1.
Kurta (village)
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Kurta is an abandoned village in the former South Ossetian autonomous oblast of Georgia. The Georgian government also allocated 1,850,000 lari to rehabilitation of the villages infrastructure, kurta and its environs are part of the Greater Liakhvi Valley Museum-Reserve. The village itself houses a late medieval Georgian Orthodox church of St. George, on the eve of the 2008 war, all the Georgian inhabitants were evacuated to Georgia proper and most of their abandoned homes were destroyed later. The homes were not rebuilt and the population did not return, leaving the largely destroyed village a ghost town
2.
Bengali language
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Bengali, also known by its endonym Bangla, is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in South Asia. With over 210 million speakers, Bengali is the seventh most spoken language in the world. Dominant in the last group was Persian, which was also the source of some grammatical forms, more recent studies suggest that the use of native and foreign words has been increasing, mainly because of the preference of Bengali speakers for the colloquial style. Today, Bengali is the language spoken in Bangladesh and the second most spoken language in India. Both the national anthems of Bangladesh and India were composed in Bengali, in 1952, the Bengali Language Movement successfully pushed for the languages official status in the Dominion of Pakistan. In 1999, UNESCO recognized 21 February as International Mother Language Day in recognition of the movement in East Pakistan. Language is an important element of Bengali identity and binds together a diverse region. Sanskrit was spoken in Bengal since the first millennium BCE, during the Gupta Empire, Bengal was a hub of Sanskrit literature. The Middle Indo-Aryan dialects were spoken in Bengal in the first millennium when the region was a part of the Magadha Realm and these dialects were called Magadhi Prakrit. They eventually evolved into Ardha Magadhi, Ardha Magadhi began to give way to what are called Apabhraṃśa languages at the end of the first millennium. Along with other Eastern Indo-Aryan languages, Bengali evolved circa 1000–1200 AD from Sanskrit, for example, Ardhamagadhi is believed to have evolved into Abahatta around the 6th century, which competed with the ancestor of Bengali for some time. Proto-Bengali was the language of the Pala Empire and the Sena dynasty, during the medieval period, Middle Bengali was characterized by the elision of word-final অ ô, the spread of compound verbs and Arabic and Persian influences. Bengali was a court language of the Sultanate of Bengal. Muslim rulers promoted the development of Bengali as part of efforts to Islamize. Bengali became the most spoken language in the Sultanate. This period saw borrowing of Perso-Arabic terms into Bengali vocabulary, major texts of Middle Bengali include Chandidas Shreekrishna Kirtana. The modern literary form of Bengali was developed during the 19th and early 20th centuries based on the dialect spoken in the Nadia region, a west-central Bengali dialect. Bengali presents a case of diglossia, with the literary
3.
Punjabi language
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Punjabi /pʌnˈdʒɑːbi/ is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by over 100 million native speakers worldwide, making it the 10th most widely spoken language in the world. It is the language of the Punjabi people who inhabit the historical Punjab region of India. Among the Indo-European languages it is unusual in being a tonal language, Punjabi is the most widely spoken language in Pakistan, the 11th most widely spoken in India and the third-most spoken native language in the Indian Subcontinent. Punjabi is the fourth-most spoken language in the United Kingdom and third-most spoken native language in Canada, the language also has a significant presence in the United Arab Emirates, United States, Saudi Arabia, and Australia. The Punjabi language is written in the Shahmukhi and Gurmukhi scripts, the word Punjabi is derived from the word Panj-āb, Persian for Five Waters, referring to the five major eastern tributaries of the Indus River. Panj is cognate with Sanskrit pañca and Greek πέντε five, the historical Punjab region, now divided between India and Pakistan, is defined physiographically by the Indus River and these five tributaries. One of the five, the Beas River, is a tributary of another, Punjabi developed from Sanskrit through Prakrit language and later Apabhraṃśa From 600 BC Sanskrit gave birth to many regional languages in different parts of India. These all languages are called Prakrit language collectively, Shauraseni Prakrit was one of these Prakrit languages, which was spoken in north and north-western India and Punjabi and western dialects of Hindi developed from this Prakrit. Later in northern India Shauraseni Prakrit gave rise to Shauraseni Aparbhsha, Punjabi emerged as an Apabhramsha, a degenerated form of Prakrit, in the 7th century A. D. and became stable by the 10th century. By the 10th century, many Nath poets were associated with earlier Punjabi works, Arabic and Persian influence in the historical Punjab region began with the late first millennium Muslim conquests on the Indian subcontinent. The Persian language was introduced in the subcontinent a few centuries later by various Persianized Central Asian Turkic, many Persian and Arabic words were incorporated in Punjabi. Punjabi has more Persian and Arabic vocabulary than Bengali, Marathi, later, it was influenced by Portuguese and English, though these influences have been minor in comparison to Persian and Arabic. However, in India English words in the language are more widespread than Hindi. Punjabi is the most widely spoken language in Pakistan, the seventh-most widely spoken in India, Punjabi is the most widely spoken language in Pakistan. Punjabi is the language in the Punjab Province of Pakistan. Punjabi is spoken as a language by over 44. 15% of Pakistanis. About 70. 0% of the people of Pakistan speak Punjabi as either their first or second language, Lahore, the capital of the Punjab Province of Pakistan, is the largest Punjabi-speaking city in the world. 86% of the population of Lahore is native Punjabi and Islamabad
4.
Urdu
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Urdu is a persianized standard register of the Hindustani language. It is the language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also one of the 22 official languages recognized in the Constitution of India, hyderabad, Rampur, Bhopal and Lucknow are noted Urdu-speaking cities of India. Urdu is historically associated with the Muslims of the northern Indian subcontinent, apart from specialized vocabulary, Urdu is mutually intelligible with Standard Hindi, another recognized register of Hindustani. Urdu, like Hindi, is a form of Hindustani, Urdu developed under the influence of the Persian and Arabic languages, both of which have contributed a significant amount of vocabulary to formal speech. Around 99% of Urdu verbs have their roots in Sanskrit and Prakrit, Urdu words originating from Chagatai and Arabic were borrowed through Persian and hence are Persianized versions of the original words. For instance, the Arabic ta marbuta changes to he or te, nevertheless, contrary to popular belief, Urdu did not borrow from the Turkish language, but from Chagatai. Urdu and Turkish borrowed from Arabic and Persian, hence the similarity in pronunciation of many Urdu, Arabic influence in the region began with the late first-millennium Arab invasion of India in the 7th century. The Persian language was introduced into the subcontinent a few centuries later by various Persianized Central Asian Turkic and Afghan dynasties including that of the Delhi Sultanate. With the advent of the British Raj, Persian was no longer the language of administration but Hindustani, still written in the Persian script, the name Urdu was first used by the poet Ghulam Hamadani Mushafi around 1780. From the 13th century until the end of the 18th century Urdu was commonly known as Hindi, the language was also known by various other names such as Hindavi and Dehlavi. The communal nature of the language lasted until it replaced Persian as the language in 1837 and was made co-official. Urdu was promoted in British India by British policies to counter the previous emphasis on Persian and this triggered a Brahman backlash in northwestern India, which argued that the language should be written in the native Devanagari script. At independence, Pakistan established a highly Persianized literary form of Urdu as its national language, English has exerted a heavy influence on both as a co-official language. Owing to interaction with other languages, Urdu has become localized wherever it is spoken, similarly, the Urdu spoken in India can also be distinguished into many dialects like Dakhni of South India, and Khariboli of the Punjab region since recent times. Because of Urdus similarity to Hindi, speakers of the two languages can understand one another if both sides refrain from using specialized vocabulary. The syntax, morphology, and the vocabulary are essentially identical. Thus linguists usually count them as one language and contend that they are considered as two different languages for socio-political reasons
5.
Indian subcontinent
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Geologically, the Indian subcontinent is related to the land mass that rifted from Gondwana and merged with the Eurasian plate nearly 55 million years ago. Geographically, it is the region in south-central Asia delineated by the Himalayas in the north, the Hindu Kush in the west. Politically, the Indian subcontinent usually includes Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, sometimes, the term South Asia is used interchangeably with Indian subcontinent. There is no consensus about which countries should be included in each and it is first attested in 1845 to refer to the North and South Americas, before they were regarded as separate continents. Its use to refer to the Indian subcontinent is seen from the twentieth century. It was especially convenient for referring to the region comprising both the British India and the states under British Paramountcy. The term Indian subcontinent also has a geological significance and it was, like the various continents, a part of the supercontinent of Gondwana. A series of tectonic splits caused formation of basins, each drifting in various directions. The geological region called the Greater India once included the Madagascar, Seychelles, Antartica, as a geological term, Indian subcontinent has meant that region formed from the collision of the Indian basin with Eurasia nearly 55 million years ago, towards the end of Paleocene. The Indian subcontinent has been a particularly common in the British Empire. The region, state Mittal and Thursby, has also labelled as India, Greater India. The BBC and some sources refer to the region as the Asian Subcontinent. Some academics refer to it as South Asian Subcontinent, the terms Indian subcontinent and South Asia are sometimes used interchangeably. There is no accepted definition on which countries are a part of South Asia or Indian subcontinent. In dictionary entries, the term subcontinent signifies a large, distinguishable subdivision of a continent, the region experienced high volcanic activity and plate subdivisions, creating Madagascar, Seychelles, Antartica, Austrolasia and the Indian subcontinent basin. The Indian subcontinent drifted northeastwards, colliding with the Eurasian plate nearly 55 million years ago and this geological region largely includes Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The zone where the Eurasian and Indian subcontinent plates meet remains one of the active areas. The English term mainly continues to refer to the Indian subcontinent, physiographically, it is a peninsular region in south-central Asia delineated by the Himalayas in the north, the Hindu Kush in the west, and the Arakanese in the east
6.
Hindustani language
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Hindustani, historically also known as Hindavi, Dehlvi and Rekhta, is the lingua franca of North India and Pakistan. It is an Indo-Aryan language, deriving primarily from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi, before the Partition of the British Indian Empire, the terms Hindustani, Urdu, and Hindi were synonymous, all covered what would be called Urdu and Hindi today. Hindustani is also spoken by a number of people in Mauritius. Early forms of present-day Hindustani developed from the Middle Indo-Aryan apabhramsha vernaculars of present-day North India in the 7th–13th centuries. Amir Khusro, who lived in the 13th century CE during the Delhi Sultanate period in North India, used these forms in his writings, the Delhi Sultanate, which comprised several Turkic and Afghan dynasties that ruled from Delhi, was succeeded by the Mughal Empire in 1526. The basis in general for the introduction of Persian language into the subcontinent was set, from its earliest days, by various Persianised Central Asian Turkic, the term Hindustani was the name given to that variant of Khariboli. For socio-political reasons, though essentially the variant of Khariboli with Persian vocabulary, the more highly Persianised version later established as a language of the court was called Rekhta, or mixed. As an emerging common dialect, Hindustani absorbed large numbers of Persian, Arabic, and Turkic words and its development was centred on the poets of the Mughal courts of cities in Uttar Pradesh such as Delhi, Lucknow, and Agra. He continued, But it has all the magnitude and importance of separate language and it is linguistic result of Mohammedan invasions of eleventh & twelfth centuries and is spoken by many Hindus in North India and by Musalman population in all parts of India. Next to English it was the language of British Indian Empire, was commonly written in Arabic or Persian characters. When the British colonised the Indian subcontinent from the late 18th through to the late 19th century, they used the words Hindustani, Hindi and they developed it as the language of administration of British India, further preparing it to be the official language of modern India and Pakistan. However, with independence, use of the word Hindustani declined, being replaced by Hindi and Urdu. It has a literature of 500 years, with prose, poetry, religion & philosophy, under the Bahmani Kings and it is a living language, still prevalent all over the Deccan Plateau. Note that the term Hindustani has generally fallen out of usage in modern India, except to refer to Indian as a nationality. The term used to refer to it is Hindi or Urdu, depending on the religion of the speaker, in common usage in India, the term Hindi includes all these dialects except those at the Urdu end of the spectrum. Urdu is the language of Pakistan and an officially recognised regional language of India. It is also a language in the Indian states of Jammu and Kashmir, National Capital Territory of Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar. In a specific sense, Hindustani may be used to refer to the dialects and varieties used in speech, in contrast with the standardised Hindi
7.
Sanskrit
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Sanskrit is the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, a philosophical language of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, and a literary language and lingua franca of ancient and medieval South Asia. As a result of transmission of Hindu and Buddhist culture to Southeast Asia and parts of Central Asia, as one of the oldest Indo-European languages for which substantial written documentation exists, Sanskrit holds a prominent position in Indo-European studies. The body of Sanskrit literature encompasses a rich tradition of poetry and drama as well as scientific, technical, philosophical, the compositions of Sanskrit were orally transmitted for much of its early history by methods of memorization of exceptional complexity, rigor, and fidelity. Thereafter, variants and derivatives of the Brahmi script came to be used, Sanskrit is today one of the 22 languages listed in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India, which mandates the Indian government to develop the language. It continues to be used as a ceremonial language in Hindu religious rituals and Buddhist practice in the form of hymns. The Sanskrit verbal adjective sáṃskṛta- may be translated as refined, elaborated, as a term for refined or elaborated speech, the adjective appears only in Epic and Classical Sanskrit in the Manusmṛti and the Mahabharata. The pre-Classical form of Sanskrit is known as Vedic Sanskrit, with the language of the Rigveda being the oldest and most archaic stage preserved, Classical Sanskrit is the standard register as laid out in the grammar of Pāṇini, around the fourth century BCE. Sanskrit, as defined by Pāṇini, evolved out of the earlier Vedic form, the present form of Vedic Sanskrit can be traced back to as early as the second millennium BCE. Scholars often distinguish Vedic Sanskrit and Classical or Pāṇinian Sanskrit as separate dialects, although they are quite similar, they differ in a number of essential points of phonology, vocabulary, grammar and syntax. Vedic Sanskrit is the language of the Vedas, a collection of hymns, incantations and theological and religio-philosophical discussions in the Brahmanas. Modern linguists consider the metrical hymns of the Rigveda Samhita to be the earliest, for nearly 2000 years, Sanskrit was the language of a cultural order that exerted influence across South Asia, Inner Asia, Southeast Asia, and to a certain extent East Asia. A significant form of post-Vedic Sanskrit is found in the Sanskrit of Indian epic poetry—the Ramayana, the deviations from Pāṇini in the epics are generally considered to be on account of interference from Prakrits, or innovations, and not because they are pre-Paninian. Traditional Sanskrit scholars call such deviations ārṣa, meaning of the ṛṣis, in some contexts, there are also more prakritisms than in Classical Sanskrit proper. There were four principal dialects of classical Sanskrit, paścimottarī, madhyadeśī, pūrvi, the predecessors of the first three dialects are attested in Vedic Brāhmaṇas, of which the first one was regarded as the purest. In the 2001 Census of India,14,035 Indians reported Sanskrit to be their first language, in India, Sanskrit is among the 14 original languages of the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution. The state of Uttarakhand in India has ruled Sanskrit as its official language. In October 2012 social activist Hemant Goswami filed a petition in the Punjab. More than 3,000 Sanskrit works have been composed since Indias independence in 1947, much of this work has been judged of high quality, in comparison to both classical Sanskrit literature and modern literature in other Indian languages
8.
Persian language
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Persian, also known by its endonym Farsi, is one of the Western Iranian languages within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan and it is mostly written in the Persian alphabet, a modified variant of the Arabic script. Its grammar is similar to that of many contemporary European languages, Persian gets its name from its origin at the capital of the Achaemenid Empire, Persis, hence the name Persian. A Persian-speaking person may be referred to as Persophone, there are approximately 110 million Persian speakers worldwide, with the language holding official status in Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan. For centuries, Persian has also been a cultural language in other regions of Western Asia, Central Asia. It also exerted influence on Arabic, particularly Bahrani Arabic. Persian is one of the Western Iranian languages within the Indo-European family, other Western Iranian languages are the Kurdish languages, Gilaki, Mazanderani, Talysh, and Balochi. Persian is classified as a member of the Southwestern subgroup within Western Iranian along with Lari, Kumzari, in Persian, the language is known by several names, Western Persian, Parsi or Farsi has been the name used by all native speakers until the 20th century. Since the latter decades of the 20th century, for reasons, in English. Tajiki is the variety of Persian spoken in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan by the Tajiks, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, the term Persian as a language name is first attested in English in the mid-16th century. Native Iranian Persian speakers call it Fārsi, Farsi is the Arabicized form of Pārsi, subsequent to Muslim conquest of Persia, due to a lack of the phoneme /p/ in Standard Arabic. The origin of the name Farsi and the place of origin of the language which is Fars Province is the Arabicized form of Pārs, in English, this language has historically been known as Persian, though Farsi has also gained some currency. Farsi is encountered in some literature as a name for the language. In modern English the word Farsi refers to the language while Parsi describes Zoroastrians, some Persian language scholars such as Ehsan Yarshater, editor of Encyclopædia Iranica, and University of Arizona professor Kamran Talattof, have also rejected the usage of Farsi in their articles. The international language-encoding standard ISO 639-1 uses the code fa, as its system is mostly based on the local names. The more detailed standard ISO 639-3 uses the name Persian for the dialect continuum spoken across Iran and Afghanistan and this consists of the individual languages Dari and Iranian Persian. Currently, Voice of America, BBC World Service, Deutsche Welle, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty also includes a Tajik service and an Afghan service. This is also the case for the American Association of Teachers of Persian, The Centre for Promotion of Persian Language and Literature, Persian is an Iranian language belonging to the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European family of languages
9.
Kurti top
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The term kurti covers upper garments worn in South Asia encompassing waistcoats, jackets and blouses. In modern usage, a short kurta is referred to as the kurti, however, traditionally, the term kurti refers to waist coats, jackets and blouses which sit above the waist without side slits, and are believed to have descended from the tunic of the Shunga period. The kurti is distinguished from the choli by the leaving the midriff exposed. There are a number of styles of kurti which include the following, In the Punjab region, in the past, women wore a chain of gold or silver called zanjiri around the buttons. Men wore the zanjiri on the kurta in the Punjab region, another style of Punjabi kurti is a short version of the anga. The kurti can also be half or full sleeved and hip length with no front or back opening, mens kurti is called phatui or wastkot in Punjabi. The kurti of South Punjab, Pakistan is referred to as the Saraiki kurti, in Bihar, the term kurti is used to refer to a bodice which is a combination of the choli and jacket. The kurti in Uttar Pradesh and the adjoining Himalayas region is a short blouse, in Gujarat and Kathiawar, the type of kurti falls to just below the waist. The mens kurt in Rajasthan is a full sleeved, tightly fitting, dashiki Tunic Angarkha Jama costume Kurta
10.
India
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India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and it is bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast. It shares land borders with Pakistan to the west, China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the northeast, in the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Indias Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a border with Thailand. The Indian subcontinent was home to the urban Indus Valley Civilisation of the 3rd millennium BCE, in the following millennium, the oldest scriptures associated with Hinduism began to be composed. Social stratification, based on caste, emerged in the first millennium BCE, early political consolidations took place under the Maurya and Gupta empires, the later peninsular Middle Kingdoms influenced cultures as far as southeast Asia. In the medieval era, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Islam arrived, much of the north fell to the Delhi sultanate, the south was united under the Vijayanagara Empire. The economy expanded in the 17th century in the Mughal empire, in the mid-18th century, the subcontinent came under British East India Company rule, and in the mid-19th under British crown rule. A nationalist movement emerged in the late 19th century, which later, under Mahatma Gandhi, was noted for nonviolent resistance, in 2015, the Indian economy was the worlds seventh largest by nominal GDP and third largest by purchasing power parity. Following market-based economic reforms in 1991, India became one of the major economies and is considered a newly industrialised country. However, it continues to face the challenges of poverty, corruption, malnutrition, a nuclear weapons state and regional power, it has the third largest standing army in the world and ranks sixth in military expenditure among nations. India is a constitutional republic governed under a parliamentary system. It is a pluralistic, multilingual and multi-ethnic society and is home to a diversity of wildlife in a variety of protected habitats. The name India is derived from Indus, which originates from the Old Persian word Hindu, the latter term stems from the Sanskrit word Sindhu, which was the historical local appellation for the Indus River. The ancient Greeks referred to the Indians as Indoi, which translates as The people of the Indus, the geographical term Bharat, which is recognised by the Constitution of India as an official name for the country, is used by many Indian languages in its variations. Scholars believe it to be named after the Vedic tribe of Bharatas in the second millennium B. C. E and it is also traditionally associated with the rule of the legendary emperor Bharata. Gaṇarājya is the Sanskrit/Hindi term for republic dating back to the ancient times, hindustan is a Persian name for India dating back to the 3rd century B. C. E. It was introduced into India by the Mughals and widely used since then and its meaning varied, referring to a region that encompassed northern India and Pakistan or India in its entirety
11.
Pakistan
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Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a federal parliamentary republic in South Asia on the crossroads of Central Asia and Western Asia. It is the sixth-most populous country with a population exceeding 200 million people, in terms of area, it is the 33rd-largest country in the world with an area covering 881,913 square kilometres. It is separated from Tajikistan by Afghanistans narrow Wakhan Corridor in the north, Pakistan is unique among Muslim countries in that it is the only country to have been created in the name of Islam. As a result of the Pakistan Movement led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah and it is an ethnically and linguistically diverse country, with a similarly diverse geography and wildlife. Initially a dominion, Pakistan adopted a constitution in 1956, becoming an Islamic republic, an ethnic civil war in 1971 resulted in the secession of East Pakistan as the new country of Bangladesh. The new constitution stipulated that all laws were to conform to the injunctions of Islam as laid down in the Quran. Pakistan has an economy with a well-integrated agriculture sector. The Pakistani economy is the 24th-largest in the world in terms of purchasing power and it is ranked among the emerging and growth-leading economies of the world, and is backed by one of the worlds largest and fastest-growing middle classes. The post-independence history of Pakistan has been characterised by periods of military rule, the country continues to face challenging problems such as illiteracy, healthcare, and corruption, but has substantially reduced poverty and terrorism and expanded per capita income. It is also a member of CERN. Pakistan is a signatory to the Kyoto Protocol, the Paris Agreement, the name Pakistan literally means land of the pure in Urdu and Persian. It is a play on the word pāk meaning pure in Persian and Pashto, the letter i was incorporated to ease pronunciation and form the linguistically correct and meaningful name. Some of the earliest ancient human civilisations in South Asia originated from areas encompassing present-day Pakistan, the earliest known inhabitants in the region were Soanian during the Lower Paleolithic, of whom stone tools have been found in the Soan Valley of Punjab. The Vedic Civilization, characterised by Indo-Aryan culture, laid the foundations of Hinduism, Multan was an important Hindu pilgrimage centre. The Vedic civilisation flourished in the ancient Gandhāran city of Takṣaśilā, the Indo-Greek Kingdom founded by Demetrius of Bactria included Gandhara and Punjab and reached its greatest extent under Menander, prospering the Greco-Buddhist culture in the region. Taxila had one of the earliest universities and centres of education in the world. At its zenith, the Rai Dynasty of Sindh ruled this region, the Pala Dynasty was the last Buddhist empire, which, under Dharampala and Devapala, stretched across South Asia from what is now Bangladesh through Northern India to Pakistan. The Arab conqueror Muhammad bin Qasim conquered the Indus valley from Sindh to Multan in southern Punjab in 711 AD, the Pakistan governments official chronology identifies this as the time when the foundation of Pakistan was laid
12.
Bangladesh
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Bangladesh, officially the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It shares land borders with India and Myanmar, Nepal, Bhutan and China are located near Bangladesh but do not share a border with it. The countrys maritime territory in the Bay of Bengal is roughly equal to the size of its land area, Bangladesh is the worlds eighth most populous country. Dhaka is its capital and largest city, followed by Chittagong which has the countrys largest port, Bangladesh forms the largest and eastern part of the Bengal region. Bangladeshis include people of different ethnic groups and religions, Bengalis, who speak the official Bengali, make up 98% of the population. The politically dominant Bengali Muslims make the nation the worlds third largest Muslim-majority country, most of Bangladesh is covered by the Bengal delta, the largest delta on Earth. The country has 700 rivers and 8,046 km of inland waterways, highlands with evergreen forests are found in the northeastern and southeastern regions of the country. Bangladesh has many islands and a coral reef and it is home to the Sundarbans, the largest mangrove forest in the world. The countrys biodiversity includes a vast array of plant and wildlife, including critically endangered Bengal tigers, the Greeks and Romans identified the region as Gangaridai, a powerful kingdom of the historical subcontinent, in the 3rd century BCE. Archaeological research has unearthed several ancient cities in Bangladesh, which had trade links for millennia. The Bengal Sultanate and Mughal Bengal transformed the region into a cosmopolitan Islamic imperial power between the 14th and 18th centuries, the region was home to many principalities which had inland naval prowess. It was also a center of the worldwide muslin and silk trade. As part of British India, the region was influenced by the Bengali renaissance, the Partition of British India made East Bengal a part of the Dominion of Pakistan, and was renamed as East Pakistan. The region witnessed the Bengali Language Movement in 1952 and the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971, after independence, a parliamentary republic was established. A presidential government was in place between 1975 and 1990, followed by a return to parliamentary democracy, the country has also been affected by poverty, natural disasters, hunger, dominant party systems and military coups. Bangladesh is a power and a major developing nation. Listed as one of the Next Eleven, it has the 46th largest economy and it is one of the largest textile exporters in the world. Its major trading partners are the European Union, the United States, China, India, Japan, Malaysia, with its strategically vital location between Southern, Eastern and Southeast Asia, Bangladesh is an important promoter of regional connectivity and cooperation
13.
Nepal
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Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked central Himalayan country in South Asia. Nepal is divided into 7 provinces and 75 districts and 744 local units including 4 metropolises,13 sub-metropolises,246 municipal councils and 481 village and it has a population of 26.4 million and is the 93rd largest country by area. Bordering China in the north and India in the south, east, Nepal does not border Bangladesh, which is located within only 27 km of its southeastern tip. It neither borders Bhutan due to the Indian state of Sikkim being located in between, Nepal has a diverse geography, including fertile plains, subalpine forested hills, and eight of the worlds ten tallest mountains, including Mount Everest, the highest point on Earth. Kathmandu is the capital and largest city. It is a nation with Nepali as the official language. The territory of Nepal has a history since the Neolithic age. The name Nepal is first recorded in texts from the Vedic Age, the era which founded Hinduism, in the middle of the first millennium BCE, Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, was born in southern Nepal. Parts of northern Nepal were intertwined with the culture of Tibet, the Kathmandu Valley in central Nepal became known as Nepal proper because of its complex urban civilization. It was the seat of the prosperous Newar confederacy known as Nepal Mandala, the Himalayan branch of the ancient Silk Road was dominated by the valleys traders. The cosmopolitan region developed distinct traditional art and architecture, by the 18th century, the Gorkha Kingdom achieved the unification of Nepal. The Shah dynasty established the Kingdom of Nepal and later formed an alliance with the British Empire, the country was never colonized but served as a buffer state between Imperial China and Colonial India. In the 20th century, Nepal ended its isolation and forged ties with regional powers. Parliamentary democracy was introduced in 1951, but was suspended by Nepalese monarchs in 1960 and 2005. The Nepalese Civil War resulted in the proclamation of a republic in 2008, modern Nepal is a federal secular parliamentary republic. Nepal is a nation, ranking 144th on the Human Development Index in 2016. The country struggles with the transition from a monarchy to a republic and it also suffers from high levels of hunger and poverty. Despite these challenges, Nepal is making progress, with the government declaring its commitment to elevate the nation from least developed country status by 2022
14.
Sri Lanka
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Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an island country in South Asia near south-east India. Sri Lanka has maritime borders with India to the northwest and the Maldives to the southwest, Sri Lankas documented history spans 3,000 years, with evidence of pre-historic human settlements dating back to at least 125,000 years. Its geographic location and deep harbours made it of strategic importance from the time of the ancient Silk Road through to World War II. Sri Lanka was known from the beginning of British colonial rule until 1972 as Ceylon, Sri Lankas recent history has been marred by a thirty-year civil war which decisively ended when the Sri Lankan military defeated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in 2009. A diverse and multicultural country, Sri Lanka is home to many religions, ethnic groups, in addition to the majority Sinhalese, it is home to large groups of Sri Lankan and Indian Tamils, Moors, Burghers, Malays, Kaffirs and the aboriginal Vedda. Sri Lanka has a rich Buddhist heritage, and the first known Buddhist writings of Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka is a republic and a unitary state governed by a semi-presidential system. The legislative capital, Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte, is a suburb of the capital and largest city. Along with the Maldives, Sri Lanka is one of the two countries in South Asia that are rated among high human development on the Human Development Index. In antiquity, Sri Lanka was known to travellers by a variety of names, according to the Mahavamsa, the legendary Prince Vijaya named the land Tambapanni, because his followers hands were reddened by the red soil of the area. In Hindu mythology, such as the Mahabharata, the island was referred to as Lankā, in Tamil, the island is referred to as Eelam. Ancient Greek geographers called it Taprobanā or Taprobanē from the word Tambapanni, as a British crown colony, the island was known as Ceylon, it achieved independence as the Dominion of Ceylon in 1948. The country is known in Sinhalese as Śrī Laṃkā and in Tamil as Ilaṅkai, in 1972, its formal name was changed to Free, Sovereign and Independent Republic of Sri Lanka. Later in 1978 it was changed to the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, as the name Ceylon still appears in the names of a number of organisations, the Sri Lankan government announced in 2011 a plan to rename all those over which it has authority. The pre-history of Sri Lanka goes back 125,000 years, the era spans the Palaeolithic, Mesolithic and early Iron Ages. Among the Paleolithic human settlements discovered in Sri Lanka, Pahiyangala and it is said that Kubera was overthrown by his demon stepbrother Ravana, the powerful emperor who built a mythical flying machine named Dandu Monara. The modern city of Wariyapola is described as Ravanas airport, early inhabitants of Sri Lanka were probably ancestors of the Vedda people, an indigenous people numbering approximately 2,500 living in modern-day Sri Lanka. According to the Mahāvamsa, a written in Pāḷi, the original inhabitants of Sri Lanka are the Yakshas and Nagas. Ancient cemeteries that were used before 600BC and other signs of advanced civilization has also discovered in Sri Lanka
15.
Dhoti
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The dhoti, also known as vesti, dhuti, mardani, dhoteé, chaadra, dhotra, and pancha, is a traditional mens garment, worn in the Indian subcontinent mainly by Indian, Nepalese and Bangladeshi people. It is worn predominantly in the countries of India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and it is the national dress of the Madhesh region of southern Nepal, worn mainly by Nepalis of Madhesi, Tharu and Maithali ethnicity. It is a piece of unstitched cloth, usually around 4.5 metres long, wrapped around the waist. The word dhoti is derived from dhauti, meaning to cleanse or wash, in the context of clothing, it simply refers to the cleansed garment which was worn during shrauta sacrifices or religious sessions in general. They also wear a loose, unstitched cloth, shorter than the pancha, hare Krishna, known for its distinctive dress code, prompts Western adherents to wear pancha, usually of saffron or white cloth folded in a traditional style. Mahatma Gandhi invariably wore a pancha on public occasions but, as he was aware that it was considered indecent to do so in countries, was shocked when a friend wore one in London. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi was known for wearing a silk dhoti
16.
Pajamas
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Pajamas or pyjamas, often shortened to PJs, jimmies, jimjams or jammies, can refer to several related types of clothing. Pajamas are loose-fitting garments derived from the garment and worn chiefly for sleeping. More generally, pajamas may refer to several garments, for both daywear and nightwear, derived from traditional pajamas and involving variations of style and material, the word pyjama was borrowed c.1800 from Urdu pāy-jāma پايجامه, itself borrowed from Persian pāy-jāmeh پايجامه lit. leg-garment. The original pyjāmā are loose, lightweight trousers fitted with drawstring waistbands worn by Muslims in India and adopted by Europeans during East India Company rule in India. The worldwide use of pajamas is the result of adoption by British colonists in India in the 18th and 19th centuries, Pajamas had been introduced to England as lounging attire as early as the seventeenth century, then known as moguls breeches but they soon fell out of fashion. The word pajama is recorded in English use in the first half of the nineteenth century and they did not become a fashion in Britain and the Western world as sleeping attire for men until the Victorian period, from about 1870. Thus Pyrard says, in speaking of Goa Hospital, Ils ont force calsons sans quoy ne couchent iamais les Portugais des Indes The word is now used in London shops, traditional pajamas consist of a jacket-and-pants combination made of soft fabric, such as flannel or lightweight cotton. The jacket element usually has a front and its sleeves have no cuffs. Many people opt to sleep or lounge in just the pajama pants, either with a t-shirt, or, for males, for this reason, pajama pants for men and boys are often sold as separates. In colloquial speech, these traditional pajamas are often called PJs, jim jams, in South Asia and South Africa, they are sometimes referred to as night suits. Some pajamas feature a seat, a buttoned opening in the seat. Drop seats were common on pajamas made before the 1950s. Contemporary pajamas are derived from traditional pajamas, there are many variations in style such as short sleeve pajamas, pajama bottoms of varying length, or, on occasion, one-piece pajamas, and pajamas incorporating various materials. Chiefly in the US, stretch-knit sleep apparel with rib-knit trimmings are common, usually worn by children, these garments often have pullover tops or have zippers down the fronts, and may also be footed. Although pajamas are usually distinguished from non-bifurcated sleeping garments such as nightgowns, in the US, babydoll pyjamas have a kind of short dress top over shorts or short pants. Examples of these include capri pajamas, beach pajamas, and hostess pajamas, Pajamas are usually loose fitting and designed for comfort, using soft materials such as cotton or silk or satin. Synthetic materials such as polyester and Lycra are also available, Pajamas often contain visual references to a thing that may hold some special appeal to the wearer. Images of sports, animals, balloons, polka dots, flowers, stripes, plaids, foulards, paisleys and other motifs may all be used for decoration
17.
Shalwar kameez
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Shalwar kameez, also spelled salwar kameez or shalwar qameez, is a traditional outfit originating in the Indian subcontinent. It is a term used to describe different styles of dress. The shalwar kameez can be worn by men and women, but styles differ by gender. The shalwar and the kameez are two garments which are combined to form the shalwar kameez, the shalwar, šalvār, sirwāl, salwar, selwar, shalvaar are a form of baggy trousers. Transliterations starting from Urdu, Lahnda, Persian, Pashto, Turkish languages use sh, Salwar is the spelling most commonly used in India. Transliterations starting from Punjabi often render the sibilant sound at the start of salwar/shalwar as an s, both spellings are found in common English usage. The shalwar spelling seems to be most common in Canada and the United Kingdom, the kameez or qamis is a shirt of varying length. Garments cut like the kameez are known in many cultures, 10th-century cotton shirts recovered from the Egyptian desert are cut much like the kameez or the contemporary Egyptian djellaba or jellabiya. The word kameez is originally an Arabic word and is also spelled with a Q. The shalwar are loose pajama-like trousers, the legs are wide at the top, and narrow at the ankle. The kameez is a shirt or tunic, often seen with a Western-style collar, however, for female apparel. The kameez might be worn with pajamas as well, either for fashion or comfort, some kameez styles have side seams, left open below the waist-line, giving the wearer greater freedom of movement. The kameez can be straight and flat, in an A shape design or flowing like a dress. Modern kameez styles are more likely to have European-inspired set-in sleeves, if the tailors taste or skill is displayed, this will be seen in the shape of the neckline and the decoration of the kameez. The kameez may be cut with a deep neckline, sewn in diaphanous fabrics, there are many styles of shalwar, the Peshawari shalwar, Balochi shalwar, Sindhi choreno and Punjabi shalwar. The following are some of the styles of shalwar kameez, the shalwar kameez known as the Anarkali suit is named after the court dancer from Lahore. This suit has a style which has become very popular. It is made up of a long, frock-style top and features a fitted bottom
18.
Lungi
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It is particularly popular in regions where the heat and humidity create an unpleasant climate for trousers. Unlike dhotis, which are linear like sheets, lungis are sometimes sewn into a shape like a skirt. They are especially worn in hot regions, there are also cheaper open lungis, in identical dimensions but not sewn into a tube shape. The standard adult lungi is 115 cm in height and 200 cm in length, childrens lungis are available in approximately 2/3 of this size. They are normally woven from cotton and come in a variety of designs, silk lungis are available for ceremonial purposes such as weddings. The most common styles are either solid-colored or plaid, reflecting the relative ease, blue is particularly popular, since it fades to pleasant tones in contrast to other colors. Regardless of the design or color, lungis are often lined at the top, depending on local tradition, lungis can be worn by men and/or women. They are tied or fastened in various ways, and can be used in different cultural activities, ranging from normal daily life to elaborate wedding ceremonies. For daily purposes, a double twist knot is most popular. However, it is common for wearers to simply tie a double pretzel knot from 2 points on the upper border. The lungis length can also be adjusted, for example, by tucking in the lungi at the waist to make it resemble a short skirt, the lungi is the most commonly seen dress of Bangladeshi men, although it is not normally worn for formal occasions. In Bangladesh, lungis are worn by men, almost universally indoors, elaborately designed tartan cotton, batik, or silk lungis are also often presented as wedding gifts to the groom in a Bangladeshi wedding. The typical Bangladeshi lungi is a tubular shape, as opposed to the single sheet worn in other parts of South. In Bangladesh, the industry is concentrated in Sirajganj, Kustia. Bangladeshi women do not traditionally wear lungis, although non-Bengali tribal women do wear similar garments in some parts of southeastern Bangladesh, in April 2013, the Baridhara Housing Society—a housing society in Dhaka—banned lungi, and began refusing entry to those who wore them. However, many opposed the ban, taking to social media such as Facebook. A march took place on 13 April to oppose the ban, meanwhile, U. S Ambassador Dan W. Mozena has been seen wearing a lungi in front of his house. Some famous lungi companies in Bangladesh are Pakiza Lungi, ATM Lungi, and Allaher dan Lungi House In Ethiopia, as the climate is very hot in the Afar region, the Lungi makes the perfect garment
19.
Jeans
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Jeans are pants, a type of garment, typically made from denim or dungaree cloth. Prior to the Levi Strauss patented trousers, the blue jeans had been long in use for various garments. Originally designed for cowboys and miners, jeans became popular in the 1950s among teenagers, Jeans were a common fashion item in the 1960s Hippie subculture and they continued to be popular in the 1970s and 1980s youth subcultures of punk rock and heavy metal. Historic brands include Levis, Lee, and Wrangler, distressed jeans trousers have become increasingly fashionable, making pre-sale factory distressing a common feature in commercially sold jeans. In the 2010s, jeans are a popular article of casual dress around the world. They come in many styles and colors, however, blue jeans are particularly identified with American culture, especially the Old West. Research on the trade of jean fabric shows that it emerged in the cities of Genoa, Italy, gênes, the French word for Genoa, may be the origin of the word jeans. In Nimes, weavers tried to reproduce jean but instead developed a similar fabric that became known as denim, from de Nimes. Genoa’s jean was a fustian textile of medium quality and of reasonable cost, very similar to cotton corduroy for which Genoa was famous, nimes’s denim was coarser, considered higher quality and was used for over garments such as smocks or overalls. Nearly all Indigo, needed for dyeing, came from indigo bush plantations in India till the late 19th century and it was replaced by indigo synthesis methods developed in Germany. By the 17th century, jean was a crucial textile for working-class people in Northern Italy and this is seen in a series of genre paintings from around the 17th century attributed to an artist now named The Master of the Blue Jeans. The ten paintings depict impoverished scenes with lower-class figures wearing a fabric that looks like denim, the fabric would have been Genoese jean, which was cheaper. Genre painting came to prominence in late 16th century, and the subject matter in all ten paintings places them among others that portray similar scenes. Denim is not the only sturdy cotton fabric used for everything from working clothes to fashion items and this cloth was dungri in Hindi. Dungri was exported to England and used for manufacturing of cheap and it was rumored that men would carry dead dung beetles in their pocket for luck. In English, the word dungri became pronounced as dungaree, the importance of jean is also shown by the history of textile trade. Genoese sailors used jean to cover and protect their goods on the docks from the weather, during the Republic of Genoa, sailors exported jeans throughout Europe. Jean became popular in the United States when Levi Strauss & Co. s introduced blue jean overalls in 1873
20.
Perahan tunban
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Perahan tunban, a form of shalwar kameez, is a male clothing worn by men in north western Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan. The perahan is wide and loose with the sleeves also worn loose, the traditional perahan varies according to the region of Afghanistan with some ending at the knees and others midway between the calf and the feet. The traditional perahan buttons on either shoulder, is collarless and is meant to be loose. Further, the traditional perahan is wide but fits closer to the body down to the waist and then is loose, the tunban is worn loose and hanging. Some versions of the tunban have the ample folds gathered into plaits at the part of the legs, below the knees to the ankles. The tunban therefore uses a lot of material so that it gathers around the waist, the modern Perahan tunban retains some of the loose features of the traditional Perahan tunban but is similar to the straight cut shalwar kameez. Some styles also have the open at the front. The modern Perahan uses side slits, however, unlike the straight cut kameez, the sides of the perahan are cut like an arch. The tunban can be a yard wide, a version of Perahan tunban known as the Kabuli suit or the Pathani suit, has become very popular in recent years. The Pathani suit has collars and cuffed sleeves, the popular embroidered perahan tunban for men is the type worn in Kandahar. The perahan is embroidered in traditional design and the tunban is left plain and this style is believed the most stylish for modern fashion. The mens perahan is embroidered in varied geometric patterns
21.
Afghanistan
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Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located within South Asia and Central Asia. It has a population of approximately 32 million, making it the 42nd most populous country in the world. It is bordered by Pakistan in the south and east, Iran in the west, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan in the north and its territory covers 652,000 km2, making it the 41st largest country in the world. The land also served as the source from which the Kushans, Hephthalites, Samanids, Saffarids, Ghaznavids, Ghorids, Khiljis, Mughals, Hotaks, Durranis, the political history of the modern state of Afghanistan began with the Hotak and Durrani dynasties in the 18th century. In the late 19th century, Afghanistan became a state in the Great Game between British India and the Russian Empire. Following the Third Anglo-Afghan War in 1919, King Amanullah unsuccessfully attempted to modernize the country and it remained peaceful during Zahir Shahs forty years of monarchy. A series of coups in the 1970s was followed by a series of wars that devastated much of Afghanistan. The name Afghānistān is believed to be as old as the ethnonym Afghan, the root name Afghan was used historically in reference to a member of the ethnic Pashtuns, and the suffix -stan means place of in Persian. Therefore, Afghanistan translates to land of the Afghans or, more specifically in a historical sense, however, the modern Constitution of Afghanistan states that he word Afghan shall apply to every citizen of Afghanistan. An important site of historical activities, many believe that Afghanistan compares to Egypt in terms of the historical value of its archaeological sites. The country sits at a unique nexus point where numerous civilizations have interacted and it has been home to various peoples through the ages, among them the ancient Iranian peoples who established the dominant role of Indo-Iranian languages in the region. At multiple points, the land has been incorporated within large regional empires, among them the Achaemenid Empire, the Macedonian Empire, the Indian Maurya Empire, and the Islamic Empire. Archaeological exploration done in the 20th century suggests that the area of Afghanistan has been closely connected by culture and trade with its neighbors to the east, west. Artifacts typical of the Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic, Bronze, urban civilization is believed to have begun as early as 3000 BCE, and the early city of Mundigak may have been a colony of the nearby Indus Valley Civilization. More recent findings established that the Indus Valley Civilisation stretched up towards modern-day Afghanistan, making the ancient civilisation today part of Pakistan, Afghanistan, in more detail, it extended from what today is northwest Pakistan to northwest India and northeast Afghanistan. An Indus Valley site has found on the Oxus River at Shortugai in northern Afghanistan. There are several smaller IVC colonies to be found in Afghanistan as well, after 2000 BCE, successive waves of semi-nomadic people from Central Asia began moving south into Afghanistan, among them were many Indo-European-speaking Indo-Iranians. These tribes later migrated further into South Asia, Western Asia, the region at the time was referred to as Ariana
22.
Phiran
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The traditional outfit for both males and females in Kashmir is the phiran and poots. The phiran and poots consist of two gowns, one over the other and it is optional to wear the suthan with a long phiran as traditionally lower garments are not worn with phirans. The traditional phiran and poots do not have side slits, in summer, the phiran and poots are made of cotton, but in winter, the poots are made out of cotton and the phiran of wool, covering and protecting the body from the cold. These dresses are used by the residents of the Kashmir valley, there is no consensus as to the origin of the word pheran. However, it seems that the word is a corruption of the Persian word perahan which means shirt, the outfit has been envogue in Kashmir since before the 15th century. Hindu females use a “taranga”, a headdress which becomes smaller down at back, islamic Kashmiri females use a red headwear known as the “kasaba”. The kasaba is padded by means of a turban and is pinned together by brooches, a pin-scarf revoked from the kasaba descends towards the neck. The phiran is an upper garment loosely gathered at the sleeves which tend to be wide, made of either wool or jamewar which is a mixture of wool and cotton. A phiran made of wool is called a loch, female phiran dresses are designed with colorful flower elements and styles. Male phiran dresses are quite simple without any colourful designs, the traditional phiran falls to the feet like a gown which was universally worn by the Hindu and Muslim communities into the later 19th century C. E. Ankle length Phirans are tied at the waist, intricate embroideries or flower styles are a popular function of a Kashmiri ladies phiran. The embroideries or flower Styles are made of thin metal threads, the pooch is the same as the phiran but made of lighter material and is worn beneath the phiran. It is generally used to save the pheran from burns due to kangri and it also provides extra heat during winters, double layered protection, from the cold winter days. Traditionally, the phiran and poots were worn without a lower garment, indeed, in neighbouring Hunza too, women did not wear pajamas until 1890 and in Nagar until 1925. Since the latter part of the 19th century, loose suthans, accordingly, the suthan or churidar pajama can form part of the phiran and poots ensemble but is not a must. The Kashmiri suthan is baggy and loose and is similar to the Dogri suthan worn in the Jammu region, some versions are similar to the shalwars worn in Afghanistan. However, since the 1960s, the straight cut Punjabi salwar has become popular, a Kanger(Kashmiri, कांगर, کانگر, is traditionally used to keep warm and is worn under the phiran. However, current medical advice is not to use the kangar, modern trends saw a decline in the use of phirans in favour of the shalwar kameez
23.
Kashmir
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Kashmir is the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term Kashmir denoted only the valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal mountain range. In the first half of the 1st millennium, the Kashmir region became an important centre of Hinduism and later of Buddhism, later still, in the ninth century, in 1339, Shah Mir became the first Muslim ruler of Kashmir, inaugurating the Salatin-i-Kashmir or Swati dynasty. Kashmir was part of the Mughal Empire from 1586 to 1751 and that year, the Sikhs, under Ranjit Singh, annexed Kashmir. The Sanskrit word for Kashmir was, the Nilamata Purana describes the Valleys origin from the waters, a lake called Sati-saras. A popular, but uncertain, local etymology of Kashmira is that it is land desiccated from water, an alternative, but also uncertain, etymology derives the name from the name of the sage Kashyapa who is believed to have settled people in this land. Accordingly, Kashmir would be derived from either kashyapa-mir or kashyapa-meru, the Ancient Greeks called the region Kasperia which has been identified with Kaspapyros of Hecataeus and Kaspatyros of Herodotus. Kashmir is also believed to be the country meant by Ptolemys Kaspeiria, Cashmere is an archaic spelling of present-Kashmir, and in some countries it is still spelled this way. In the Kashmiri language, Kashmir itself is known as Kasheer, the Buddhist Mauryan emperor Ashoka is often credited with having founded the old capital of Kashmir, Shrinagari, now ruins on the outskirts of modern Srinagar. Kashmir was long to be a stronghold of Buddhism, as a Buddhist seat of learning, the Sarvāstivādan school strongly influenced Kashmir. East and Central Asian Buddhist monks are recorded as having visited the kingdom, in the late 4th century CE, the famous Kuchanese monk Kumārajīva, born to an Indian noble family, studied Dīrghāgama and Madhyāgama in Kashmir under Bandhudatta. He later became a translator who helped take Buddhism to China. His mother Jīva is thought to have retired to Kashmir, vimalākṣa, a Sarvāstivādan Buddhist monk, travelled from Kashmir to Kucha and there instructed Kumārajīva in the Vinayapiṭaka. Karkota Empire was a powerful Hindu empire, which originated in the region of Kashmir and it was founded by Durlabhvardhana during the lifetime of Harshavardhan. The dynasty marked the rise of Kashmir as a power in South Asia, avanti Varman ascended the throne of Kashmir on 855 A. D. establishing the Utpala dynasty and ending the rule of Karkota dynasty. According to tradition, Adi Shankara visited the pre-existing Sarvajñapīṭha in Kashmir in the late 8th century or early 9th century CE, the Madhaviya Shankaravijayam states this temple had four doors for scholars from the four cardinal directions. The southern door of Sarvajna Pitha was opened by Adi Shankara, abhinavagupta was one of Indias greatest philosophers, mystics and aestheticians. He was also considered an important musician, poet, dramatist, exegete, theologian, and logician – a polymathic personality who exercised strong influences on Indian culture
24.
Daura-Suruwal
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Daura-Suruwal or Labeda Suruwal, is a traditional and former national costume of Nepal worn by men. It is also worn by neighboring Indian people of Nepali Origin of Sikkim, the equivalent female national costume is the Gunyou Cholo. The coat was added to the costume by Jang Bahadur Rana, Daura is a variant of Kurta and the upper wear and Suruwal is the trouser. Daura Suruwal has several religious beliefs identifying its designs and has remained the same for centuries, the Daura has eight strings denoted as Astamatrika-Singini as follows. In 2017 B. S. the Daura-Suruwal was designated the national uniform for men in government positions. The use of the outfit as a government uniform or as a form of clothing has declined since that time. History tells Rana Prime Minister Janga Bahadur Rana introduced coat in Nepal in the 19th century and he was presented gift of coat by Queen of England. He started the tradition of wearing coat on the Daura suruwal, from then the tradition of wearing Daura with Suruwal became Daura Suruwal and Coat. Men wear Daura Suruwal with East Coat too and this combination is a kind of informal wear. In 2017 B. S. Daura Suruwal was announced as national dress for men in government services, Daura suruwal took a great pace of development in those years. Very few of Nepali now wear Daura Suruwal, after 2046 B. S none of the elected or interim governments is able to define and announce any national the national dress. Now, there is no such dress or uniform that we can point our officially as Nepali and we still regard Daura suruwal as National dress of Nepal. Now Daura Suruwal is now confined only in the list of national signs, none of the members of constitutional assembly or any leader hardly wear any uniform as we can say national. The new generation may hardly own a pair of Daura-Suruwal, the dress is stated as an official as it has been confined only in the list of national signs and the officials under the panel of His Majestys Government. The new generation hardly owns a pair of Daura-Suruwal, and majority of them wouldnt prefer this outfit, unlike Nepali womens attire-Sari is winning its appearance in the fashion world. Daura-Suruwal, the Nepali national dress is not that fashionable among men, however, the dress is well-known among its lovers and it is successful to establish its own image in the market. Daura-Suruwal, typically termed ‘Labeda-Suruwal’ is the traditional Nepali dress, the dress has several religious beliefs identifying its designs and remained the same from the years. Also, the Daura has five pleats or Kallis, signifying Pancha Buddha or Pancha Ratna, and the closed neck of the Daura signifies the snake around the Lord Shiva’s neck
25.
Churidar
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Churidars, or more properly churidar pyjamas, are tightly fitting trousers worn by both men and women in South Asia. Churidars are a variant of the common salwar pants, salwars are cut wide at the top and narrow at the ankle. Churidars narrow more quickly, so that contours of the leg are revealed and they are usually cut on the bias, making them naturally stretchy. Stretch is important when pants are closefitting and they are also longer than the leg and sometimes finish with a tightly fitting buttoned cuff at the ankle. The excess length falls into folds and appears like a set of bangles resting on the ankle, when the wearer is sitting, the extra material is the ease that makes it possible to bend the legs and sit comfortably. The word churidar is from Urdu and made its way into English only in the 20th century, earlier, tight fitting churidar-like pants worn in India were referred to by the British as Moghul breeches, long-drawers, or mosquito drawers. The churidar is usually worn with a kameez by women or a kurta by men, or they can form part of a bodice and skirt ensemble
26.
Hippie
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The word hippie came from hipster and was initially used to describe beatniks who had moved into New York Citys Greenwich Village and San Franciscos Haight-Ashbury district. The term hippie was first popularized in San Francisco by Herb Caen, the origins of the terms hip and hep are uncertain. By the 1940s, both had become part of African American jive slang and meant sophisticated, currently fashionable, fully up-to-date, the Beats adopted the term hip, and early hippies inherited the language and countercultural values of the Beat Generation. In the United Kingdom in 1970, many gathered at the gigantic Isle of Wight Festival with a crowd of around 400,000 people, in later years, mobile peace convoys of New Age travelers made summer pilgrimages to free music festivals at Stonehenge and elsewhere. In Australia, hippies gathered at Nimbin for the 1973 Aquarius Festival, piedra Roja Festival, a major hippie event in Chile, was held in 1970. Hippie fashion and values had an effect on culture, influencing popular music, television, film, literature. Since the 1960s, many aspects of culture have been assimilated by mainstream society. The religious and cultural diversity espoused by the hippies has gained widespread acceptance, lexicographer Jesse Sheidlower, the principal American editor of the Oxford English Dictionary, argues that the terms hipster and hippie derive from the word hip, whose origins are unknown. The term hipster was coined by Harry Gibson in 1944, by the 1940s, the terms hip, hep and hepcat were popular in Harlem jazz slang, although hep eventually came to denote an inferior status to hip. In Greenwich Village in the early 1960s, New York City, young counterculture advocates were named hips because they were considered in the know or cool, as opposed to being square. In the April 27,1961 issue of The Village Voice, An open letter to JFK & Fidel Castro, Norman Mailer utilizes the term hippies, in questioning JFKs behavior. In a 1961 essay, Kenneth Rexroth used both the hipster and hippies to refer to young people participating in black American or Beatnik nightlife. According to Malcolm Xs 1964 autobiography, the hippie in 1940s Harlem had been used to describe a specific type of white man who acted more Negro than Negroes. Andrew Loog Oldham refers to all the Chicago hippies, seemingly in reference to black musicians, in his rear sleeve notes to the 1965 LP The Rolling Stones. The word hippie was also used in reference to Philadelphia in at least two songs in 1963, South Street by The Orlons, and You Cant Sit Down by The Dovells. In both songs, the term is applied to residents of Philadelphias South Street, in that article, Fallon wrote about the Blue Unicorn Cafe, using the term hippie to refer to the new generation of beatniks who had moved from North Beach into the Haight-Ashbury district. New York Times editor and usage writer Theodore M. Bernstein said the paper changed the spelling from hippy to hippie to avoid the ambiguous description of clothing as hippy fashions. Even the counterculture of the Ancient Greeks, espoused by philosophers like Diogenes of Sinope and the Cynics were also early forms of hippie culture
27.
Placket
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A placket is an opening in the upper part of trousers or skirts, or at the neck or sleeve of a garment. Plackets are almost always used to allow clothing to be put on or removed easily, modern plackets often contain fabric facings or attached bands to surround and reinforce fasteners such as buttons, snaps, or zippers. In modern usage, the placket often refers to the double layers of fabric that hold the buttons. Plackets can also be found at the neckline of a shirt, plackets are almost always made of more than one layer of fabric, and often have interfacing in between the fabric layers. This is done to support and strength to the placket fabric because the placket. The two sides of the placket often overlap and this is done to protect the wearer from fasteners rubbing against their skin and to hide underlying clothing or undergarments. A button front shirt without a separate pieced placket is called a French placket, the fabric is simply folded over and the buttonhole stitching secures the two layers. This method affords a very clean finish, especially if heavily patterned fabrics are being used and this method is normally only used in stiff-fronted formal evening shirts. However, the normal, separate placket on a shirt gives a more symmetrical appearance, if the buttons are concealed by a separate flange or flap of the shirting fabric running the length of the placket, it is called a fly front. The inner placket of a fly front shirt can be made as a less constructed French placket or as a fully constructed regular placket, historically, a placket may also be, A decorative front-panel used to fill in the opening of a doublet or gown. A decorative panel or forepart attached to a womans petticoat, an opening or slit in a skirt or petticoat to access a separate hanging pocket. May also be spelled Placquet OED Mikhaila, Ninya, the Tudor Tailor, reconstructing sixteenth-century dress
28.
Mandarin collar
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A mandarin collar is a short unfolded stand-up collar style on a shirt or jacket. Mandarin collars start at the neckline and typically rise vertically two to five centimeters, the style derives its Western name from the gowns worn by Mandarins in Imperial China. The length along a mandarin collar is straight, with straight or rounded edges at top of the centre front. The edges of the collar either barely meet at the front or overlap slightly. Overlapping mandarin collars are often a continuation of a shirts placket and have a button on the collar to secure the two sides of the shirt together, a similar style known as the Nehru collar is also found in some modern Indian mens clothing, such as the Nehru jacket. A band is often a mandarin collar and this term is also used for shirts that have only a flat finishing around the neckline, originally such garments were designed for use with a detachable collar, a largely forgotten usage. In contemporary Western dress, mandarin collars are found in oriental-style, womens mandarin-collared jackets often include other vaguely oriental elements, such as silk knots as closures instead of buttons. Since mandarin collars are short and do not fold over, neckties are not worn with mandarin-collared dress shirts and this lack of ties may have led to the recent rising popularity of mandarin collars. Mandarin collars are also utilised heavily in military combat uniforms like the US Armys Advanced Combat Uniform. The presence of the collar on the Advanced Combat Uniform makes the wearing of body armor more comfortable by lifting the collar up to prevent chafing. Stand collars are common on historically based military dress uniforms, such as dress uniforms of the British Army, US Navy. The collar is used for the required sport fencing dress. Mandarin collars feature in costumes in some films, where they are employed either as a futuristic style fashion or to create a distinctive appearance for sinister characters. The mandarin collar can also be found in the uniform of the Empires officers in the Star Wars films
29.
Achkan
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Achkan also known as Baghal bandi is a knee length jacket worn by men, particularly in India, Nepal, Bangladesh and in Pakistan much like the Angarkha and Sherwani. The word achkan is derived from Angarkha, the angarkha was worn in various parts of South Asia, while the basic cut remained the same, styles and lengths varied from region to region. It can be distinguished from the Sherwani through various aspects, particularly the front opening, achkan traditionally has side-opening tied with strings, this style of opening is known as baghal bandi but frontal opening were not uncommon, similar to Angarkha. While sherwani always has straight frontal opening, due to its function as outer-coat, achkan, like Angarkha was traditionally worn with sash known as patka, kamarband or dora wrapped around the waist to keep the entire costume in place. While sherwani was traditionally worn as decorative outer-coat for special occasions during medieval times, achkan is always worn with either dhoti or churidar. Achkan is made from various fabrics for both formal and informal occasions, it features traditional embroidery like gota and badla, today, achkan is commonly worn by the grooms during South Asias wedding ceremonies or other formal festive occasions
30.
Sherwani
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Sherwani is a long coat-like garment worn in the Indian subcontinent, very similar to a British frock coat or a Polish żupan. It was traditionally associated with the Indian subcontinent and it is worn over a kurta with the combination of either a churidar, a dhoti, a pajama, or a salwar as the lower-body clothing. It can be distinguished from the achkan by the fact that it is shorter in length, is made from heavier suiting fabrics. The sherwani originated in the 19th century British India as the European style court dress of nobles and royals of the Mughal dynasty and it appeared as a fusion of the British frock coat and a kurta and pajama, first at Lucknow in 1820s. It was gradually adopted by rest of the Indian royalty and aristocracy, in Bangladesh, the sherwani or the achkan is worn by people on formal occasions such as weddings and eid. In India, the achkan sherwani is generally worn for occasions in winter, especially by those from Rajasthan, Punjab, Delhi, Jammu, Uttar Pradesh. The achkan sherwani is generally associated with the Hindus while the simple sherwani was historically favoured by Muslims, the two garments have significant similarities, though sherwanis typically are more flared at the hips and achkans are lengthier than simple sherwanis. The achkan later evolved into the Nehru Jacket, which is popular in India, in India, the achkan or sherwani is generally worn with the combination of Churidar as the lower garment. After the independence of Pakistan, Mohammad Ali Jinnah frequently wore the sherwani, however, General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq made it compulsory for all officers to wear sherwani on state occasions and national holidays. In Sri Lanka, it was worn as the formal uniform of Mudaliyars. The diplomatic service had incorporated its use for formal occasions overseas, sherwanis are mostly worn in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan. These garments usually feature detailed embroidery or patterns, sherwanis have also been designed by the Indian designer, Rohit Bal for British Airways cabin crews serving on flights to India. Rahman also appeared in a black sherwani to receive an Academy Award, pakistani journalist, filmmaker and activist, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy appeared in sherwani to receive Academy Award in 2012 and 2015. Achkan Angarkha Coat Frock coat Jodhpuri
31.
Nehru jacket
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The apparel was created in India in the 1940s as Band Gale Ka Coat and has been popular on the Indian subcontinent ever since, especially as the top half of a suit worn on formal occasions. Unlike the achkan, which falls somewhere below the knees of the wearer, jawaharlal Nehru, notably, never wore a Nehru jacket. The jacket began to be marketed as the Nehru jacket in Europe, several villains in the James Bond film series, including Dr. No, Ernst Stavro Blofeld, Karl Stromberg and Kamal Khan, appear wearing a Nehru jacket. Once thought to be a new standard for formal wear for men. Mao suit Gakuran Mandarin collar Raj pattern
32.
Frock
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Frock has been used since Middle English as the name for an article of clothing for men and women. In Standard and World English the word is used as a term for a girls or womans dress. In Australia it is used this way, with the phrase to frock up meaning to wear a formal dress or gown for a special occasion. Originally, a frock was a loose, long garment with wide, full sleeves, such as the habit of a monk or priest, commonly belted. In some areas, this traditional frock buttons up the front in the manner of a coat, while in others it is a pullover style. In the 18th century in Britain and America, a frock was a mens coat for hunting or other country pursuits, with a broad, flat collar. The frock coat in turn became cut away into the modern coat, frock is also a woman’s or girl’s dress. Frock can be a dress or light overdress. A frock is a dense knitted overgarment worn by sailors and fishermen, as guernsey frock, the name oil frock has been used for a type of sailors oilskin. A frock coat is a mens coat style of the 19th century, despite the similarity in the name, the frock coat should be regarded as being a distinct garment quite separate from the frock. In the French language the frock coat is called une redingote, indeed, the modern French word for a tail coat is une frac which better betrays the historical relationship between the tail coat and the frock. A frock motor is a hub motor frequently fitted to electric bicycles, unlike belt or chain driven motors which can pose a hazardous entanglement risk to those wearing long or loose garments, the hub motor is laced into the center of the bicycles wheel. With no fast moving parts near the riders legs it poses little threat to those wearing frock-like garments, frock motors are either internally geared or direct drive and come in various sizes depending on their power output. They are the most common type of electric motor and are fitted to millions of bicycles throughout China. Frock coat Clothing terminology Oxford English Dictionary Picken, Mary Brooks, The Fashion Dictionary, Funk, walker, George, The Tailors Masterpiece, All Kinds of Coats,1838 revised edition, reprinted by R. L. Shep,2001. Waugh, Norah, The Cut of Mens Clothes 1600–1900, Routledge,1964, apparelSearch glossary of textile and apparel terms
33.
Bhopal
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Bhopal is the capital of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh and the administrative headquarters of Bhopal district and Bhopal division. The city was the capital of the former Bhopal State, Bhopal is known as the City of Lakes for its various natural as well as artificial lakes and is also one of the greenest cities in India. It is the 17th largest city in the country and 131st in the world, a Y-class city, Bhopal houses various institutions and installations of national importance, including ISROs Master Control Facility and BHEL. Bhopal is home to the largest number of Institutes of National Importance in India, namely IISER, MANIT, SPA, the Bhopal disaster continues to be a part of the socio-political debate and a logistical challenge for the people of Bhopal. The city has been adjudged as the 21st cleanest city in India, according to folklore, Bhopal was founded in 11th century by the Paramara king Bhoja, who ruled from his capital at Dhar. This theory states that Bhopal was originally known as Bhojpal after a dam constructed by the kings minister, an alternative theory says that the city is named after another king called Bhupala. In the early 18th century, Bhopal was a village in the Gond kingdom. The modern Bhopal city was established by Dost Mohammad Khan, an Afghan soldier in the Mughal army, after the death of the emperor Aurangzeb, Khan started providing mercenary services to local chieftains in the politically unstable Malwa region. In 1709, he took on the lease of Berasia estate, Khan received the territory of Bhopal from the Gond queen Kamlapati in lieu of payment for mercenary services and usurped her kingdom after her death. In the 1720s, he built the Fatehgarh fort in the village, Bhopal became a princely state after signing a treaty with the British East India Company in 1818. Between 1819 and 1926, the state was ruled by four women, qudsia Begum was the first woman ruler, who was succeeded by her only daughter Sikandar Begum, who in turn was succeeded by her only daughter, Shahjehan Begum. Sultan Jahan Begum was the last woman ruler who, after 25 years of rule, abdicated in favour of her son, the rule of Begums gave the city its waterworks, railways, a postal system, and a municipality constituted in 1907. Bhopal State was the second-largest Muslim-ruled princely state, the first being Hyderabad, after the independence of India in 1947, the last Nawab expressed his wish to retain Bhopal as a separate unit. Agitations against the Nawab broke out in December 1948, leading to the arrest of prominent leaders including Shankar Dayal Sharma, later, the political detainees were released, and the Nawab signed the agreement for Bhopals merger with the Union of India on 30 April 1949. The Bhopal state was taken over by the Union Government of India on 1 June 1949, on December 1984, a Union Carbide India Limited pesticide plant in Bhopal leaked around 32 tons of toxic gases, including methyl isocyanate gas which led to the worst industrial disaster to date. The official death toll was recorded around 4,000. The higher estimates have been challenged, the impact of the disaster continues to this day in terms of psychological and neurological disabilities, blindness, skin, vision, breathing, and birth disorders. The soil and ground water near the site have been contaminated by the toxic wastes
34.
Turkey
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Turkey, officially the Republic of Turkey, is a transcontinental country in Eurasia, mainly in Anatolia in Western Asia, with a smaller portion on the Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. Turkey is a democratic, secular, unitary, parliamentary republic with a cultural heritage. The country is encircled by seas on three sides, the Aegean Sea is to the west, the Black Sea to the north, and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. The Bosphorus, the Sea of Marmara, and the Dardanelles, Ankara is the capital while Istanbul is the countrys largest city and main cultural and commercial centre. Approximately 70-80% of the countrys citizens identify themselves as ethnic Turks, other ethnic groups include legally recognised and unrecognised minorities. Kurds are the largest ethnic minority group, making up approximately 20% of the population, the area of Turkey has been inhabited since the Paleolithic by various ancient Anatolian civilisations, as well as Assyrians, Greeks, Thracians, Phrygians, Urartians and Armenians. After Alexander the Greats conquest, the area was Hellenized, a process continued under the Roman Empire. The Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm ruled Anatolia until the Mongol invasion in 1243, the empire reached the peak of its power in the 16th century, especially during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent. During the war, the Ottoman government committed genocides against its Armenian, Assyrian, following the war, the conglomeration of territories and peoples that formerly comprised the Ottoman Empire was partitioned into several new states. Turkey is a member of the UN, an early member of NATO. Turkeys growing economy and diplomatic initiatives have led to its recognition as a regional power while her location has given it geopolitical, the name of Turkey is based on the ethnonym Türk. The first recorded use of the term Türk or Türük as an autonym is contained in the Old Turkic inscriptions of the Göktürks of Central Asia, the English name Turkey first appeared in the late 14th century and is derived from Medieval Latin Turchia. Similarly, the medieval Khazar Empire, a Turkic state on the shores of the Black. The medieval Arabs referred to the Mamluk Sultanate as al-Dawla al-Turkiyya, the Ottoman Empire was sometimes referred to as Turkey or the Turkish Empire among its European contemporaries. The Anatolian peninsula, comprising most of modern Turkey, is one of the oldest permanently settled regions in the world, various ancient Anatolian populations have lived in Anatolia, from at least the Neolithic period until the Hellenistic period. Many of these peoples spoke the Anatolian languages, a branch of the larger Indo-European language family, in fact, given the antiquity of the Indo-European Hittite and Luwian languages, some scholars have proposed Anatolia as the hypothetical centre from which the Indo-European languages radiated. The European part of Turkey, called Eastern Thrace, has also been inhabited since at least forty years ago. It is the largest and best-preserved Neolithic site found to date, the settlement of Troy started in the Neolithic Age and continued into the Iron Age
35.
Hyderabad
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Hyderabad is the capital of the southern Indian state of Telangana and de jure capital of Andhra Pradesh. At an average altitude of 542 metres, much of Hyderabad is situated on hilly terrain around artificial lakes, established in 1591 by Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah, Hyderabad remained under the rule of the Qutb Shahi dynasty for nearly a century before the Mughals captured the region. In 1724, Mughal viceroy Asif Jah I declared his sovereignty and created his own dynasty, the Nizams dominions became a princely state during the British Raj, and remained so for 150 years, with the city serving as its capital. The city continued as the capital of Hyderabad State after it was brought into the Indian Union in 1948, since 1956, Rashtrapati Nilayam in the city has been the winter office of the President of India. In 2014, the formed state of Telangana split from Andhra Pradesh. Relics of Qutb Shahi and Nizam rule remain visible today, the Charminar—commissioned by Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah—has come to symbolise Hyderabad, Golconda fort is another major landmark. The influence of Mughlai culture is evident in the regions distinctive cuisine. The Qutb Shahis and Nizams established Hyderabad as a cultural hub, the Telugu film industry based in the city is the countrys second-largest producer of motion pictures. Hyderabad was historically known as a pearl and diamond trading centre, many of the citys traditional bazaars remain open, including Laad Bazaar, Begum Bazaar and Sultan Bazaar. Special economic zones dedicated to technology have encouraged companies from India. The emergence of pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries in the 1990s led to the naming as Indias Genome Valley. With an output of US$74 billion, Hyderabad is the fifth-largest contributor to Indias overall gross domestic product, according to John Everett-Heath, the author of Oxford Concise Dictionary of World Place Names, Hyderabad means Haydars city or lion city, from haydar and ābād. It was named to honour the Caliph Ali Ibn Abi Talib, andrew Petersen, a scholar of Islamic architecture, says the city was originally called Baghnagar. One popular theory suggests that Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah, the founder of the city, named it Bhagyanagar or Bhāgnagar after Bhagmati and she converted to Islam and adopted the title Hyder Mahal. The city was renamed Hyderabad in her honour, French traveller Jean de Thévenot visited the Deccan region in 1666–1667 refers to the city in his book Travels in India as Bagnagar and Aiderabad. Archaeologists excavating near the city have unearthed Iron Age sites that may date from 500 BCE, the region comprising modern Hyderabad and its surroundings was known as Golkonda, and was ruled by the Chalukya dynasty from 624 CE to 1075 CE. The Kakatiya dynasty was reduced to a vassal of the Khilji dynasty in 1310 after its defeat by Sultan Alauddin Khilji of the Delhi Sultanate and this lasted until 1321, when the Kakatiya dynasty was annexed by Malik Kafur, Allaudin Khiljis general. During this period, Alauddin Khilji took the Koh-i-Noor diamond, which is said to have mined from the Kollur Mines of Golkonda
36.
Lucknow
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Lucknow is the capital of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and is also the administrative headquarters of the eponymous District and Division. It is the largest city in Uttar Pradesh, the eleventh most populous city, in North India, it is the third largest city after Delhi and Jaipur. Lucknow has always known as a multicultural city that flourished as a North Indian cultural and artistic hub. It continues to be an important centre of governance, administration, education, commerce, aerospace, finance, pharmaceuticals, technology, design, culture, tourism, music, the city stands at an elevation of approximately 123 metres above sea level. Lucknow district covers an area of 2,528 square kilometres, bounded on the east by Barabanki, on the west by Unnao, on the south by Raebareli and in the north by Sitapur and Hardoi, Lucknow sits on the northwestern shore of the Gomti River. Hindi is the language of the city and Urdu is also widely spoken. Lucknow is the centre of Shia Islam in India with the highest Shia Muslim population in India, historically, the capital of Awadh was controlled by the Delhi Sultanate which then came under Mughal rule. It was later transferred to the Nawabs of Awadh, in 1856, the British East India Company abolished local rule and took complete control of the city along with the rest of Awadh and, in 1857, transferred it to the British Raj. Along with the rest of India, Lucknow became independent from Britain on 15 August 1947 and it has been listed the 17th fastest growing city in India and 74th in world. Lucknow, along with Agra and Varanasi, is in the Uttar Pradesh Heritage Arc, Lucknow is the anglicised spelling of the local pronunciation lakhnau. According to one legend, the city is named after Lakshmana, the legend states that Lakshmana had a palace or an estate in the area, which was called Lakshmanapuri. However the Dalit movement believes that Lakhan Pasi, a ruler, was the settler of the city and is named after him. The settlement came to be known as Lakhanpur by the 11th century, a similar theory states that the city was known as Lakshmanavati after Lakshmana. The name changed to Lakhanavati, then Lakhnauti and finally Lakhnau, yet another theory states that the citys name is connected with Lakshmi, the Hindu goddess of wealth. Over time, the changed to Laksmanauti, Laksmnaut, Lakhsnaut, Lakhsnau and, finally. From 1350 onwards, Lucknow and parts of the Awadh region were ruled by the Delhi Sultanate, Sharqi Sultanate, Mughal Empire, Nawabs of Awadh, the British East India Company and the British Raj. Lucknow was one of the centres of the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and actively participated in Indias independence movement. Until 1719, the subah of Awadh was a province of the Mughal Empire administered by a Governor appointed by the Emperor, persian adventurer Saadat Khan, also known as Burhan-ul-Mulk, was appointed nizam of Awadh in 1722 and established his court in Faizabad, near Lucknow
37.
Chikan (embroidery)
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Chikan is a traditional embroidery style from Lucknow, India. Literally translated, the word means embroidery, believed to have been introduced by Nur Jehan, the wife of Mughal emperor Jahangir, it is one of Lucknows best known textile decoration styles. The market for local chikan is mainly in Chowk, Lucknow, there are references to Indian chikan work as early as 3rd century BC by Megasthenes, who mentioned the use of flowered muslins by Indians. There is also a tale that mentions how a traveler taught chikan to a peasant in return of water to drink, however, the Noor Jahan story is the most popular of the lot. Chikan began as a type of white-on-white embroidery, the technique of creation of a chikan work is known as chikankari. Chikan is a delicate and artfully done hand embroidery on a variety of textile fabric like muslin, silk, chiffon, organza, net, white thread is embroidered on cool, pastel shades of light muslin and cotton garments. Nowadays chikan embroidery is also done with coloured and silk threads in colours to meet the fashion trends, Lucknow is the heart of the chikankari industry today and the variety is known as Lucknawi chikan. Chikan work in the recent times has adapted additional embellishments like Mukaish, Kamdani, Badla, Kamdani, sequin, bead and mirror work, which gives it a rich look. Chikan embroidery is mostly done on fabrics like cotton, semi-Georgette, pure Georgette, crepe, chiffon, silk and any other fabric which is light, the fabric cannot be too thick or hard, else the embroidery needle wont pierce it. The piece begins with one or more blocks that are used to block-print a pattern on the ground fabric. The embroiderer stitches the pattern, and the piece is carefully washed to remove all traces of the printed pattern. Some of the stitches include backstitch, chain stitch and hemstitch, the result is an open work pattern, jali or shadow-work. Often the embroiderer creates mesh-like sections by using a needle to separate threads in the ground fabric and it consists of 32 stitches, Chikankari-Tepchi is a long running or darning stitch worked with six strands on the right side of the fabric taken over four threads and picking up one. It is used principally as a basis for further stitchery and occasionally to form a simple shape, bakhiya — ‘Shadow work’ or bhakia is one of the stitches of chikankari. The reason for the shadow is that the embroidery is done on wrong side. Hool is a fine detached eyelet stitch, a hole is punched in the fabric and the threads are teased apart. It is then held by small straight stitches all round and worked with one thread on the side of the fabric. It can be worked with six threads and often forms the center of a flower, zanzeera Rahet Banarsi Khatau Phanda Murri is the form of stitch used to embroider the centre of the flowers in chikan work motifs
38.
Mrinal Kulkarni
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Mrinal Dev-Kulkarni is a film and soap opera actress and director in India known for her role in popular Hindi language TV serial Son Pari. She has acted in both Marathi and Hindi TV serials and films and she has a Masters degree in Linguistics from Pune University. Mrinal was 16 when she made her debut in the role of Peshawe Madhavraos wife Ramabai Peshawe in the Marathi TV serial Swami, ravindra Mankani played the role of Madhavrao. She was not very serious about acting instead she wanted to complete doctorate in philosophy, but offers kept coming her way and finally she decided to make career in acting in 1994. Her role in the TV serial Avantika on Alpha Marathi channel has received much acclaim, mrinal is famous for playing a number of historic characters – Draupadi, Ahilya Bai Holkar, Ramabai, Jijabai etc. She has also done a few advertisements as well, mrinal Kulkarni has acted in Marathi as well as Bollywood films. National Award for movie Thang/The Quest directed by Amol Palekar, mrinal Kulkarni at the Internet Movie Database
39.
West Bengal
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West Bengal is an Indian state, located in East India on the Bay of Bengal. It is Indias fourth-most populous state, with over 91 million inhabitants and it has a total area of 34,267 sq mi, making it similar in size to Serbia. A part of the ethno-linguistic Bengal region, it borders Bangladesh in the east and Nepal and it also has borders five Indian states, Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar, Sikkim and Assam. The state capital is Kolkata, the seventh-largest city in India, the geography of West Bengal includes the Darjeeling Himalayan hill region in its extreme north, the Ganges delta, the Rarh region and the coastal Sundarbans. The main ethnic group are the Bengali people, with Bengali Hindus forming the demographic majority, Ancient Bengal was the site of several major janapadas, including Vanga, Radha, Pundra and Suhma. In the 2nd century BC, the region was conquered by the emperor Ashoka, in the 4th century AD, it was absorbed into the Gupta Empire. From the 13th century onward, the region was ruled by sultans, powerful Hindu states and Baro-Bhuyan landlords. The British East India Company cemented their hold on the following the Battle of Plassey in 1757. Between 1977 and 2011, the state was administered by the worlds longest elected Communist government, a major agricultural producer, West Bengal is the sixth-largest contributor to Indias net domestic product. It is noted for its activities and the presence of cultural and educational institutions. The states cultural heritage, besides varied folk traditions, ranges from stalwarts in literature including Nobel-laureate Rabindranath Tagore to scores of musicians, film-makers and artists. West Bengal is also distinct from most other Indian states in its appreciation and practice of playing football besides cricket. The origin of the name Bengal is unknown, one theory suggests that the word derives from Bang, a Dravidian tribe that settled the region around 1000 BC. The word might have derived from the ancient kingdom of Vanga. Although some early Sanskrit literature mentions the name, the early history is obscure. At the end of British Rule over the Indian subcontinent, the Bengal region was partitioned in 1947 along religious lines into east and west, the east came to be known as East Bengal and the west came to known as West Bengal, which continued as an Indian state. In 2011, the Government of West Bengal proposed a change in the name of the state to Poschimbongo. This is the name of the state, literally meaning western Bengal in the native Bengali language
40.
Assam
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Assam (English pronunciation, /əˈsæm/ listen is a state in northeastern India. Located south of the eastern Himalayas, Assam comprises the Brahmaputra Valley, Assam, along with Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, and Meghalaya, is one of the Seven Sister States. Geographically, Assam and these states are connected to the rest of India via a 22 kilometres strip of land in West Bengal called the Siliguri Corridor or Chickens Neck. Assam shares a border with Bhutan and Bangladesh, and its culture, people. Assam is known for Assam tea and Assam silk, the first oil well in Asia was drilled here. The state has conserved the one-horned Indian rhinoceros from near extinction, along with the water buffalo, pygmy hog, tiger. It provides one of the last wild habitats for the Asian elephant, the Assamese economy is aided by wildlife tourism, centred around Kaziranga National Park and Manas National Park which are World Heritage Sites. Sal tree forests are found in the state which, as a result of abundant rainfall, Assam receives more rainfall compared to most parts of India. This rain feeds the Brahmaputra River, whose tributaries and oxbow lakes provide the region with a hydro-geomorphic and aesthetic environment, the precise etymology of Assam came from Ahom Dynasty. In the classical period and up to the 12th century the region east of the Karatoya river, largely congruent to present-day Assam, was called Kamarupa, in medieval times the Mughals used Asham and Kamrup, and during British colonialism, the English used Assam. Though many authors have associated the name with the 13th century Shan invaders the precise origin of the name is not clear. It was suggested by some that the Sanskrit word Asama was the root, which has been rejected by Kakati, among possible origins are Tai and Bodo. Assam and adjoining regions have evidences of settlements from all the periods of the Stone ages. The hills at the height of 1, 500–2,000 feet were popular habitats probably due to availability of exposed dolerite basalt, useful for tool-making. According to a text, Kalika Purana, the earliest ruler of Assam was Mahiranga Danav of the Danava dynasty. The last of these rulers, also Naraka, was slain by Krishna, narakas son Bhagadatta became the king, who fought for the Kauravas in the battle of Kurukshetra with an army of kiratas, chinas and dwellers of the eastern coast. Samudraguptas 4th century Allahabad pillar inscription mentions Kamarupa and Davaka as frontier kingdoms of the Gupta Empire, ruled by three dynasties Varmanas, Mlechchha dynasty and Kamarupa-Palas, from their capitals in present-day Guwahati, Tezpur and North Gauhati respectively. All three dynasties claimed their descent from Narakasura, an immigrant from Aryavarta, in the reign of the Varman king, Bhaskar Varman, the Chinese traveller Xuanzang visited the region and recorded his travels
41.
Assamese language
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It is one of the easternmost of the Indo-Aryan languages it is spoken by over 13 million native speakers, and serves as a lingua franca in the region. It is also spoken in parts of Arunachal Pradesh and other northeast Indian states, Nagamese, an Assamese-based Creole language is widely used in Nagaland and parts of Assam. Nefamese is an Assamese-based pidgin used in Arunachal Pradesh, small pockets of Assamese speakers can be found in Bangladesh. In the past, it was the language of the Ahom kingdom from the 17th century. The origin of Assamese language is not clear, some believe that it originated from Kamarupi Prakrit used in ancient Kamarupa Kingdom. Its sister languages include Maithali, Odia, Chittagonian, Sylheti and it is written in the Assamese script, an abugida system, from left to right, with a large number of typographic ligatures. Assamese language was in use much before Bengali language was developed as Kamrupa was mentioned in Mahabharata, kampura has its northern boundary at Koshi River and Orissa. Assamese influence can be easily felt in Oriya and Maithali languages. Assamese originated in Old Indo-Aryan dialects, though the nature of its origin. It is generally believed that Assamese and the Kamatapuri lects derive from the Kamarupa dialect of Eastern Magadhi Prakrit. </ref>By keeping to the north of the Ganges, the Indo-Aryan language in Kamarupa had differentiated by the 7th-century, before it did in Bengal or Orissa. These changes were due to non-Indo-Aryan speakers adopting the language. The evidence of language is found in the Prakritisms of the Kamarupa inscriptions. In these works, Assamese features coexist with features from other Modern Indian Languages, from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, songs – Borgeets, dramas – Ankiya Naat and the first prose writings were composed. The literary language, based on the dialects of Assam moved to the court of the Ahom kingdom in the seventeenth century. This period saw the development of prose infused with colloquial forms. The literary language, having become infused with the idiom, became the standard literary form in the nineteenth century. As the political and commercial center shifted to Guwahati after the mid-twentieth century, Assamese is native to Assam Valley which includes Upper-Assam and Lower-Assam regions of the state of Assam. It is also spoken in states of Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland, presence of Assamese script can be found in Rakhine state of present Myanmar
42.
Madhya Pradesh
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Madhya Pradesh is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and the largest city is Indore, nicknamed the heart of India due to its geographical location in India, Madhya Pradesh is the second-largest state in the country by area. With over 75 million inhabitants, it is the fifth-largest state in India by population and it borders the states of Uttar Pradesh to the northeast, Chhattisgarh to the southeast, Maharashtra to the south, Gujarat to the west, and Rajasthan to the northwest. Its total area is 308,252 km², subsequently, the region was ruled by the major dynasties of India. By the early 18th century, the region was divided into small kingdoms which were captured by the British and incorporated into Central Provinces and Berar. This state was the largest in India by area until 2000, in recent years, the states GDP growth has been above the national average. Rich in mineral resources, MP has the largest reserves of diamond, more than 30% of its area is under forest cover. Its tourism industry has seen growth, with the state topping the National Tourism Awards in 2010–11. Isolated remains of Homo erectus found in Hathnora in the Narmada Valley indicate that Madhya Pradesh might have been inhabited in the Middle Pleistocene era, painted pottery dated to the later mesolithic period has been found in the Bhimbetka rock shelters. Chalcolithic sites belonging to Kayatha culture and Malwa culture have been discovered in the part of the state. The city of Ujjain arose as a centre in the region. It served as the capital of the Avanti kingdom, other kingdoms mentioned in ancient epics — Malava, Karusha, Dasarna and Nishada — have also been identified with parts of Madhya Pradesh. Chandragupta Maurya united northern India around 320 BCE, establishing the Mauryan Empire, ashoka the greatest of Mauryan rulers brought the region under firmer control. After the decline of the Maurya empire, the region was contested among the Sakas, the Kushanas, the Satavahanas, Heliodorus, the Greek Ambassador to the court of the Shunga king Bhagabhadra erected the Heliodorus pillar near Vidisha. Ujjain emerged as the predominant commercial centre of western India from the first century BCE, the Satavahana dynasty of the northern Deccan and the Saka dynasty of the Western Satraps fought for the control of Madhya Pradesh during the 1st to 3rd centuries CE. The Satavahana king Gautamiputra Satakarni inflicted a defeat upon the Saka rulers and conquered parts of Malwa. Subsequently, the region came under the control of the Gupta empire in the 4th and 5th centuries, and their southern neighbours, the attacks of the Hephthalites or White Huns brought about the collapse of the Gupta empire, which broke up into smaller states. The king Yasodharman of Malwa defeated the Huns in 528, ending their expansion, later, Harsha ruled the northern parts of the state
43.
Gujarat
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Gujarat is a state in Western India, sometimes referred to as the Jewel of Western India. It has an area of 196,024 km2 with a coastline of 1,600 km, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula, and a population in excess of 60 million. The state is bordered by Rajasthan to the north, Maharashtra to the south, Madhya Pradesh to the east, and the Arabian Sea and its capital city is Gandhinagar, while its largest city is Ahmedabad. Gujarat is home to the Gujarati-speaking people of India, the state encompasses some sites of the ancient Indus Valley Civilization, such as Lothal and Dholavira. Lothal is believed to be one of the worlds first seaports, Gujarat was known to the ancient Greeks, and was familiar in other Western centres of civilisation through the end of the European Middle Ages. Modern-day Gujarat is derived from Sanskrit term Gurjaradesa, the Gurjar nation, parts of modern Rajasthan and Gujarat have been known as Gurjaratra or Gurjarabhumi for centuries before the Mughal period. Gujarat was one of the centres of the Indus Valley Civilization. It contains ancient metropolitan cities from the Indus Valley such as Lothal, Dholavira, the ancient city of Lothal was where Indias first port was established. The ancient city of Dholavira is one of the largest and most prominent archaeological sites in India, the most recent discovery was Gola Dhoro. Altogether, about 50 Indus Valley settlement ruins have been discovered in Gujarat, the ancient history of Gujarat was enriched by the commercial activities of its inhabitants. There is clear evidence of trade and commerce ties with Egypt, Bahrain. The early history of Gujarat reflects the grandeur of Chandragupta Maurya who conquered a number of earlier states in what is now Gujarat. Pushyagupta, a Vaishya, was appointed governor of Saurashtra by the Mauryan regime and he ruled Giringer and built a dam on the Sudarshan lake. Between the decline of Mauryan power and Saurashtra coming under the sway of the Samprati Mauryas of Ujjain, in the first half of the 1st century AD there is the story of a merchant of King Gondaphares landing in Gujarat with Apostle Thomas. The incident of the cup-bearer killed by a lion might indicate that the city described is in Gujarat. For nearly 300 years from the start of the 1st century AD, the weather-beaten rock at Junagadh gives a glimpse of the ruler Rudradaman I of the Saka satraps known as Western Satraps, or Kshatraps. Mahakshatrap Rudradaman I founded the Kardamaka dynasty which ruled from Anupa on the banks of the Narmada up to the Aparanta region which bordered Punjab, in Gujarat several battles were fought between the south Indian Satavahana dynasty and the Western Satraps. The greatest ruler of the Satavahana Dynasty was Gautamiputra Satakarni who defeated the Western Satraps, the Kshatrapa dynasty was replaced by the Gupta Empire with the conquest of Gujarat by Chandragupta Vikramaditya
44.
Gusset
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In sewing, a gusset is a triangular or rhomboidal piece of fabric inserted into a seam to add breadth or reduce stress from tight-fitting clothing. Gussets were used at the shoulders, underarms, and hems of traditional shirts, gussets are used in manufacturing of modern tights and pantyhose to add breadth at the crotch seam. As with other underwear, these gussets are often made of moisture-wicking breathable fabrics such as cotton, to keep the genital area dry. The phrase dont bust a gusset is an admonition to calm down, becoming so enraged and inflated that one busted a gusset would imply extreme rage and expansion beyond ones clothing capacity. Gussets are also used when making three-piece bags, for example in a pattern for a bag as a long, wide piece which connects the front piece and back piece. By becoming the sides and bottom of the bag, the opens the bag up beyond what simply attaching the front to the back would do. With reference to the dimension of the gusset, the measurements of a flat bottom bag may be quoted as LxWxG, pillows too, are often gusseted, generally an inch or two. The side panels thicken the pillow, allowing more stuffing without bulging, gussets are also used in other areas of manufacturing, e. g. bicycle frames employ gussets to add strength and rigidity. Gusset plates, usually triangular, are used to join metal plates. Special envelopes will also employ a gusset to allow for expansion when containing more than just a few sheets of paper for example
45.
Multan
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Multan, is a Pakistani city located in Punjab province. Multan is Pakistans 5th most populous city, and is the premier-centre for southern Punjab province, Multan is located on the banks of the Chenab River, and is at the heart of Pakistans Seraiki-speaking regions. Multans history stretches back into antiquity, the ancient city was site of the renowned Multan Sun Temple, and was besieged by Alexander the Great during the Mallian Campaign. Multan was one of the most important trading centres of medieval Islamic India, the city, along with the nearby city of Uch, is renowned for its large collection of Sufi shrines dating from that era. The origin of Multans name is unclear and it has been postulated that Multan derives its name from the Sanskrit word for the pre-Islamic Hindu Multan Sun Temple, called Mulasthana. Hukm Chand in the 19th century suggested that the city was named after an ancient Hindu tribe that was named Mul, the Multan region has been continuously inhabited for at least 5,000 years. The region is home to archaeological sites dating to the era of the Early Harappan period of the Indus Valley Civilisation. According to Hindu mythology, Multan was founded by the Hindu sage Kashyapa, according to the Persian historian Firishta, the city was founded by a great grandson of Noah. Hindu mythology also asserts Multan as the capital of the Trigarta Kingdom at the time of the Kurukshetra War that is central the Hindu epic poem, ancient Multan was the centre of a solar-worshipping cult that was based at the ancient Multan Sun Temple. While the cult was dedicated to the Hindu Sun God Surya, the Sun Temple was mentioned by Greek Admiral Skylax, who passed through the area in 515 BCE. The temple is mentioned in the 400s BCE by the Greek historian. Multan is believed to have been the Malli capital that was conquered by Alexander the Great in 326 BCE as part of the Mallian Campaign, during the siege of the citys citadel, Alexander leaped into the inner area of the citadel, where he killed the Mallians leader. Alexander was wounded by an arrow that had penetrated his lung, leaving him severely injured, during Alexanders era, Multan was located on an island in the Ravi river, which has since shifted course numerous times throughout the centuries. In the mid-5th century CE, the city was attacked by a group of Hephthalite nomads led by Toramana, by the mid 600s CE, Multan had been conquered by the Chach of Alor, of the Hindu Rai dynasty. After his conquest of Sindh, Muhammad bin Qasim in 712 CE captured Multan from the local ruler Chach of Alor following a two-month siege, following bin Qasims conquest, the citys subjects remained mostly non-Muslim for the next few centuries. By the mid-800s, the Banu Munabbih, who claimed descent from the Prophet Muhammads Quraysh tribe came to rule Multan, and established the Amirate of Banu Munabbih, which ruled for the next century. During this era, the Multan Sun Temple was noted by the 10th century Arab geographer Al-Muqaddasi to have located in a most populous part of the city. The Hindu temple was noted to have accrued the Muslim rulers large tax revenues, during this time, the citys Arabic nickname was Faraj Bayt al-Dhahab, reflecting the importance of the temple to the citys economy
46.
Punjab, Pakistan
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Punjab, is Pakistans second largest province by area after Balochistan, and its most populous province with an estimated population of 101,391,000 as of 2015. It is bordered by Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, as well as the regions of Islamabad Capital Territory and it also shares borders with the Indian states of Punjab, Rajasthan, and Jammu and Kashmir. The provincial capital of Punjab is the city Lahore, a centre of Pakistan where the countrys cinema industry. Punjab has been inhabited since ancient times, the Indus Valley Civilization, dating to 2600 BCE, was first discovered at Harappa. Punjab features heavily in the Hindu epic poem, the Mahabharata, in 326 BCE, Alexander the Great defeated King Porus at the Battle of the Hydaspes near Mong, Punjab. The Umayyad empire conquered Punjab in the 8th century CE, Punjab was later invaded by Tamerlane, Babur, and Nader Shah. Punjab reached the height of its splendour during the reign of the Mughal Empire, following a successful rebellion, Sikh-led armies claimed Lahore in 1759. The administration of the Sikh Empire was based out of Lahore, the province was formed when the Punjab province of British India was divided along religious boundaries in 1947 by the Radcliffe Line after Partition. Punjab is Pakistans most industrialised province with the industrial sector making up 24% of the gross domestic product. Punjab is known in Pakistan for its prosperity, and has the lowest rate of poverty amongst all Pakistani provinces. Punjab is also one of South Asias most urbanized regions with approximately 40% of people living in urban areas and its human development index rankings are high relative to the rest of Pakistan. Punjab is known in Pakistan for its relatively liberal social attitudes, the province has been strongly influenced by Sufism, with numerous Sufi shrines spread across Punjab which attract millions of devotees annually. The founder of the Sikh faith, Guru Nanak, was born in the Punjab town of Nankana Sahib near Lahore, Punjab is also the site of the Katasraj Temple, which features prominently in Hindu mythology. Several UNESCO World Heritage Sites are located in Punjab, including the Shalimar Gardens, the Lahore Fort, the excavations at Taxila. The region was known to the Greeks as Pentapotamia, meaning the region of five rivers. The word Punjab was formally introduced in the early 17th century CE as an elision of the Persian words panj and āb, thus meaning the five rivers, similar in meaning to the Greek name for the region. The five rivers, namely Chenab, Jhelum, Ravi, Beas and Sutlej, flow via the Panjnad River into the Indus River, of the five great rivers of Punjab, four course through Pakistans Punjab province. Due to its location, the Punjab region came under constant attack and witnessed centuries of invasions by the Persians, Greeks, Kushans, Scythians, Turks
47.
Ajrak
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Ajrak is a name given to a unique form of blockprinted shawls and tiles found in Sindh, Kutch, Gujarat, and Barmer, Rajasthan in India. These shawls display special designs and patterns made using block printing by stamps, common colours used while making these patterns may include but are not limited to blue, red, black, yellow and green. Over the years, ajraks have become a symbol of the Sindhi culture and these civilizations are thought to have mastered the art of making cotton fabrics. A bust of a priest-king excavated at Mohenjo-daro, currently in the National Museum of Pakistan, of special note are the trefoil pattern etched on the persons garment interspersed with small circles, the interiors of which were filled with a red pigment. This symbol illustrates what is believed to be an edifice depicting the fusion of the three sun-disks of the gods of the sun, water and the earth. Excavations elsewhere in the Old World around Mesopotamia have yielded similar patterns appearing on various objects, similar patterns appear in recent ajrak prints. Block printing is thought to have been first used in ancient China, on its way through the populous regions of the Indus Valley, this technique of fabric printing was adopted at Mohenjo-daro. The tradition still prevails centuries later, and people use the same methods of production that were used in the earlier days to create an ajrak. The garment has become an part of the Sindhi culture. Men use it as a turban, a cummerbund or wind it around their shoulders or simply drape it over one shoulder, women use it as a dupatta or a shawl and sometimes as a makeshift swing for children. Ajraks are made all over Sindh, especially in Matiari, Hala, Bhit Shah, Moro, Sukkur, Kandyaro, Hyderabad, the ajrak is an integral part of Sindhi culture and Sindhi nationalism. Its usage is evident at all levels of society, and is held in high esteem, according to Sindhi traditions, ajraks are often presented as gifts of hospitality to guests and presented to the person who is utterly respectable. They are also worn on occasions such as weddings and cultural events. Many prominent politicians from Sindh publicly adorn Ajrak, including the deceased former Pakistani Prime Minister, Ajrak craft products are made with natural dyes. The entire production of the products include both vegetable dyes and mineral dyes, Sindhi Sindh Indus Valley Civilization Bagh Print Sindhi Cultural Day Ajrak Cloth from the Soil of Sindh by Noorjehan Bilgrami
48.
Phulkari
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This whole work is done with white or yellow silk floss on cotton khaddarh and starts from the center on the fabric called chashm-e-bulbul and spreads to the whole fabric. The word phul means flower and kari means craft, thus its name, Punjab is known for its Phulkaris. The embroidery is done with silk thread on coarse hand woven cotton fabric. Geometrical patterns are usually embroidered on the Phulkaris, Phulkaris and Baghs were worn by women all over Punjab during marriage festivals and other joyous occasions. They were embroidered by the women for their own use and use of family members and were not for sale in the market. Thus, it was purely a domestic art which not only satisfied their inner urge for creation, in a way, it was true folk art. Custom had grown to give Phulkaris and Baghs to brides at the time of marriages, Bagh and phulkari embroidery has influenced the embroidery of Gujarat known as heer bharat in its use of geometrical motifs and stitchery. Some feel it came from Central Asia along with Jat tribes who migrated to India and settled in Punjab, Haryana, there is reference of Phulkari in Vedas, Mahabharat, Guru Granth Sahib and folk songs of Punjab. In its present form, phulkari embroidery has been popular since the 15th century, the main characteristics of Phulkari embroidery are use of darn stitch on the wrong side of coarse cotton cloth with coloured silken thread. Punjabi women created innumerable alluring and interesting designs and patterns by their skilful manipulation of the darn stitch, the base khaddar cloth used in Western Punjab is finer from those of Central Punjab. Black/blue are not preferred in Western Punjab, whereas white is not used in East Punjab, in West Punjab,2 or 3 pieces of cloth are first folded and joined together. In East Punjab, they are joined together first and then embroidered, in Phulkari embroidery ornaments the cloth, whereas in Bagh, it entirely covers the garment so that the base cloth is not visible. The end portion of pallav of Phulkari have separate panels of exquisite workmanship of striking design, the most favoured colour is red and its shades, because Bagh and Phulkari are used during marriage and other festivals. Red is considered auspicious by Hindus and Sikhs, other colours are brown, blue, black, white. White was used in Bagh by elderly ladies, silk thread in strands came from Kashmir, Afghanistan and Bengal. The best quality silk came from China, no religious subject or darbar scenes were embroidered. Phulkari encompassed life in the villages, creative ability of Punjabi women has produced innumerable and intricate geometrical patterns. However, most motifs were taken from everyday life, wheat and barley stalk with ears are a common motif
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