Dhoti

The dhoti is an ankle-length breechcloth, wrapped around the waist and the legs, in resemblance to the shape of trousers. The dhoti is a garment of ethnic wear for men in the Indian subcontinent. The dhoti is fashioned out of a rectangular piece of unstitched cloth, of usually around 4 yards (3.7 m) in length.

The dhoti is the male counterpart of the sari, worn by females to religious and secular ceremonies (functions). A pitambar is a yellow silk dhoti worn on auspicious occasions. Dhotis must not be confused with "readymade panchakachams" or "dhoti pants", which are a new ready to wear trend, popular among women and typical of children. Although the terms mundu or veshti are used interchangeably with "dhoti", they are different from the dhoti, which is "looped" or wrapped around the legs, in the form of trousers or pants. The dhoti is better known as panchakacham in South India, which may even be worn while doing dances such as moonwalks.

The unstitched dhoti is also referred to as "dhautra" (IPA: /dʱɑwtrɐ/) in Sanskrit, which means rope or cord. It evolved from the ancient antriya, which was passed in between the legs, tucked at the back and covered the legs loosely, then flowed into long pleats at front of the legs, the same way it is worn today as formal dhoti. While a casual and short dhoti wraps around both legs firmly, in this style the back side of the dhoti is pulled to the front and tucked at the waist, before tucking the two loose ends at back, creating firmly fitted trouser-like dhoti that wraps around both legs. This style is more commonly worn by farmers and martial artists. Stitched garments became popular in the Indian subcontinent, with the coming of Persians, Greeks, and "barbarians"; nonetheless, the dhoti prevailed in sakaccha as well as vikaccha forms.

The dhoti evolved from the ancient antariya, which was passed in between the legs, tucked at the back and covered the legs loosely, then flowed into long pleats at front of the legs, the same way it is worn today as formal dhoti.   A l and short dhoti wraps around both legs firmly, in this style the back side of the dhoti is pulled to the front and tucked at the waist, before tucking the two loose ends at back, creating firmly fitted trouser-like dhoti that wraps around both legs. According to G. S. Ghurye, this style is more commonly worn by farmers and martial artists.

The earliest epigraphical depictions of the Dhoti were during the Mauryan Empire. In the Sunga period, there were two broad modes of wearing the dhoti, the sakaccha and the vikaccha. Stitched garments became popular in the Indian subcontinent, with the coming of Persians, Greeks, and "barbarians"; nonetheless, the dhoti prevailed in sakaccha as well as vikaccha forms. In the sakaccha way, the cloth passed between the legs and was tucked at the back; vikaccha meant wearing the dhoti similar to a lungi.

During British rule in colonial India, the dhoti remained a national symbol of resistance and cultural identity when worn without a shirt. At the height of the Indian Independence Movement, weaving khadi was a symbol of the swadeshi movement. In 1921, Gandhi championed the dhoti, often topless (without a kurta or shirt), to promote and identify with the handicrafts produced by the rural and the poor of his homeland.

The garment is known by various names based on language, such as:

The pancha is worn by many conservative Jain men when they visit derasars or basadis for puja, as unstitched clothing is believed by some Jains to be "less permeable to pollution" and therefore more appropriate for religious rituals than other garments. They also wear a loose and unstitched cloth, shorter than the pancha on top.