Tremendously beautiful and appropriate to all female shapes, Lenghas are frequently hand decorated in the conventional designs of India such as zardozi embroidery. Throughout the era of Indian royalty, these Lehnga designs became legendary and were made with genuine gold, silver and precious stones. Just as in ancient times, these Lehnga suits are still hand decorated to stay it as true to custom as possible.
Throughout initial times, the lehnga was just a piece of fabric tied around the waist with the ends of the cloth left loose. The fabric was held at the waist with a metal strap. But soon with the increase in its attractiveness, the lehnga went from side to side a variety of transitions to suit the convenience of the women. The ends of the waist fabric were stitched. To make it more relaxed, its narrow width was increased by bring in more pleats on the waist, so as to make it trouble-free to walk for the women. The metal girdle was replaced by stitching a piece of cloth to the waist of the lehngas called nepaha and a piece of rope running through is called nara.
The lehnga reached its climax of growth under the Mughal kings. It was the finest answer the Indian queens could provide to the rich Muslim pehsvaz dress of the Mughal royal women. The communication between the two communities was additional increased by the bazars organized by the Mughal kings where both the sellers and the buyers were women. The dupatta (the Hindustani name specified to the orhani by the Indian Muslim women) became approximately a mark of respect for the women. It was frequently two and a half yards in length and one and a half yards in breadth. It was used as a headdress and also to increase the loveliness of the lehnga. Frequently the dupatta was made of a slight material and to give some additional weight to the cloth, golden lace or tassels were attached to the ends. The choli was also developed the wrap the arms but the length, however, generally remained above the navel, revealing the slim waist of the women. The fabrics used to make the lehnga are in fact the identical as those used under the great Mughal King, Akbar; silks and brocades. The dupatta is now made of silk, linen of chiffon which is a new development.
The fame of lehngas has wrinkled proportionately with the period. In fact, in northern India it has very productively replaced the conventional sari as a wedding dress. Now Indian brides favor to wear lehngas which enhance their loveliness and charm. The dress is mostly made in red which represents enthusiasm and passion; orange which is a blend of yellow and red; colors so opposing in character– produces mystical effects on the mind; pink possesses all the powers and brightness of red without its frenzied impulsiveness and violence. The attractiveness of this royal dress however lies in the very well embroidery or zari handwork done on it. This zari skill done on the lehnga is of a very particular quality and is done frequently by Muslims staying in the 100 odd villages of Farokabad in Uttar Pradesh and Lucknow.
The lehnga is hence a masterwork of all these forms of embroideries in a variety of combinations. Hence we can say the lehnga is one element of history which at rest lives on in India and Pakistan. In Pakistan, it is largely used as wedding or party wear
