Meitei clothing

Regarding men's clothing of Hindustan, British officer Colonel McCulloch stated, “the Munniporees far surpass the people to the west in the cleanliness of their garments”,[a][b] which is recorded in the 1908 book "The Meitheis", authored by Thomas Callan Hodson.

[1] Headgears or headdresses (Meitei: ꯀꯣꯛꯌꯦꯠ, romanized: Kokyet), with silk-patterned ends may be worn by descendants and relatives of the king and by those upon whom it is conferred as a mark of favour or distinction.

[1] The dress of the women consists of a striped cotton or silk cloth passed round the body under the armpits and over the breast, a jacket, and a sheet.

[1] This piece of cloth, called a fanek or phanek, is only wide enough to go one and a half times round the body; this gives enough room, however, for the legs in walking.

At the top and bottom of the garment is a broad margin, on which geometrical figures or patterns of various kinds are sewn by hand with floss silk in various colours.

On the occasion of the great annual boat-races, in which in former days the kings used to take part, the steersmen of the competing crews wear a khamen chatpa loincloth (Meitei: ꯈꯥꯃꯦꯟ ꯆꯠꯄ), and to add to the dignity of the high-coiled headgear with fringed ends permitted to them, they wear feathers of the Argus pheasant or of the Hume's pheasant, with blossoms in long trailing coils of the blue orchid (Vanda coerulea).

The costume of the polo (Meitei: ꯁꯒꯣꯜ ꯀꯥꯡꯖꯩ, romanized: Sagol Kangjei) players is more practical, and consists of a short jacket of dark velvet, worn even in hot weather, a loincloth, generally of white cotton, and quilted leggings of a stout and serviceable nature.

Many children usually take roles of deities, by wearing handsome dresses with resplendent head-gears, adorned with peacocks' feathers and silver tinsels.