Pagdis or the traditional turbans may have died but there are a few like Laxman Khandare, who are striving to keep the skills of making 300 varieties of pagdis and 18 styles of draping saris alive.
They are intricately seamed out from colourful cloth, round and oval, vibrant and bejewelled; you swell with pride when you wear them, and why not, because they command honour, bravery and respect. Pagdis or the traditional turbans may have died but there are a few like Laxman Khandare, who are striving to keep the skills of making 300 varieties of pagdis and 18 styles of draping saris alive.
Khandare, a pagdi and a readymade nine-yard sari maker, has learnt the art through experience. His knowledge about the differences and varieties in pagdis and sari draping styles due to geographical, cultural and social conditions is vast and makes one wonder whether this 37-year-old is really a ninth-class dropout.
Khandare came to Pune in 1990 to become a theatre actor but unable to get a breakthrough, he took up small jobs of lighting and dressmaking.
“Over the years, I realised that actors come and go but the backstage never changes. So I took up the profession of stitching clothes for theatre artistes. Thus, began my research on the traditional clothes,” said Khandare, who originally hails from Pandharpur.
“In ancient India, pagdis differed on the basis of one’s status. In the kingdom of Indore, there were nine types of pagdis: Hazari, Panhazari, Senapati, Sarsenapati, Jahagirdar among others based on the post in the king’s army. If you look at the mavalas (Shivaji Maharaj’s comrades), you will see that their pagdis were pointed to the sides and flat from the top. This protected their faces from thick branches and thorns while walking through dense forests during wars,” he said and added, “A king’s pagdi would be as glamourous as his crown. Shivaji Maharaj used to wear a jiretope, a unique cone-shaped pagdi with a tura, which was not worn by anybody else in his kingdom. It was a symbol of his gharana,” said Khandare, who gets orders from the UK, US and also from other Indian cities to make pagdis.
“In villages, a pagdi would tell the caste of a person. The pagotas and patolas would be worn by farmers and people who were in hard labour jobs because these types of headgear were easy to wear and less time consuming. The phetas, which were stylish and costly, would be worn by the Patils and the Deshmukhs,” said Khandare, who has also gone deep into the intricacies of sari draping.
“The different style of draping saris emerged because of the geographical and the social conditions of those days. Marth Muli, Kolhapur Navar, Bhramni, Peshwai Lavni, Koli, Thakar-type have a lot of history behind them. “The Peshwai-style takes a long time to drape because of a zigzag pleat in the front. It emerged when the Peshwa queens had a lot of time to groom themselves when their husbands would go away for wars and the kashta was tight on the legs so that the Maratha queens could easily sit on the horses,” said Khandare, who gives classes to educate the youth about these traditional costumes.
He has also taught how to make pagdis to slum women.
“I want to teach people the skills I have so that they know their tradition and history and start a pagdi research centre. I would be holding a fashion show next month to promote the different sari styles,” he said.
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