The Gazetteers Department

The dress ensemble of the Hindus of Wardha district is a blending of different items of dress shared in common with people all over India. At present many of the articles of dress wear patronised particularly by the educated young urbanites are items after the western pattern. However, many items of dress current among the people in general could be said to have been indigenously evolved.

The stitched garment for the baby is balute consisting of a triangular piece of cloth tied round its waist so as to cover the buttocks and front. This is followed by a topre which is really 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 (frock), bandi or peti (jacket) worn by the child. When the child grows two or three years old, a round or folded cap for the head, Sadara or pairan (shirt) for the upper part, Chaddi or short pants for the lower part are stitched for the use of boys and parkar (petticoat) Chaddi (panties), polka (bodice) and jhaga (frock) are stitched for the use of girls.

The ordinary dress of the upper class Hindus for a man indoors is a dhotar (waistcloth) and a sadara or pairan (shirt). Out of door, it consists of: First, a head-dress which is a folded cap of cotton, silk or woollen fabric, or a freshly folded turban known as rumal, patka or pheta. The pre-formed turban known as pagdi is now rarely to be seen. Second, a waist- coat or a jacket known as' bandi which may be used over a shirt or a sadara. Third a coat, a short one after the western style or a long one (dagla) after what is known as the " Parsee " fashion Fourth, a shoulder cloth or uparane specially woven or of a light muslin cloth about three yards long by a yard broad thrown round the shoulders. The wear of uparane has gone out of vogue mostly among the urbanites. Fifth, a waist-cloth or dhotar of fine cotton cloth with borders on both sides and about 50 inches wide and four or four and a half yards long. Once Nagpur hand-made dhotis were famous for their durability. The Maratha Brahmans known to be very particular about the securing of their dhoti which always had to have five tucks, three into the waistband at the two sides and in front while the loose ends were tucked in front and behind. Sixth, country-made joda or shoes. In towns boots and shoes made after the western fashion or at Kanpur and other centres have now been generally adopted and with these socks are worn, but their use is confined to a small number of highly paid Government servants, pleaders, and young merchants. For the use of the common people, sandals and chappals of various patterns are current.

A well-to-do educated urbanite may use all the items of the western dress ensemble including the ' bush-shirt' and ' bush-coat' of recent origin. Indoors, he may be found using a striped payjama and a" half shirt or pairan. His outdoor dress varies between three types: (1) A lenga (loose trousers) and a long shirt of the ' Nehru ' type or a pair of short pants and a shirt, the flaps of the shirt either being allowed to hang loose on the shorts or tucked inside them. (2) A pair of trousers in combination with a shirt or a half shirt, a bush-coat or a bush-shirt; the sleeves of the shirt may be rolled up in a band above the elbow. (3) full western suit including trousers, shirt, perhaps a waistcoat and a neck-tie. For ceremonial occasions he may prefer to dress in the Indian style in a spacious looking long coat, called achkan and chudidar pyjama or survar, slightly gathered at the ankle-end with bracelet like horizontal folds. A folded woollen or silk cap and chadhav or a pump-shoe complete the ensemble. Among the urbanite young men, the use of dhotar is practically getting extinct; it is in evidence among the middle-aged. The shendi or scalp-lock has long been discarded and they cut their hair short in the western style.

The dress of the ordinary cultivator is most common-place and consists only of a dhotar (loin cloth), another cloth thrown over the shoulders and upper part of the body, which except for this is mostly bare and a third rough cloth wound loosely round the head as a turban. All these originally white soon assume a very dingy hue. The every day attire of a cultivator is thus, colourless one, but the gala dress for holiday may consist of red pagdi (pre-formed turban, a mundase or a freshly folded turban, a coloured or white coat and a white dhotar (loin cloth) with a red silk border, if he can afford it. The coat known as angarkha. reaching the knee, with flaps folding over the breast and tied with strings is now out of fashion and the bandi or a shortcoat coming only to the hips is more popular with cultivators.

In the cold weather, the coat is often stuffed with cotton and dyed dark green or dark blue. A sadara may be worn under the coat; but cultivators usually have only one garment, now-a-days, often a sleeveless coat with buttons in front. Some prefer to work in the fields with a jacket known as bandi and a sadara may be worn over it.

Artisans who work at home wear only a dhotar (waist cloth) or a pair of short pants and a vest or a jacket. When they go out they wear the ordinary dress of a middle class Hindu.

Though among Hindus there is no special holiday dress, all who can afford it put on richer and better clothes than those ordinarily worn on festivals or on days of family rejoicing. Except among higher classes, the dress does not vary at different times of the year. In the cold season, well-to-do Hindus wear a woollen coat instead of a cotton one and may wrap shawls over the coat. A well-to-do cultivator or artisan wears a blanket instead of a shawl. Now-a-days, many persons wear, out of doors, a ' Nehru shirt ' with, or without a kabja (waist-coat) and a ' Gandhi cap. '

Shoes are usually worn in the hot and cotton-growing areas, but are less common elsewhere. Women go bare-footed, but sometimes they wear chappals.

A Hindu woman's dress is the full Maratha sadi of nine yards and short-sleeved choli covering only about half the length of the back and tied in front just beneath the breasts in the middle by a knot made with the edges of the two panels. The nine-yard sadi is generally worn by elderly ladies and is known as lugade in Marathi. It is forty-two to forty-five inches in width and it has two length-wise borders called kanth or kinar and also two breadth-wise borders, padars, at the two ends, of which one his more decorated than the other. The mode of wearing the lugade by Maratha, Brahmins and other classes is with the hind pleats tucked into the waist at the back centre and the decorated end (padar) thrown over the left shoulder. Maratha ladies allow it to hang from the waist down straight and round like a skirt and draw its end which covers the bosom and back over the head. Sadis of five or six yards in length have now become fashionable among young ladies in the urban centres. These are worn cylindrically over a parkar or ghagra also called petticoat. The old-fashioned choli is also discarded by them and the use of brassiers, blouses, polkas and jhumpers has become quite common. A reversion to new type of cholis in the form of blouses with low-cut necks and close fitting sleeves up to the elbow is also noticed among them now-a-days.

Women of the working classes, to allow freedom of movement for both their hands, draw the loose end of the sadi fluttering on the back from the left shoulder, tightly in front from underneath the right arm and tuck it in the wrap of the sadi at the waist. They do not also allow the manifold pleats to dangle low at the ankles, but tuck them tightly at the back.

Ornaments are regarded more as a means for the safekeeping of money than for decoration or aids to beauty, particularly in rural areas. People do not like to spend much on the gold-smith's labour or skill which fetches no value on the reconversion of the ornaments into cash. As a result, except for the patronage of a few princes of old or rich persons, ornaments are but specimens of clumsy form and workmanship. Gold ornaments are simply hammered or punched into shape or rudely engraved and are practically never cast or moulded. They are often made hollow from this plate or leaf, the interior being filled with lac. So also is the case with silver which is also rarely cast.

Ornaments differ in type used by men and women and boys and girls. They are worn on the head, in the ears, in the nose, on the neck, across the shoulders, on the arms, wrists and fingers, round the waist, on the legs and on the toes. They differ according to caste and community and also as used by men, women, boys and girls.

With Hindus gold is a very sacred metal; and gold ornaments must not on this account be worn below the waist. To do so is considered an indignity to the holy metal. Brahman and Maratha women will not have ornaments for the head and arms of any baser metal than gold. Other castes should, if they can afford it, wear gold on the head only. Gold and silver ornaments are also considered to have a protective magical effect, like that attributed to charms and amulets. In the making of ornaments, the recent tendency is to substitute gold, silver and precious stones by alloys, culture pearls and synthetic stones.

Male.

Men now rarely use any ornaments. However, a Sowkar may display a bhikbali, a gold wire ring set with pearls and a pendant of emerald hanging by the upper lobe of his ear. He may also use gold salakadis or a pochi on the wrist and a goph or a chainwork with a locket round the neck. If fairly off, a Baniya's everyday ornaments may be a silver girdle and a gold armlet worn above the elbow, a pearl earing, a gold or pearl necklace, and finger rings. Well-to-do cultivators have gold rings in the ear, kadas of solid silver on the wrists or a danda kade of silver worn above the elbow. A silver chain work girdle known as kargota is used round the waist by many.

Female.

Fashions in the ornaments of ladies have considerably changed during the last sixty years, the general tendency being to avoid gold ornaments of heavy weight.

Head ornaments of any kind used by ladies are not now much in evidence. However, some hair ornaments such as mud, agraphul, ket-kikevda, veni, rakhadi, chandra-surya, nag-gonde, and gonde-phule all made of gold are still to be found in old rich families among elderly women. Bindi-bijora and bhang-tila, a decorative ornament for the whole head is to be found among Rajputs and Marwadis. Flower-shaped ornaments such as gulabache phul, chaphe kali as braid-ornaments are current.

Ear ornaments: Such as chaukdi and kudi, preferably of pearls and precious stones are in vogue. Bugadya, Balya, Kap are in the use of old women. Ear-rings of various types are now getting into fashion.

Nose ornaments : Nose-rings such as nath and besar as ceremonial ornaments worn by married ladies in the left nostril are current. Nath of the rich is studded with pearls and gems, that of the poor is made of gold; besar is smaller in size. Other types of nose-rings are morni, mugvat, phuli, kanta, chamki and bulak.

Necklaces such as Mangalsutras of various types, the black beads being strung together by different patterns of gold chain-work with gold beads and cups in the middle and used symbolically by married ladies are now-a-days worn by them as ornaments, Other types of necklaces in current use are: bakulihar, bormal, chandrahar, chaplahar, ekdani, Jondhalipota, kolhapuri-saj, mohanmal, putalyanchi-mal and pohe-har; sari thushi, vajratik are getting rare now-a-days; petya, pota, laphpha, tanmani and pendan are made of pearls and are to be found among the rich.

Hand ornaments such as kankane (bangles) of patterns known as bilor, diamond, double-diamond, hodighat, paricha-pailu, tinpailu and Calcutta pattern, Delhi pattern and Madras pattern are current; Patlya (wristlets) known as jalichya, minachya, pailuchya and todichya all made of gold are current. Costlier bangles studded with pearls, diamonds and precious stones are in the use of the rich.

Armlets such as bajuband or vakis of the types known as hatrichya, rudragath, tulabandi made of gold or silver are still in wear.

Foot or leg ornaments usually made of silver and as worn by some classes are tode, tordya, samkhlya and vale. Masolya, jodvi, phirvi salle are silver toe rings and used by ladies on marriage day and always by many, particularly among some classes.

Child ornaments such as bindlya, mangatya, kaditode which are wristlets and goph, hasali, sakhali, taiti which are necklaces are made either of gold or silver. Sakhli and sarpoli are used round the waist and ghungurvale and vale are worn on the ankles.

Muslims.

Poor and ordinary Muhammedans 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 tumans or ghagras though still worn are fast passing out of fashion. The commonest is survar or tight trousers. The trousers are secured by a string round the waist. A Muslim usually never wears the Hindu dhoti or loin-cloth. He has a white, sleeved muslin shirt, usually without a colour, the ends of which hang down outside the trousers. Over these the well-to-do have a waistcoat of velvet, brocade or broadcloth. Those who have imbibed the western habit would wear the English underclothing and the frockcoat, but some whose tastes are not entirely vitiated by western models adopt the flowing skirted coat called the sherwani and the achkan. In the house he wears a small cap and on going out puts on a turban or loose headcloth or as was the fashion for a time the small red fez with a tassel. The removal of the shoes either on entering a house or 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 draping down to 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. On the head she has a shawl or square kerchief bordered with 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 profusion of ornaments of much the same character as worn by the Hindus. However, the pronounced tendency is to reject solid gold for pearls and other precious stones. The wearing of heavy ornaments in the nose and ears is becoming less common. The boring of the nostril and cartillage and the ear-lobes once held imperative, is now-a-days looked upon with disfavour.

TOP