Ancient Asian Costumes

Ancient Asian Costumes

India has a rich early history. The Indus valley civilization, which flourished between 2600 and 2000 BCE, was larger than any other empire of the time.

The Aryan people, who arrived in India around 1500 BCE, introduced the religion of Hinduism, while Buddhism also began in India around 500 BCE.

The Gupta Empire of the fourth to the sixth centuries CE is famous for its painting, music, and dance.

People of the Indus Valley

The first civilization in India grew up around the valley of the Indus River around 3500 BCE. Within a thousand years there were over a hundred towns and cities in the Indus valley.

Farmers of the portion were the first people to grow cotton and weave it into cloth for clothes. Meanwhile, in the towns and cities, metalworkers and bead makers made ornaments such as headbands, armlets, and necklaces. Beads for necklaces were made from the raw materials gold, clay and semiprecious stones. Some pottery beads were modeled in the form of tiny animals.

Clothes for Castes

The Aryan people, who arrived in India around 1500 BCE, introduced a caste system in which people were divided into different classes according to the careers of the people.

Children always belonged to the same caste as their parents and each caste wore different kinds of clothes.

The main castes were:

i.) the workers, who wore a simple tunic and turban;

ii.) the merchants, who dressed in more colorful robes and wore golden jewelry;

iii.) the warriors and kings, who wore magnificently patterned robes and turbans and masses of jewelry; and,

iv.) the priests and scholars, who usually dressed very simply in a loincloth, with their hair knotted behind their head.