Kasavu Mundu Guide for Onam and Wedding Men

Mundu, veshti and dhoti, sorted out

A mundu is the Kerala single piece of unstitched cloth worn at the waist, usually cream with a kara, the woven border. A veshti is the Tamil equivalent, generally longer and often finished with a wider gold border. A dhoti is the broader north Indian term for cloth wrapped and often passed between the legs, which the Kerala mundu is not. For an Onam morning or a Kerala wedding, buy a mundu. For a Tamil muhurtham where the men wear a full length veshti with an angavastram, buy a veshti. They are not interchangeable in the eyes of the elders.

Choosing the border width

The kara sets the formality. A thin border of half an inch to an inch is everyday and correct for a temple visit or a working Onam morning. Two to three inches is the family photograph and the wedding guest standard. Four inches and above, often with a coloured selvedge or a woven motif, belongs to the groom, the father of the couple and the men on the mandapam. Match the household so the men look like one group: the family reads as coordinated when three or four wear the same border weight.

Shirt colours that work

Cream, ecru, sand, pale blue, dusty green, olive, deep maroon and dark bottle green all sit correctly above a cream mundu. Keep the fabric matte cotton or linen rather than shiny. Avoid black, which reads as mourning to many elders in Kerala, and avoid loud prints and logo pockets, which pull the eye down in every group photograph. For Onam morning the majority of the men should be in cream or a natural shade, with one or two carrying the stronger colour. A half sleeve cotton shirt is entirely acceptable and far more comfortable through a sadhya.

Folding, and when not to

The mundu is worn full length for anything formal: the ceremony, the family photograph, receiving guests and entering a temple or a church. It is folded up to knee length for eating, walking, working and general moving about. Folding is done by lifting the hem, folding once cleanly and tucking, never by bunching. The unwritten rule is simple: unfold when you greet someone older than you. Tell the younger men this the previous evening, because a half folded mundu in a wedding portrait is the most common regret in the album.

Tying it so it stays

Wrap right to left, pull the top edge firm across the waist, and roll the waistband down twice rather than knotting it, which is what holds it through a long day. Wear it at the natural waist, not on the hips. If the wearer is nervous, a thin belt worn under the shirt or a discreet safety pin at the roll makes the day bearable, and no photograph will show it. Anyone wearing a mundu for the first time should practise once at home a week earlier and walk up a staircase in it.

Footwear

Plain leather chappals or kolhapuris in tan or dark brown, or simple dark sandals. Not sports shoes, not white sneakers and not formal black lace ups, all of which fight the drape of the cloth. Remember that footwear comes off at the temple entrance and often at the house, so choose something that slips on and off without sitting down. For a long reception standing on a hard floor, a cushioned sole matters more than it seems at four in the afternoon.

Comfort through a long day

Cotton mundus are cool but they crease, so carry a spare if the day runs from a morning ceremony to an evening reception. Sit down carefully the first few times, gathering the cloth rather than dropping into the chair. In heavy heat, a fresh mundu after the sadhya is a small luxury worth the fifty rupees of laundry. And keep the shirt untucked or tucked consistently across the men, because half the group tucked and half not is what makes a family photograph look accidental.

Dressing the boys

Small boys are best in a short mundu with an elastic waist or a simple cotton shirt with a kara trimmed towel style mundu, and there is no shame in a well fitted kurta if the child is too small to keep cloth on. Let the children wear the strongest colours in the family, since they anchor the bottom of a group frame. Avoid stiff, scratchy silks on any child who has to sit through a two hour ceremony and a sadhya, because discomfort is visible on a child's face immediately.

Coordinating for the photograph

Decide two things as a family the week before: the border weight, and the two or three shirt colours the men will choose from. That is all the coordination required, and it is why some family photographs look composed and others look like a queue at a bus stand. For a wedding, the groom and the two fathers carry the widest borders, the uncles and brothers step down one level, and the cousins wear the thinnest. Our Onam kasavu family photo outfit guide covers the same logic for the women, our what to wear for Onam note covers the whole household, and our guide to choosing a kasavu saree explains the weave itself.

Wedding use against Onam use

For Onam, cream on cream with a modest border, cotton throughout and a relaxed hand is exactly right. For a wedding, the same men should move up: a wider kara, a crisper shirt, an angavastram over the shoulder for the fathers if the family keeps that custom, and full length cloth for the whole ceremony. The garment is the same; the register changes. Our Onam wedding weekend planning guide is useful when the two fall in the same week and the same wardrobe has to serve both.