Dress Habits

Dress habits are partly based on climatic conditions and partly the socio-religious influences. In India, each religion has its own way of dressing, and within each religion, caste and occupational differences express themselves in the type of dress worn by the people. The impact of foreign rule on how people dress is not to be overlooked. By and large, the saree is the most common dress for women and dhoties and jubba for men in India. People in the Punjab have adopted the salwar or baggy trousers as their dress. In Bengal and U.P., the preference is for dhotis, in spite of centuries of Muslim and British influences. The Sikhs do not care for dhotis. They wear loose shirts, breeches, and turbans. The turban has a religious significance. The head dress varies from region to region. In many areas, no head dress is worn. in some parts of the country, men wear hats to indicate their social status. The sherwani and jodhpuri have become the dress of men in high government position.

One has to open one’s eye and look around to see the rich variety of styles in dresses worn by Indian men and women. Traditional Indian dresses are ideally suited for the varying weather conditions in India. Young men and women in India have a tendency to look down upon traditionally dressed people who are usually the senior citizens of our country.

This shows lack of culture and understanding if others. The function of clothes is to serve as a vesture for the body and to protect us from heat and cold. Clean clothes are much more important that fancy Western style ones. What one is, is infinitely more important than how one dresses. The best dress, as the ancient Hindu teachers have said, is a good character.

[Source: The Path Divine, Sri Sathya Sai Balvikas, Dharmakshetra, Mumbai]