On social media i have seen some posts by Punjabis of Pakistan in which they are asserting that Shalwar Kameez is a Punjabi dress and that other communities of Pakistan have adopted their dress. I also saw a tweet by a Punjabi girl few days ago in which she was criticizing Bangladeshis for appropriating their "Punjabi dress" (Shalwar Kameez). Bangladeshis were defensive in reponse and it was obvious that they were not aware of the well-known fact that the original dress of Punjabis is actually dhoti (or lung as we call it). The female dress of Punjabis is also not shalwar, its Ghagra. To this day, they wear dhoti in their villages, and are derogatively referred to as "lungmaar" (dhoti-wearer) by their Pashtun neighbors.
Some assert that Shalwar (or Partug as we call it) was introduced to Punjab by Mughals but Central Asian Mughals and their Turani nobles (including Uzbeks) wore pajamas (tight-fitting leggings) rather than baggy shalwars, not only in India (as they have depicted themselves in their numerous paintings) but also in their native Turkestan. Here is 1808's painting of an Uzbek made by artist of Mountstuart Elphinstone who visited kingdom of Kabul in 1808 ;
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| A Khojeh of Uzbek Tartary. Source |
Iranic people like Pashtuns, Balochs, Khurasanis, Kurds etc wear baggy shalwar but as it is known as Pathan dress in Punjab and India so i believe they have adopted it directly from their immediate neighbors Pashtuns.
K.K.Aziz corrects texbooks in his famous book "The Murder of History: A critique of history textbooks used in Pakistan" and writes that the every day attire of rural Punjab and Sindh is dhoti-kurta for men and lhanga-kurta for women :-
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| Source: "The Murder of History: A critique of history textbooks used in Pakistan" by K K Aziz, p-171 |
I have come across troll posts by Indians in which they are saying that Pashtuns started wearing Shalwar due to fear of Hari Singh Nalwa, that they used to wear Arabic Thawb before his arrival to Peshawar in 1835. This joke does not deserve a response but unfortunately many people take this non-sense seriously so i am debunking it here with just one reference from history. In 1808 Mountstuart Elphinstone visited kingdom of Kabul and his artists made paintings of Pashtun tribesmen. All of them are shown wearing Shalwar Kameez. This was 11 years before Sikhs made their first incursion into Peshawar in 1819.
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| An Afghan of Daman, 1810 (c). A plate from Elphinstone's book "kingdom of caubul" |
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| Eight Afghan Horse Merchants, Delhi, 1816 (c), From Fraser Album. Source |
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| An Afridi, 1827-1843. An illustration for Memoirs of General Claude-Auguste, by Imam Bakhsh Lahori |
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| Village head man Lambadar [Lambardar], Ambh (salt range) Punjab, 1932. Photo by Helmut de Terr. Note that Salt range of Punjab borders Pakhtunkhwa. Source |
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| 4 village school teachers at Uchali Salt Range, Punjab, 1932. Note that Salt range of Punjab borders Pakhtunkhwa. Source |
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| A family scene of Punjab. A painting by a Punjabi artist Ustad Allah Bux ( 1895-1978) |
آپ نے بہت اچھے سے تاریخ بیان کی.. مگر موجودہ دور بھی اسی تاریخ کی غمازی کرتا ہے جوکہ مؤخر الذکر تصاویر میں لباس ظاہر ہے...
ReplyDeleteReally shalwar Qamees is the pattan dress in history ,, thanx for your love to depending pashto and pashtoon,,,
ReplyDeletekhan Barmazaid refrences are based on facts being a Punjabi i appriciate this research work.
DeleteI m Anwar khan from Lahore
ReplyDeletemodern day shalwar ameez had nothing to do with pashtuns or punjabis, it evolved in the indian subcontinent, the shalwar kameez pashtuns wear originated in the indian subcontinent and not in west asia, and im refering to the fitting and the tailoring of the dress which doesnt minutely resemble pashtun dress shown here, the more appropriate comparison would be kurta payjama of the indian subcontinent and not the pashtun dress shown here, the pashtun women also wear a kurta shalwar like dress, it is popular through out the places which are linked with south asia, since as you go further, the dress completely changes for instance in iran and Kazakhstan, so the kurta shalwar/kurta payjama, shalwar kameez are typical evolved indian dresses.
ReplyDeleteregards
All of central and south asia wear a variation of this dress. If you look up salwar, you will see it labelled as a central/south asian dress.
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ReplyDeleteA small clarification: no one in Pakistan, Punjabi or otherwise, refers to the shalwar kameez as a "Pathan suit" or "Pathan dress", as it is worn by all ethnicities in Pakistan as the most common day-to-day garment. It is only in India, where shalwar kameez is worn far less commonly, that those terms are used.
ReplyDeleteI disagree, I went to punjab, and it is referred to as the pathani suit.
DeleteThis post seems bigoted and unable to accept the fact that shalwar kameez is a Punjabi dress which the Mughals adopted and promoted. Tehmat and ghagra are also Punjabi clothing, but why do they just have to have one style of clothing? Many cultures have different clothes. And Punjabi culture is a developed culture which has variant clothing styles. But the history is clear that shalwar kameez originates in Punjab. The post seems ok adopting cultural things from those west of him like Iranians and Turks but despised Punjabi’s. And there was no reason to put /Sikh, if you talk about Punjabis then you talk about the majority Muslim Punjabis too. And Punjabi’s are 60% of Pakistan don’t forget.
ReplyDeleteYou could have accepted this shalwar kameez as diffusion between two Muslim brothers, but the post chose to vilify and end religious ties for ethnic purposes. This seems like an attempt to make yourself feel better about being Pathan. Next you will say that khussa, sherwani, and turban with kullah are not Punjabi.
HAHAHAHA "bigoted", how by giving you sources and using historical facts? The name "Punjab" in itself is persian, we are all very aware punjabi culture is not original in any shape or form. Nothingwrong with it. And YES, the turban is turkish, sherwani is pathan/turkish/persian (it is a tribe from afghanistan, search it up), and khussas are orginally chinese, which the mughals took and made their own.
DeleteI would not discuss other things, let me know what do you mean by 60% punjabis, do you know the total population of pashtun in the world, even I don't know being a pashtun, because I believe that the whole world is our 😂😆. Anyways your 60% proof by politician because they got benefits of this using slogan on the media , which has not connection with reality.
Deleteماشاءاللہ ورورہ ڈیر اعلیٰ ،،،، ما ام دہ دروغو ڈیر پیجونہ اوکتل او ڈیرہ زیاتہ غصہ پہ راغلہ ، خو بیا مے چے ستا آرٹیکل اولید واللہ زڑہ مے یخ شو ،،، آباد او بریالے اوستا ۔ ❤️
ReplyDeleteاو ورورہ زما پہ خیال دہ شلوار قمیض سکھانو دہ پشتنو نہ کاپی کڑے دے ، زکہ چے دوئ بہ پہ پشتنو لشکرو باندے حملے کولے بیا بہ دوئ پیجندلو کے پشتنو تہ مشکلہ وہ ۔
Sir g de partog Kameez se history da kum zy na ragly?
ReplyDeleteFartogand kamez da central asia dress da
Deletesindhis baloch and pashtun wear shalwar qamees traditionally. bharatized (indianized) sindhis wear dhotis or those sindhis that are neighboring to panjab (seraikistan) wear the dhoti. in pure sindhi culture we always wore shalwars that are baggier than the modern shalwar wore by panjabis and other neighboring regions but modern sindhi shalwars are becoming more baggier too. baloch and sindhi shalwars are essentially the same
ReplyDeletema hu punjabi aur mana aj tak nahi suna kisi unjabi ko bolta ka shalwar humari hai mujha fakhar hai hum chadra lacha kehta hain isko jo pehanta hain dhoti nahi hai ya dhoti aur isma bohat fark hai ya hy humara culture hai aur pride hai humari
ReplyDeletehan 1 aur baat afghans balochs bhy pehla khussa pehanta tha ab unaa kehri nikal ly hai balochi pathani ya kya scene hai
ReplyDelete