Mahakoshal & Gondwana · Central Highlands & Forest Belt
There is no court dress here, because the Gond kingdoms dressed like the Rajput courts they married into and their subjects did not dress like them at all. What the region has instead is a working wardrobe of two or three unstitched cotton pieces, a very large silver vocabulary that functioned as a household's savings, and a body-marking tradition among the Baiga that is the closest thing in central India to a textile worn permanently. The region also rears the raw silk that other regions weave — the tussar cocoon comes off sal and saja here and is reeled and woven at Champa, Raigarh and Bhagalpur, which is why no famous cloth carries the name of any town in it.
What is worn
A coarse cotton sari, about six to eight cubits, wrapped short and tucked between the legs for forest and field work. Traditionally worn without a blouse; the polka blouse is a twentieth-century addition that is now universal.
Worn for: Everyday
A short dhoti wrapped high for walking in undergrowth, with a sleeveless jacket and a gamchha.
Worn for: Everyday
A white dhoti with a tightly wound turban, worn on the Betul and Melghat slopes where Korku villages sit next to Gond ones and the dress distinguishes them at a distance.
Worn for: Festival
A towering peacock-feather crown over a deerskin or blanket wrap, with body ash and bells. It is worn only by the dancers who take the Gussadi role, and putting it on carries obligations that last the length of the festival.
Worn for: Dandari, at Diwali
Undyed tussar, gold-fawn and matte. It is the feast garment of the eastern edge, made from cocoons reared here and woven elsewhere.
Worn for: Weddings
Weaves and textiles
Antheraea mylitta reared outdoors on sal, saja and arjun rather than indoors on mulberry. The region is one of India's main cocoon sources and almost none of its weaving; the value is added downstream.
Plain unbleached cotton in narrow widths on pit looms, made for local wear rather than sale, and now largely displaced by mill cloth.
Jewellery
Traditional dress of Mahakoshal & Gondwana — garments, handloom weaves, GI-tagged textiles and jewellery. (7)