Malwa Plateau · Central Highlands & Forest Belt
Malwa dresses like the meeting of three wardrobes it is — the Rajasthani lugda-and-odhni of the northern fringe, the Maratha nine-yard drape that came with the Holkar court, and the Bhil silver of the western hills. The plateau produced no court textile of its own on the scale of its neighbours; what it produced was a resist-dyeing and block-printing trade, worked by Chhipa families in the river towns because the craft needs running water more than it needs patronage.
What is worn
An unstitched length draped in the Rajasthani manner over a fitted kanchli or choli, with an odhni drawn across the head. Dominant through the northern and western districts and giving way to the stitched sari blouse nearer Indore.
Worn for: Everyday
The nine-yard drape passed between the legs and tucked at the back, worn at Ganeshotsav and family ceremonies in Indore, Dewas and Dhar — a direct trace of the eighteenth-century administration.
Worn for: Festive and ceremonial
A short dhoti with a fitted sleeveless bandi over a kurta, and a tied safa whose colour and fold change by district and occasion. The Malwi safa is tied flatter and wider than the Rajasthani pagdi it descends from.
Worn for: Everyday and ceremonial
Men in a short dhoti, waistcloth and turban with a mirror-worked jacket at festivals; women in a knee-length ghagra and odhni, and at Bhagoria a full weight of silver worn all at once.
Worn for: Everyday, and at Bhagoria
Wax-resist printed cotton in indigo, madder and black, made at Bherugarh outside Ujjain and sold as saris, dupattas and yardage across the plateau.
Worn for: Everyday
Weaves and textiles
Wax-resist dyeing worked by Chhipa printer families in the Bherugarh cluster on the edge of Ujjain. Molten wax is applied by block or pen, the cloth is dyed cold, and the cracking of the wax gives the veined lines that identify the technique. Registered as a geographical indication.
Hand block printing in vegetable and mineral dyes carried on by Chhipa households in the river towns — smaller and less documented than the printing traditions on either side of it, and steadily losing ground to screen printing.
Plain and striped cotton yardage for everyday wear, historically the plateau's largest textile output and now almost entirely displaced by mill and powerloom cloth from Indore and Burhanpur.
Jewellery
Traditional dress of Malwa Plateau — garments, handloom weaves, GI-tagged textiles and jewellery. (8)