THE PEOPLE

DRESS AND ORNAMENTS—MUSLIMS

Muslims: Poor and ordinary Musalmans dress much like the Hindus. But the most distinctive feature of the dress of the well-to-do and strict is that men always wear trousers or pyjamas of cotton silk or chintz cloth, usually white. The commonest is the survar or tight trousers. Loose trousers, tuman or lenga are going out of fashion in favour of the cut and style of the western pantaloon. The trousers are secured by a string round the waist. A Muslim usually never wears the Hindu dhotar or loin-cloth. He has a white sleeved muslin shirt, usually without a collar, the ends of which hang down, outside the trousers. Over these the well-to-do wear a waist-coat of velvet brocade or broad cloth. Those who have adopted the western habit would wear the English under-clothing and the frock-coat, but some whose tastes are not entirely vitiated by western models adopt the flowing skirted coat called shervani or achkan. In the house he wears a small cap and on going out puts on a turban or loose head-cloth or as was the fashion till lately to put on a fez with a tassel. The removal of shoes either on entering a house or a mosque is not prescribed by Muhammedan law though it has become customary in imitation of the Hindus.

A rich Muhammedan woman has a long shirt of muslin or net in different colours, embroidered on the neck, and shoulders with gold lace and reaching down the ankles. Under it she wears silk pyjamas and over it an angia bodice of broad-cloth or of silk brocade or cloth of gold, bordered with gold and silver lace. A poor woman has simply a bodice and pyjamas with a cloth round the waist to cover their ends. Women as a rule wear shoes, even though they do not go out and they have a number of ornaments of much the same character as worn by Hindu women. However, the predominant tendency is to reject solid gold in favour of pearls and other precious stones. The wearing of heavy ornaments in the nose and ears is fading out. The boring of the nostril and cartilage and of the ear-lobes once held quite necessary is looked upon now-a-days with disfavour.

TOP