You may have worn a kurta for years and never asked where it came from. Here are eight small facts we found when we looked, each checked against more than one source. Keep one for the next family dinner.
1. The word is Persian
"Kurta" comes from the Urdu and Persian word kurtah, a word for a tunic. It reached English later: an early use is recorded in a letter from 1913 that mentions "White Indian clothes".
2. It started as a nomad's tunic
The kurta traces its roots to the tunics of nomadic peoples of Central Asia, from the late-ancient and early-medieval era. It travelled into the subcontinent with the peoples and courts that moved through it, and stayed.
3. "Pyjama" is an Indian word
The English word pyjamas comes from Persian pāy-jāma, "leg garment", through Hindustani. British colonists and soldiers in India adopted the garment in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and the word followed them home. So when you buy a kurta pajama set, the pajama is the part that gave English a word. We tell the whole story in Pyjama Is an Indian Word.
4. In Bengal, it is a "panjabi"
In Bengal, Bangladesh and Assam, the straight kurta is called a panjabi, a name that points to Punjab. A Bengali man who says he is putting on a panjabi for Durga Puja means a kurta.
5. The collar is a later idea
The traditional kurta is collarless. The stand-up collar called a mandarin collar is a more recent favourite, increasingly popular, and most of our kurtas have one.
6. Length is a matter of taste
A kurta falls somewhere from just above the knee to well below it, depending on the region and the decade. Our own are mostly below the knee, which sits comfortably through a long sangeet or a long puja.
7. The Pathani suit is from the Pashtun
The Pathani suit, a long loose kurta with matching loose trousers, comes from traditional Pashtun dress, and became popular across North India. It is an easy, comfortable cut that many men prefer for Eid and long family days. See our Pathani collection.
8. Lucknow is famous for the embroidery
Light summer kurtas with chikan embroidery are a speciality of Lucknow. We call our own pieces "chikankari-style", because we do not claim an origin we cannot prove. We explain how to choose one in our chikankari kurta gift guide.
A bonus: the bottoms
A kurta is traditionally worn over ordinary pajamas, loose salwars or churidars. The churidar, with its gathered fit at the ankle, looks sharp at a wedding, and the straight pajama is easier for dancing.
Where we read this: Wikipedia on the kurta, the Online Etymology Dictionary on pajamas and Wikipedia on pajamas. If you know a fact we have missed, or one we have wrong, tell us.