Anarkali Salwar Kameez

Anarkali Salwar Kameez

Ever wondered what the latest fashion craze is in this festive season? Well, undoubtedly it has to be the Anarkali salwar suits, back in fashion after a long time and how! Anarkali style is nowadays becoming very fashionable in India and among most of the NRI women as well. But do we know the history of how this stunning dress got Anarkali name as the “Anarkali salwar kameez“?

Anarkali Salwar Kameez

Well, Anarkali (“pomegranate blossom”) was a renowned slave girl from Lahore (Pakistan) during the Mughal era. She was a performer and dancer at the palace of the Emperor Akbar. She was allegedly ordered to be buried alive by the Emperor for having an illegitimate love affair with Prince Salim, who later became the royal leader Jahangir. The dance called mujra was famed at that time. Legendary dancers at the fortress of the Mughal kings danced for the kings’ amusement. So, the dresses worn by the dancers were known as mujra dresses which slowly came to be known as Anarkali dresses or Anarkali salwar kameez in the commemoration of the great dancer and ardent lover, Anarkali.

Anarkali Salwar Kameez

We have all seen how Bollywood stars admired this designer salwar kameez, making them so famous in the 1970′s to 1990′s. Anarkali was made popular by Madhubala in the song ‘Pyar kiya to darna kya’ from the film ‘Mughal-e-Azam’ and Madhuri in ‘Aaja Nachle’. Heroines like Rekha, Parveen Babi, Jayaprada, Sridevi, Madhuri Dixit, Divya Bharti brought this Anarkali Churidar Kameez style into the fashion in Bollywood and it has been re-discovered time and again.