Pawndum of Mizoram

Pawndum is an essential traditional cloth of the Mizo community. It is a rectangular piece of fabric used as a body wrap by both men and women. The cloth has a black background with red and grey stripes covering it. Like most traditional Mizo textiles, it is made of two-loom widths. While the base weft is always made of black yarn, the bold warp stripes use dyed cotton. The dyeing techniques used are a combination of traditional natural dyes as well as chemical dyes. Today, soap dyes are much in demand as they allow the artists to express their imagination through a wide spectrum of colours. The Pawndum is wrapped around the waist such that it covers the lower part of the body till the feet. This beautifully contrasting cloth is worn both as a casual garment and also on special occasions. Earlier,it was customary to wear the Pawndum for certain Mizo dances and marriages, but today it is mostly worn on days of mourning and death.