Mysore Peta

Mysore Peta (Peta is a Kannada word which means Turban in English) is the classical royal Indian attire worn by the erstwhile Kings of Mysore, called the Wodeyars (1399 to 1947), of the Kingdom of Mysore. Wodeyars wore a richly bejeweled turban made of silk and jari (gold threaded lace) to match with colorful dresses as part of the royal dress.

Administrators under the King, such as the Dewans' (Prime Minister appointed by the King) and other senior officials who swayed considerable power in matters of state administration also doffed the Mysore Peta.

After India became independent in 1947 and the princely state merged with the Indian union, the traditional Mysore peta has been retained as a symbol of heritage and cultural antecedents and distinguished people are honoured by the award of a Mysore Peta with a shawl in formal functions.

Kings wore the traditional Mysore Peta as headgear during the Durbar (court of Indian or princley state's kings) time or in a ceremonial procession during the Dassara celebrations and or during joint ceremonial parades with the visiting royal dignitaries from foreign countries.

It was expected that the men attending King's court wore the conventional attire called the durbar dress which comprised a black long coat with white trousers and a compulsory Mysore Peta (turban).

The attractive and colorful turban is a headdress made up of long scarf–like single piece of cloth made of silk or cotton wound round the head cap and is often decorated with jari border (golden or silver laces) and beautiful metal pendants that adds to its glory and grandeur.

In the early 1930s, the "Imperial Hatworks" located in heritage buildings called the Hatworks Boulevard (150 years old history), at No. 32, Cunningham Road, Bangalore, used to make the "pretied Mysore peta" for the Maharajah of Mysore. This place was owned by Manackjee who had set up shop after studying hatmaking in the UK. But this shop closed down a few years after Manackjee's death in 1959. The old–world ambiance of the Hatworks Boulevard has been restored as a minor tourist place with a boutique, French spa, cafe–and–pastry shop, an art gallery (through a tie–up with Crimson Art Gallery), a home furnishing store, an art costume jewellery store and a shop selling custom–made marble pieces.

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Wikipedia