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| (Traditional dress of Kashmiri Pandit woman) | | PHERAN AND TARANGAH | |
A.K. Trisal
The Kashmiri Pan-
dit woman tradi
tional dress is known as Pheran and Tarangah. It is an age-old dress. As quoted by Bernier François a French Historian that this dress wearing was forced by Akbar to kill the martial spirit of Kashmiris as they used to give the tough fight to the Moghul forces and he also enforced the compulsory use of Kangris and since Saree was introduced in Kashmir valley this traditional dress remained mostly confined to old ladies but most unfortunate period for this traditional dress came since forcible exodus of Kashmiri Pandits since the year 1990. This dress is heavy and all parts of the body being covered from head to ankle in it, which the climate of Indian plains where now a days Kashmiri Pandits live in exile do not allow to adopt the said wear. (A Lady in traditional dress) This traditional dress is worn in three parts viz. TARANGAH on head, PHERAN covers the whole body from shoulder to ankle and the third is known as LAUNGH which is a waist belt. TARANGAH: It consists of Kalpush, Tarangeh , Zitin/Sheesh lath and three black topped steel pins.
KALPUSH: is made of two parts i.e. Kalpush kur which is made of red coloured Raffle or Pashmina cloth and is in circular shape, according to the size of the head of the woman who has to wear it, is stitched with a piece of Brocade (ZARBAB) cloth known as TALCHUK to give it a complete shape of a round cap.
It is then worn on head upto the upper portion of forehead covering all the hairs of the head except the braid portion. It is then surrounded by fully starched and glazed white cloth of 2 to 2.5 meter length having a width of 1 ½ inch and then on this white cloth two types of transparent ribbon which are known as Zitin or Sheesh Lath is fixed. Zitin lath is not commonly used because it is considered as extraordinary due to its sparkling shade, thus it remains confined to the high status families and to the brides only. Commonly Sheesh Lath which in local dialect is known as made of Cellulite and this transparent ribbon known as Sheesh lath is fixed on the white cloth from ear to ear with two black topped pins known krehney phele sechney. After completion of this process a shoulder length & width piece of cloth which is knitted on all the four side by Brocade (Tila) thread to add its beauty is placed on the top of KALPUSH and this wear is known as ZOOJ, it is generally made of Taby Silk or of fine net cloth. After the placement of ZOOJ another wear is placed on the head known as Pouech. It is a long piece of muslin cloth of the length from head to ankle of at least 1 meter width.
It is fully starched and then length wise twisted in a way to form the shape of a serpent and this wear is also fixed with black topped pin on the head. At this stage the head dress known as Tarangah is complete. This complete Tarangah is adopted by a Kashmiri Pandit women on her marriage on DEVGAOAN day (Devgoan has already been explained in my earlier booklet titled as DEJHOOR) and this head dress represents. KALPASH: As Shri Chakra of Godess Sharika. ZOOJ AND TARANGAH: Being white in colour, reflects the symbols of beauty , happiness and peace.
SHESH LATH: It is the symbol of Sheesh Nag.
POUECH: Reflects the presence of Vasuk Nag and serpent manifestation of Mata Khir Bhawani.
KREHNE PHALE SECHENEY: are the bad omen preventives.
Thus over all Tarangah is the symbol of Lord Shiva and Shakti, and as such the woman who wears it have the blessings of Lord Shiva and Shakti for all odds and evens.
(Bride wearing Tarangah at the time of Devgoan)
PHERAN: It is a long loose gown made of different coloured cloths according to the status of the family and as per the seasonal demand. It covers the whole body from collar to ankle.
It is almost rectangular in shape. When worn it is to be supported by an inner wear which is known as Pooch which is also of the same shape made of ordinary white cloth like Khaddar or Latha cloth to prevent it from the heat of kangri which is for most of the period of the year used by the people to prevent themselves from the cold. Pheran has a pocket on right side below the thigh.
The Pheran of the lady has a thick red ribbon known as DHUR stitched on the collar, pocket and on the edge of the lower portion of the Pheran. The Pheran is stitched with loose arms known as Nur and this Nur is beautified by stitching a brocade (ZARBAB) or any printed ribbon known as NERVAR. Nervar is must for a lady and when she becomes widow the NERVAR is removed.
LAUNGEH: It is the third and final part of the traditional dress. It is about 1 meter wide and 2 to 2.5 meters long or its length is according to the size of the waist of the lady who has to wear it. It is also made of different types of cloth according to the status of the family. It is mostly designed.
This waist belt is first folded widthwise then fastened on the Pheran so that the lady wearing the laungeh can take up any sort of work easily and can move freely and fairly. |
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