Mekhela chador

What is Mekhela chador?

The mekhela chador is two pieces of cloth worn together by women in Assam. The lower piece, the mekhela, is a wide tube that becomes a skirt. The upper piece, the sador, is a long drape. Most sets are woven from Assam silk, usually muga, eri or pat. The decoration is woven into the cloth rather than printed onto it, and women do the weaving. Patterns come from nature, from Assamese life and from myth. A fitted blouse is worn with the set. Because the two pieces sit apart, the skirt holds its pleats at the waist while the drape is arranged over the chest and shoulder, which is not how a single sari behaves.

Where does Mekhela chador come from?

Nothing in the sources dates the mekhela chador or offers a legend for it. What they do describe is a change in the pieces that go with it. A third cloth, the riha, was once worn either as the sador itself or as an inner layer under it. Today the riha survives mainly in bridal trousseaux and appears at traditional gatherings such as Bihu and other Assamese festivals. Patterns have always been woven into these garments rather than printed on them, and a woven paari band is stitched to a sador or a mekhela. That is as far as the history goes here.

How is Mekhela chador made?

Each piece is woven on a handloom. The weavers are women, and they build the motifs into the cloth as they work, so a mekhela chador is never a printed textile. Muga, pat and eri silk are the traditional fibres, and each takes pattern differently. Pat and muga carry fine flowers and creepers; eri and cotton suit bolder geometric shapes. A woven band called the paari is often stitched along the sides of a sador or the lower edge of a mekhela. Cheaper sets mix cotton with muga or pat silk, or add synthetic yarn. The sources give no weaving time.

Colours, motifs and borders

Designs come from nature, from Assamese culture and from myth. There are flowers and creepers, birds and animals, human forms, diamonds, and shapes that stand for sky and weather. Weavers call the motifs phul. The diamond, worked in bright colours, is the one most closely tied to Assam's textiles and is read as proof of careful work. A paari band frames a chador along its sides or a mekhela along its lower edge. Muga silk has a golden tone of its own, which is why it is called the golden silk of Assam. Bold geometry belongs to eri and cotton, finer florals to pat and muga.

How Mekhela chador is worn

The mekhela is folded into one or two pleats and tucked in at the waist, with the pleats turned to the right. That is fewer pleats, in the other direction, from a sari. Nothing ties the mekhela itself; an underskirt with a string usually holds it in place. One end of the sador is tucked into the top of the mekhela above the navel. The cloth then passes round the chest and back, and the remaining end is pleated and tucked in at the waist. A fitted blouse is worn underneath.

When Mekhela chador is worn

This is the dress Assamese women wear as their own, at festivals and at weddings. The riha, the third piece, is still part of a bride's trousseau and still turns up at Bihu and other Assamese celebrations. The sources note that the riha is sometimes seen at indigenous traditional events of this kind. Beyond that, they do not separate everyday wear from ceremonial wear, so no rule is given about which set belongs to which day.

Styles of Mekhela chador

Traditional sets are muga, pat or eri silk. Lower-budget ones mix cotton with muga or pat, or blend silk with synthetic yarn, and polyester mekhela chadors now hold much of the market. Demand for pure pat is high. Muga, known as the golden silk of Assam, is costly and short in supply, so buyers turn to tassar and other substitutes that look close to it. Motifs vary with the fibre too: fine flowers and creepers on pat and muga, bolder geometric shapes on eri and cotton.

What Mekhela chador means

Women weave these cloths, and the work carries Assamese identity: the local silks, the diamond motif, the paari band. The sources also show a livelihood under pressure. Polyester and blended sets sell widely, pure pat is in steady demand, and muga, the costliest silk of the three, loses ground to cheaper yarns that resemble it. The riha's shift from an everyday layer to a bridal and festival piece shows how one part of the outfit can change while the rest stays in use.

Questions people ask about Mekhela chador

Good reading and sources

• Mekhela sador on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• More photos on Wikimedia CommonsPhotos and video
• Wikidata recordOpen data