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THE PEOPLE
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DRESS
Hindus: The dress ensemble of the Hindus of the district is a blending of different items of dress shared in common with people in the adjacent districts of Osmanabad, Ahmadnagar, Satara and Sangli. At present many of the articles of dress-wear patronised by the educated urbanites are items after the western style. However, many items of dress current among the people in general have been indigenously evolved.
The sewn garment for the baby is balut, consisting of a triangular piece of cloth tied round its waist so as to cover the buttocks and the front. This is followed by a topre which is a baby cap covering the ears and kunchi which is a cap and frock sewn together. Angi is a general term indicating a sewn garment for the upper body in which could be included jhable, bandi or peti worn by the child. When the child grows two or three years old, a round or folded cap for the head,
sadra or pairan for the upper part, chaddi or short pants for the lower part are sewn for the use of boys and parkar (petticoat), chaddi (panties), polka (bodice) and jhaga (frock) are sewn for the use of girls. These dresses are common for poorer classes or richer, only the fabric material being cheap or costly.
The ordinary dress of the upper class Hindu for indoors is a dhotar (waistcloth) and a sadra or a pairan. Out-or-doors, it consists of a head-dress which is a folded cap of cotton, wool or silk or a freshly-folded turban, rumal, patka or pheta, Also a waistcoat or jacket known as bandi which may be used over a shirt or a sadra; a coat, a short one after European fashion or a long one as bandi which may be used over a shirt or a sadra. The shoulder-cloth or uparne is going out of fashion. Very much the same is the dress of the rural people but it is of coarse cloth. Shoes are worn by most people, even working women.
A well-to-do urbanite may use all the items of western dress but now-a-days the bush shirt and pant have become far too common, even as office dress. In-doors a pyjama, white or striped, and a half-shirt is a common apparel among males. Women are content with only saris, now-a-days five or six yards in length and bodices, though older women still resort to the nine-yard time-honoured robe. These are of various styles and colours and rough or fine according to taste and status.
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