The nauvari is not draped, it is tied. The pleats are passed between the legs and tucked in at the back, so the cloth sits closer to a dhoti than to a skirt. No petticoat, nothing to hold it but the tuck.

It is what a woman wore to ride, to work in a field, to get through a day — and it is still what she wears for Mangala Gaur, for Gauri, and on the day of a wedding.