Katzeb

Akbar wearing a white Katzeb

Katzeb (kamarband, Kayabandh, Cummerbund) was an article of dress encircling the body, at the waist with ends hanging in the front. It was a kind of sash also called patka.

Name

Katzeb is a compound word. The Sanskrit word Kati means waist, and Zeb in Persian means adorn. Mughals wore it over the Jama (coat). The Katzeb is a girdle named by the third Mughal emperor Akbar who was very fashion enthusiastic and gave a new name to many contemporary costumes. These are described in Ain-i-Akbari by Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak.

Court costume

Katzeb was a small rectangular piece of cloth but it was an essential garment of the dress that includes a jama (a coat), shawl, turban tanzeb (trouser). There are many Mughal paintings of the emperors with a sword or dagger tucked in Katzeb.

Styles

The katzeb is simple cloth belt like garment possible with many variants such as plain, laced, embroidered, brocaded or printed.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Condra, Jill (2008). The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Clothing Through World History: 1501-1800. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 212, 211. ISBN 978-0-313-33664-5.
  2. ↑ ''The patka or katzeb (sash), a band of cloth fastened round the waist over the jama ...'' Page 10 Flora and Fauna in Mughal Art Som Prakash Verma · 1999
  3. ↑ Bhushan, Jamila Brij; Brijbhushan, Jamila (1958). The Costumes and Textiles of India. Taraporevala's Treasure House of Books. p. 32.
  4. ↑ Mohamed Nasr. A Study Of Mughal Emperial Costumes And Designs During 16th And 17th Century. p. 14.
  5. ↑ "Definition of GIRDLE". www.merriam-webster.com. Retrieved 2021-01-08.
  6. ↑ A. Fazal, Ain-i-Akbari, vol. 1, p. 96
  7. 1 2 Verma, Som Prakash (1978). Art and Material Culture in the Paintings of Akbar's Court. Vikas. pp. 51, 46, 47. ISBN 978-0-7069-0595-3.
  8. ↑ Ibn-Mubārak, Abu-'l-Faḍl (1873). "The" Ain i Akbari : 1. p. 90.
  9. ↑ Sharma, Monika (2014-12-03). Socio-Cultural Life of Merchants in Mughal Gujarat. Partridge Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4828-4036-0.
  10. ↑ Verma, Som Prakash (2005). Painting the Mughal Experience. Oxford University Press. p. 59. ISBN 978-0-19-566756-1.
  11. ↑ Houghteling, Sylvia (2017). "The Emperor's Humbler Clothes: Textures of Courtly Dress in Seventeenth-century South Asia". Ars Orientalis. 47 (20191029). doi:10.3998/ars.13441566.0047.005. hdl:2027/spo.13441566.0047.005. ISSN 2328-1286.