Banasri Gamcha / Towel Blue and White

A gamucha is a traditional thin, coarse cotton towel found in India, Bangladesh as well as various parts of South and Southeast Asia and is used to dry the body after bathing or wiping sweat. It is often just worn on one side of the shoulder. Its appearance varies from region to region, and it has been traditionally worn as a scarf by the men of Orissa which was mentioned in Oriya Mahabharata by Sarala Dasa. Male villagers wear it as dhoti. Children of tribal communities in Orissa wear gamucha until their adolescence after which they wear dhoti. Weavers of traditional tantubaya or jugicommunity migrated from Bangladesh to Tripura and weavers of Orissa produce good quality gamucha.
The gamucha is most commonly found with check and striped patterns of red, orange or green. Plain white gamchhas with coloured borders from Orissa and Assam are local handicrafts, and may be worn around the neck with traditional Indian attire. In western areas, gamucha is primarily made in red colour and are plain like cloth. In southern India, gamucha is more coarse and are available in various dyes. Even homemade lightweight fur towels are also popularly termed as gamchhas. Gamucha are worn by the South Asian people, especially in the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Jharkhand and the Purvanchal region, because they are not as thick as Western-style towels and better suited to the country’s tropical, humid climate. In Afghanistan they are also used and are commonly referred to as dismaal. They may also be found in Central Asian, Middle Eastern and Turkish hamams as a traditional male loincloth and towel worn during bathing and massage.