Dress

Indoors a rich Chitpivan wears a waistcoat, a silk-bordered waistcloth, and either leaves his feet bare or walks on wooden clogs or pattens. At dinner and when worshipping his house gods he wears a silk waistecloth and puts on a fresh waistcloth at bed time. In cold weather he rolls a shawl round his head and puts on a flannel waistcoat. Out of doors he wears a big round flat-rimmed turban generally with a belt of gold on the front of the outmost fold and a low central peak covered with gold. The usual colours are white, red, crimson and purple. He wears a short cotton or broad-cloth coat, a double breasted twelve-knotted or barabandi waist-coat, a shoulder cloth, and on his feet square-toed red shoes. His waistcloth and shouldercloth are daily washed at home. His full or ceremonial dress is the same as his every-day dress. The English speakers, or B.A's as they are called, wear small neatly folded turbans, English-out shirts and broadcloth coats, coloured stockings and English boots and shoes, and in a few cases loose trousers.

Of ornaments, a rich man wears a pearl or gold necklace, a diamond or gold finger ring, sometimes a pair of bracelets round, the right or left wrist, and a pearl earring. Old men wear a necklace of gold with pearls, coral, and rudraksh or rosary beads. Except that it is cheaper, a middle-class man's dress does not differ from a rich man's dress. On ceremonial and other full-dress occasions poor Brahman generally wears a turban, a shoulder-cloth, and a coat. A richman's wardrobe and ornaments are worth about £.320 to £.580 (Rs. 3200-5800), a middle class Brahman's £.50 to £.85 (Rs. 500-850), and a poor Brahman's £.1 to £.3 (Rs. 10-30).

The indoor and outdoor dress of a rich Brahman woman is a robe and bodice of cotton and silk. The robe is twenty-four to thirty-two feet long and three to four feet broad. It is passed round the waist so as to divide it into two parts of unequal length, the longer part being left to fall as a skirt and the shorter part being drawn over the shoulders and bosom. In arranging the lower half of the robe the comer of the skirt is passed back between the feet and tucked into the waist behind leaving in front two gracefully drooping folds of cloth which hide the limgs to below the knee nearly to the ankle. The upper part is drawn backwards over the right shoulder and the end is passed across the bosom and fastened into the left side of the waist. When going out the skirt of the robe is drawn tightly over the head, and the end is held in the right hand about the level of the waist. The bodice is carefully made so as to fit the chest tightly and support the breast, the ends being tied in a knot in front under the bosom. It covers the back to below the shoulder-blade, and the sleeves, which are tight, come within about an inch of the elbow.

The right sleeve which is covered by the robe is plain, but, except among the poorest, the fringe of the left sleeve is highly ornamented with gold and embroidery. On marriage and other great occasions a rich woman draws a shawl over the back part of her head and holds the ends in front one in each hand at about the level of the lower part of the bodice. Her indoor jewelry includes head, ear, nose, neck, arm, and toe rings. Though she may not have a specimen of every form of ornament; a rich woman has a large stock of jewelry worth £.170 to £.750(Rs.1700-7500). Except that her ornaments are fewer and that her outdoor dress is legs costly, a middle-class woman's dress is nearly the same as a rich woman's. A poor woman has few and light jewel's and a small store of clothes.

Till they are four years old the children of the rich, middle, and poor ran naked about the house; out of doors 'they are covered with a cloak which is drawn over the head and ends in a peaked hood. After he is four years old a boy generally wears a waistband in the house and a girl a petticoat .Out of doors a boy is dressed in a cap and waistcoat and a girl in a petticoat and bodice. After it is seven or eight years old, a child's dress comes to cost as much as a grown person's. The value of a rich boy's wardrobe varies from £.50 to £.100 (Rs. 500-1000), of a middle-class boy's from £.20 to £.40 (Rs. 200-400), and of a poor boy's from £.4 to £.7 (Rs. 40 - 70). The value of a rich girl's -wardrobe varies from £.25 to £.50 (Rs. 250-500), of a middle class girl's from £.17 to £.28 (Rs. 170 - 280), and of a poor girl's from £.3 to £.5 (Rs. 30 - 50).

The value of a boy's ornaments varies in a rich family from £.50 to £.90 (Rs. 500 - 900), in a middle class family from £.19 to £.35 (Rs. 190 - 350), and in a poor family from £.3 to £.6 (Rs. 30 - 60). The value of a girl's ornaments varies in a rich family from £.19 to £.40 (Rs. 190 - 400), in a middle-class family from £.15 to £.25 (Rs. 150-250), and in a poor family from £.2 to £.5 (Rs. 20- 50).

$ Updated : November 07, 2001 $ © Layout 2000-2001 kokanastha.com. All rights reserved.