DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.636#0407
Ordinary Dress. 395
lamp, give the children a few sweetmeats, sweep out the rooms,
sprinkle them with water, and occasionally smear the floor
with a mixture of moist earth and the supposed purifying
excreta of a cow. If she lives in a village and is poor—and a
high-caste family may often be poor—she will probably stick
cakes of this last substance on the outer walls of the house to
dry for fuel. Then perhaps her next act may be to spin a
little cotton, or to examine the state of the family garments.
And here a few particulars about the dress of the house-
hold may be suitably introduced.
The poorer classes in India are never oppressed by a super-
fluity of clothing. A shred of cloth round the loins satisfies a
poor working man's ideas of propriety. Great ascetics and
pretenders to extraordinary sanctity were once in the habit of
going about perfectly nude, until British law interposed to
prevent the continuance of the nuisance. Even respectable
Hindus are satisfied with two garments made of white cotton
cloth, one called the Dhoti, or waist-cloth, tucked round the
waist and reaching to the feet; the other, called the Uttariya,
a shawl-like upper garment without seam from top to bottom,
which is thrown gracefully round the shoulders like a Roman
toga. Often, however, an under-jacket, or close coat, cut into
form and called an Angaraksha or Aiigarakha (body-protector),
is worn under this upper garment. Sometimes also a piece
of cloth is carried over the arm to be used as a scarf in cold
weather.
It has been said by some writer of homely truths in England
that a good wife ought never to have ' a soul above buttons.'
Happily for a Hindu wife's peace of mind her husband's two
garments are gloriously independent of all fastenings. Nor
need she trouble herself to learn needle-work. Yet in some
parts of India she considers it a high honour to be permitted
to wash any article of clothing which has covered the sacred
person of her lord and master.
In regard to head-coverings, the greater number of people,
lamp, give the children a few sweetmeats, sweep out the rooms,
sprinkle them with water, and occasionally smear the floor
with a mixture of moist earth and the supposed purifying
excreta of a cow. If she lives in a village and is poor—and a
high-caste family may often be poor—she will probably stick
cakes of this last substance on the outer walls of the house to
dry for fuel. Then perhaps her next act may be to spin a
little cotton, or to examine the state of the family garments.
And here a few particulars about the dress of the house-
hold may be suitably introduced.
The poorer classes in India are never oppressed by a super-
fluity of clothing. A shred of cloth round the loins satisfies a
poor working man's ideas of propriety. Great ascetics and
pretenders to extraordinary sanctity were once in the habit of
going about perfectly nude, until British law interposed to
prevent the continuance of the nuisance. Even respectable
Hindus are satisfied with two garments made of white cotton
cloth, one called the Dhoti, or waist-cloth, tucked round the
waist and reaching to the feet; the other, called the Uttariya,
a shawl-like upper garment without seam from top to bottom,
which is thrown gracefully round the shoulders like a Roman
toga. Often, however, an under-jacket, or close coat, cut into
form and called an Angaraksha or Aiigarakha (body-protector),
is worn under this upper garment. Sometimes also a piece
of cloth is carried over the arm to be used as a scarf in cold
weather.
It has been said by some writer of homely truths in England
that a good wife ought never to have ' a soul above buttons.'
Happily for a Hindu wife's peace of mind her husband's two
garments are gloriously independent of all fastenings. Nor
need she trouble herself to learn needle-work. Yet in some
parts of India she considers it a high honour to be permitted
to wash any article of clothing which has covered the sacred
person of her lord and master.
In regard to head-coverings, the greater number of people,