INDIAN DRESS.*
DR. FORBES WATSON has attempted to do, and, as we think, has succeeded in doing, a very considerable thing. There are at least two hundred millions of persons in India, under our own direct or indirect rule, and of all these probably not twenty thousand are totally destitute of clothing. There is, if we remember rightly, one minute tribe of Gonda which habitually wears nothing, and there are at least two sects which have agreed to consider clothes immoral—being opposed to the laws of nature, as they think, instead of supplementing those laws, as we think ; but apart from these exceptional tribes and creeds, the people of India wear clothes. The majority of them do not wear much, contenting themselves with a long strip of thin calico, worn as a "waist cloth," or in plainer English, attached behind to a cord worn round the waist, carried between the legs, and either fastened in front to the cord, or folded in heavy plaits over the cord. The supply of this bit of calico alone, which we may remark is worn by every class except the highest, being the in-door dress of mil- lions who are not labourers, would of itself make an important trade ; but there are at least eighty millions of persons who are "dressed," who wear, that is, clothes which cover most of their bodies, and which it is well worth the while of English manufac- turers to provide. Dr. Forbes Watson thought it would be good therefore for him, both as official and as savan, to make a special report upon Indian dress, and the India House has assisted him to do it in a very magnificent way, in a big broad book, with thick paper, and plenty of margin, and dozens of the very worst photographs we ever saw in our lives. Almost all Indian photographs are bad,—the exceptions being among the best in the world,—but these are exceptionally bad,—bad in posi- tion as well as mechanical effects. Great labour has evi- dently been expended upon them, but there is not one,— we challenge any photographer in the kingdom to dispute the statement,—which is even decently clear, or which contains a single figure, plate iv. perhaps excepted, from which any milliner could compose a dress. Part of this imperfection no doubt arises from the unbroken white of the Indian normal dress, but part arises from carelessness, and if Dr. Forbes Watson will " wig " his agents somewhat sharply, or compliment his friends, if friends have supplied his photographs, somewhat coldly, he will do good service to the next publication. The left-hand figure, for example, of plate vi.—the numbering is complex beyond human endurance —is, we presume, the dress of the ordinary IIindoo woman of Bengal. At all events, they wear that dress, and they are twenty millions, and we defy the sharpest milliner, if she had never seen them, to describe how the folds fall, or even to see clearly the great fact that the robe has never had needle in it. These photographs are, however, helped by description, and between them the manu- facturer may obtain from this book real aid, leading to distinct and appreciable pecuniary results. The collection may add, if he
* Textile Manufactures and Costumes of the People of India. By Dr. Forbes Watson. Spottiswoode.
studies it carefully, thousands a year to his profits, and there are not five books in the world of which that could be said.
The primitive dress of the Hindoo is, as we have said, a waist- cloth fastened to a cord ; the next is a " dhotee," a piece of cloth wrapped round the loins. "The end of this, after a couple of turns round the waist, is passed by the Hindoo between the legs, and thrust under the folds which cross behind. Occasionally, however, the end is passed from behind and fastened in front.
Amongst the Mohammedans, again, the loin-cloth, after being folded two or three times round the waist, is usually allowed to hang down, that is, it is not tucked up between the legs, as with the Hindoos." This is the dress of the working population, of whom it must be remembered there are ten Hindoos to one Mussulman, but even they add on festival occasions, religious holidays, birthdays and other days, on which work is light, the "loongee," or shoulder-cloth, properly a Mussulman word, which may be beat explained to Britons as a muslin or calico plaid, broader and shorter than the Scotch garment, but worn exactly as it is worn, that is, normally across the breast, but practically in any form into which the wearer chooses to twist it. Oddly enough, this dress, which covers the shoulders and reins, but leaves the stomach bare, is not, except in very fat men, ungraceful, and some Hindoos can wreathe it about them into a very stately robe. The wonderfully complete accounts of these garments, accounts singularly creditable both to the industry and acumen of Dr. Forbes Watson, seem to us to want for business purposes only this addition. It will pay a dealer to supply Bengal a great deal better than to supply Bombay or Madras, Bengal wanting English goods much more, having a more numerous population, and being much more willing to wear thicker and therefore more costly cottons. It also pays better to export pure white, without the ornamented ends on which Dr. Forbes Watson gives such valuable and careful information. And, finally, it would, we believe, pay, though this is an opinion and not a statement of fact, to send out a few of the very finest specimens British looms could produce. This is one of the main facts neglected by the British producer. A Hindoo is in dress a kind of Quaker, very unwilling to change, very contemptuous in appearance of orna- ment, and especially of new ornament, but at heart excessively vain, excessively anxious about the quality of his "things," and just a little mean. He will pay any price for a thing that will wear, but he wants it to wear for ever. An Anglo-Indian once wished to make a present to a Hindoo clerk, and decided upon the square shawl of broad-cloth which Hindoos wear in the cold weather. These shawls, made in England, are sold in thousands, and are simply hated for their want of durability, the fixed idea of a native being to get hold of a Russian-made article, which will wear for ever. Aware of this, the donor sent home for a square of broad-cloth of a quality no Russian ever sold, and pre- sented it to the clerk. The man looked very pleased, and showed himself about like a peacock, but in a few days the cloth had disappeared. "Where's your shawl, — ?" "Sold it." "Very bad that; why ?" "Couldn't help it ; if rich people will offer such prices, what can employes do?" A native neighbour had actually paid him five times the value of the cloth, saying very truly that he could not get such a piece for money in India. It was nothing but the best cloth Poole gives his customers, as close and hard as if it were woven of wire, but the speech hit the blot of English trade. We never supply the very best, and consequently shall be cut out of the supply of everything the moment our competitors can rival our cheapness. That is a result as yet very distant, but we should like to see the experiment tried of an export of the very best articles made, at prices yielding, let us say, 50 per cent. profit ; only, then, either the invoices must be very carefully drawn, or the exporter's agent must sell retail himself. Nothing will persuade a native dealer to give, in ordinary times, more than a certain advance on the invoice, the cause of the form of fraud so universal in Calcutta known popularly as "salting."
After the dhootee and loongee comes the saree, the peplum or chiton worn by the great majority of Hindoo females. This is a long wide scarf of cotton :.—
" As usually worn, one end is passed twice round the waist, the upper border tied in a strong knot, and allowed to fall in graceful folds to the ankle, thus forming a sort of petticoat or skirt—a portion of one leg being only partially concealed by the Hindoo. The other end is passed in front across the left arm and shoulder, one edge being brought over the top of the head. It is then allowed to fall behind and over the right shoulder and arm. In PL V. and VL will be found several illus- trations of the manner of wearing the Saree. The Brahmin lady, No. 37, Pl. VI., shows its application when it forms almost the complete Hindoo clothing ; fig. 34, Pl. V., a photograph from an imperfect painting on talc, shows an instance in which the Saree has been employed to produce the full effect of a petticoat of moderate dimensions. The
Mahratta costume of the well known and celebrated lady—the Begura of Bhopal—as represented to the left in No. 35, Pl. VI. (and in three other groups in the same plate) is likewise worthy of attention."
The main thing for a merchant who wants profit is, however, to study the usual dress—Begums being scarce—and we believe the principle we have laid down is nearly as applicable to the saree as to the loongee, with one exception. The specimens expor- ted, if fine or costly, should not be thick. The native woman!s idea of modesty is pretty nearly that prevalent in France under the Consulate. She intends to show her figure to the utmost extent.
compatible with wearing a complete covering, and the more
• a dress approaches the "woven wind" of Dacca, that is, the nearer it approaches invisibility without allowing wide meshes, the higher price will she be willing to give. Anybody who could make durable woven wind, i.e., a nearly transparent dress made of threads as strong as steel, ought to make a fortune. Dr. Forbes. Watson quotes a statement that the demand for these fine muslins had declined, but the fact is their price has put them so completely out of the reach of ordinary purchasers, that the manufacture is- slowly dying away, though the demand "is still sufficient to. prevent the art from falling into disuse." A "pound a yard" is. a price which leaves a margin to human skill, and even this, if we mistake not, is the price in Dacca at the door of the manu- facturer.
It is in dhotees, loongees, sarees, and turbans that the English trade must mainly consist, for we question if any tuition will enable Englishmen to comprehend the higher varieties of native dress. Dr. Forbes Watson, however, gives minute, painstaking: accounts of them all, explains the native manufactures and native processes, supplies drawings of all machinery and statements of all trade specialties, such as the quantity of sizing employed, publishes details about silk as well as cotton, the ornaments as well as the- fabrics popular in India, the finer kinds of woollens—which will never be equalled by English manufacturers—the carpets, embroid- ered robes, and even Cashmere shawls, upon which latter article Dr. Watson quotes some interesting information. The best. Cashmere shawls, the long shawls with plain ground, crimson, purple, blue, green, or yellow—green are best—never cost less, than 135/. a pair, and are never sold singly. The next kind, or- square shawls, much more frequently imported into Europe, are- either loom-worked or needle-worked,—needle-worked being the more original,—and they cost from 30/. to 50/. in the Punjaub, without freight, or interest, or profit to the importer—little facts which we commend to the attention of women who think they can buy the "best Cashmeres" at 15/. or even 10/. a shawl. What they do buy is either an imitation which never was in India at all, or a Delhi shawl, very good in its way, but no more approaching a. Cashmere shawl in beauty than in durability. A man might lie on heather in a black Cashmere for twenty years and it would be as perfect as on the first day, while every imitation whatsoever will wear out. Altogether this book is thoroughly creditable to. Dr. Forbes Watson's industry and acumen, and to the liberality of the East India House.
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