, with the odhni drawn forward before elders. The Bagheli tie leaves more of the skirt visible than the Bundeli one.
Worn for: Everyday and festive
Saree worn with the pallu over the headWomen
Worn with the pallu carried over the right shoulder and up over the head, tucked at the waist so both hands stay free.
Worn for: Everyday, plateau and town
Weaves and textiles
Handloom cotton of the Rewa and Satna beltRewa, Satna
Surviving small clusters weaving plain cotton yardage, gamchhas and bedcovers for local sale. Modest, undocumented and shrinking; no protected name attaches to any of it.
Kosa and tussar from the forest edgeShahdol, Umaria, Sidhi
Tussar cocoons are reared and reeled on the sal and arjun of the forest districts, but the yarn is almost entirely woven up elsewhere — in Chhattisgarh and at Bhagalpur. The region produces the fibre and exports the value, the same pattern as its coal and its diamonds next door.
Jewellery
Hansuli, the rigid silver neck torquePaijan and kada — heavy silver anklets, worn in pairsBansuri and khinwa, the upper-arm and wrist silver of Gond womenNathiya and bendiTattooing (godna) on the forearms and neck of older Gond and Kol women, worn as permanent ornament
Traditional dress of Bagelkhand — garments, handloom weaves, GI-tagged textiles and jewellery. (7)