Nivi saris:

The nivi family is by far the most widespread. Nowadays, these saris are worn all over India, as well as in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan, not to speak of the Indian communities living abroad. There are more and more women draping the "modern" sari. For instance, in Rajasthan, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, where stitched clothes are worn traditionally, they are becoming increasingly popular. In Sri Lanka, it has become the compulsory sari of government employees, rather than the more typical Ceylonese sari!

It has influenced Western stylists and evokes for most European women a vision of flowing beauty and elegance.Yet the drape which is now considered to be "the" Indian sari has never been represented on any ancient painting or sculpture. Whereas dhotis and veshtis were commonplace in the past, nivi saris seem to have been nonexistent.

There is a great variety in the drape of the modern sari:

Left, women of some castes of Andhra Pradesh drape the "modern" sari to the right rather than to the left, which is the norm. (This picture is not inverted!)

Far right, Gujarati women drape the upper part of their saris from the back to over the head and down the right shoulder.

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