AMEND Education academy A Social History
CLOTHING
IN INDIA
During the colonial period, the
influence of westernization could be seed on clothing among Indians; especially
among the men.
The Indians responded to the
western-style clothing in three different ways:
Western Dress: Many people;
especially men began to incorporate some elements of western clothing. The
Parsis were among the first to adapt to western dresses. They began wearing
baggy trousers, phenta (hat); alongwith long collarless coats. Boots and
walking stick completed the look of the gentleman.
Western clothes were seen as sign of
modernity and progress by some people. For some of the dalit converts to
Christianity, western dress was a sign of liberation. In this case also, it was
men who adapted to the new dresses.
Traditional Dress:
Some people thought that the western
culture would lead to a loss of traditional cultural identity. Such people
preferred the traditional Indian dresses.
Combination of Western and
Traditional: Some people preferred to use a combination of western and Indian
dresses. Many people wore coats and hats along with the dhoti. Many others wore
pagri along with three-piece suits. Many people wore western dress at their
workplace but changed into the Indian dress at home.
Caste
Conflict and Dress Change
India had its own strict social
codes of food and dresses which were based on the caste system. Some of the
dresses and food were strictly forbidden for lower caste people. Changes in
clothing style often created violent social reactions because such changed
threatened the established social norms.
The Shanars were the subordinate
caste in the princely state of Travancore. The Shanar men and women were not
allowed to cover their upper body. During the 1820s, the Shanar women began to
wear tailored blouse after they were influenced by the Christian missionaries.
The Nairs attacked the Shanar women in May 1822 for wearing a cloth over their
upper body. The Government of Travancore issued an order in 1829 to prevent the
Shanar women from covering their upper body. But the conflict lingered on for a
long period. After many years of conflict, the government finally passed an
order which allowed the Shanar women to cover their upper body but not in a way
the upper caste Hindu women do.
British
Rule and Dress Codes
Specific clothing items often convey
different meanings in different cultures. This can lead to misunderstanding and
conflict. Let us take the example of turban and hat. For an Indian, pagri was a
sign of self respect and the pagri should always remain on the head to maintain
that self respect. For a British, taking off his hat to show respect for
someone was part of his culture. When an Indian did not remove his pagri in
front of a British official, it was considered as a sign of rude behavior.
Let us take the example of shoes.
Indians take off their shoes when they enter a place of worship. Many Indians
also take off their shoes when they enter their homes. Same decorum was also
maintained when someone visited a person of high authority. The British followed
this practice when they visited a raja or a chieftain. But they also wanted the
Indians to follow the same practice while entering a high office. But many
Indians did not obey this rule because they felt that an office is quite
different from a home or a place of worship.
Designing
the National Dress
During the freedom struggle, many
intellectuals began to design a national dress which could portray a pan-Indian
identity. Rabindranath Tagore suggested a combination of Hindu and Muslim
elements to design such a dress. The long buttoned coat (chapkan) was the
result of such thought process.
Jnanadanandini Devi, wife of
Satyendranath Tagore returned from Bombay to Calcutta in the late 1870s. She
adopted the Parsi style of wearing the sari. She pinned the sari on the left
shoulder with a brooch and wore it with a blouse and shoes. Her style was
quickly adopted by the women of the Barhmo Samaj. This came to be known as the
Brahmika sari.
The
Swadeshi Movement
The Swadeshi Movement began as a
mark of protest to partition of Bengal in 1905. During the Swadeshi Movement,
people were urged to boycott British goods. The use of khadi was promoted with
much vigour. Women were asked to throw their silks and glass bangles. The
changes to such calls were limited to upper class women because the poor could
not afford khadi. After about one and a half decade, even the upper class women
resumed wearing the dresses they previously wore.
Mahatma Gandhi’s
Experiments with Clothing
Mahatma Gandhi probably used the
symbol of clothing more powerfully than anyone else. All of us are familiar
with the image of Mahatma Gandhi wearing a short dhoti and nothing else.
Initially, Mahatma Gandhi thought of wearing such a dress for a short duration.
But later he was convinced of the appeal of such a powerful symbol.
Mahatma Gandhi also promoted the use
of handspun khadi in order to promote the idea of Swadeshi. He even went on to
attend the Second Round Table Conference in his trademark dress.
But since khadi was costly and
difficult to maintain, it could not gain in popularity. Machine-made clothes
from Manchester were cheaper and affordable to the masses. Most of the
nationalist leaders preferred to wear traditional dhoti kurta or pyjama kurta
but those dresses were seldom made of khadi. Some of the nationalist leaders
like Jinnah and B R Ambedkar preferred western suits. For Ambedkar, wearing a
suit was a sign of liberation from the age-old repression of the dalits. The
women leaders wore saris
A Social History
NCERT
Solution
Question – 1 - Explain the reasons
for the changes in clothing patterns and materials in the eighteenth century.
Answer: French Revolution initiated
a reform towards simple dresses which were without frills and which could be
worn by the masses. Increased imports of Indian chintz in Europe made it
possible for the masses to wear clothes which were cheaper, beautiful and
easier to maintain. These were the major reasons which changed clothing
patterns and materials in the eighteenth century.
Question – 2 - What were the
sumptuary laws in France?
Answer: The laws which laid out
detailed guidelines on clothing and food to be used by people of different
classes were known as sumptuary laws.
Question – 3 - Give any two examples
of the ways in which European dress codes were different from Indian dress
codes.
Answer: An Indian would not take off
his pagri, while a European would take off his hat to show respect to someone.
An Indian would take off his shoes while entering a place of worship, but
Europeans do not do so.
Question – 4 - In 1805, a British
official, Benjamin Heyne, listed the manufactures of Bangalore which included
the following:
- Women’s cloth of different musters and names
- Coarse chintz
- Muslins
- Silk cloths
Of this list, which kind of cloth
would have definitely fallen out of use in the early 1900s and why?
Answer: Muslins would have fallen
out of use in the early 1900s because it was made by the traditional
craftsperson on handloom. Most of them could not withstand the competition from
machine-made clothes from Manchester and hence would have reduced their
production. Chintz was cheaper and hence must have remained in use. Silk had
always been prized for its fine quality and has withstood the test of time.
Question – 5 - Suggest reasons why
women in nineteenth century India were obliged to continue wearing traditional
Indian dress even when men switched over to the more convenient Western
clothing. What does this show about the position of women in society?
Answer: The changes in women’s
dresses in the Western society were mainly affected by practical considerations
at the workplace. In India, majority of women still are housewives and the
percentage of working women is minuscule. During the nineteenth century, most
of the women were confined within their homes and could not get enough
opportunity to interact with the outside world. Men, on the other hand, got
influenced by the developments around them and hence adopted to western
clothing. This shows that women had inferior status in the society at that
time.
Question – 6 - Winston Churchill
described Mahatma Gandhi as a ‘seditious Middle Temple Lawyer’ now ‘posing as a
half naked fakir’. What provoked such a comment and what does it tell you about
the symbolic strength of Mahatma Gandhi’s dress?
Answer: Winston Churchill was well
aware of the powerful presence of Mahatma Gandhi. He was also aware of the
professional background of Mahatma Gandhi and that is why he used the term
‘Middle Temple Lawyer’. The term seditious refers to the threat which Mahatma
Gandhi posed to the British Empire. Winston Churchill probably also understood
the powerful clothing symbol being used by Mahatma Gandhi.
Note: The Honourable
Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known as Middle Temple, is one of the
four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English
Bar as barristers; the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn and Lincoln's
Inn. It is located in the wider Temple area of London, near the Royal Courts of
Justice, and within the City of London.
Question – 7 - Why did Mahatma
Gandhi’s dream of clothing the nation in khadi appeal only to some sections of
Indians?
Answer: Khadi is a coarse cloth,
which was costly and difficult to maintain. Mill-made clothes were cheaper and
easier to maintain. Hence, khadi could appeal only to some sections of Indians.
