The word sari is derived from Sanskrit शाटी śāṭī[8] which means 'strip of cloth'[9] and शाडी śāḍī or साडी sāḍī in Prakrit, and which was corrupted to sāṛī in Hindi.[10] The word 'Sattika' is mentioned as describing women's attire in ancient India in Buddhist Jain literature called Jatakas.[11]

This could be equivalent to modern day 'Sari'.[11] In the history of Indian clothing the sari is traced back to the Indus Valley Civilisation, which flourished during 2800–1800 BC around the western part of the Indian subcontinent.[4][5][6] The earliest known depiction of the sari in the Indian subcontinent is the statue of an Indus Valley priest wearing a drape.[4][5][6] Ancient Tamil poetry, such as the Silappadhikaram and the Sanskrit work, Kadambari by Banabhatta, describes women in exquisite drapery or sari.[13]

The ancient stone inscription from Gangaikonda Cholapuram in old Tamil scripts has a reference to hand weaving.[12] In ancient Indian tradition and the Natya Shastra (an ancient Indian treatise describing ancient dance and costumes), the navel of the Supreme Being is considered to be the source of life and creativity, hence the midriff is to be left bare by the sari.