First History Lessons: Clothes and Attire

First History Lessons: Clothes and Attire is part of the book series published under the ‘Revisiting the Craft of History Writing for Children’ project by the Institute of Development Studies, Kolkata (IDSK) with support from Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung. The project involves the writing and publication of a series of illustrated history books for children, 12 to 14 years of age.

This book, published in October 2024, was originally written in Bengali by Dev Kumar Jhanjh and Debarati Bagchi. It was translated into English by Arunava Sinha and features illustrations by Ranjit Chitrakar and Sirajuddaula Chitrakar – Patachitra artists from the West Medinipur district of West Bengal. The book notes how clothing and attire has historically been determined by class and caste divisions, colonial policies and religious identities. As ubiquitous as it is, clothing is surrounded by its own politics and the “history of clothes is also a history of social norms.”

This 60-page document is divided into three chapters: The attire of authority (Chapter 1); The clothing of trade, tyranny, and protest (Chapter 2); and Women’s bodies, women’s clothes (Chapter 3). It also contains two additional sections titled ‘Complicated Words and Concepts ‘ and ‘And Finally’. These chapters provide a historical context to the developments in clothing materials and styles in India, and how clothing has been a site of oppression as well as resistance.

Chapter 1 of this book explores the historical significance of clothing in shaping individual identity within society, where attire is linked to power and authority. It begins with a statue discovered in Mohenjodaro dubbed the ‘priest-king’ and how, based on the trefoil pattern on the statues's shawl, experts determined that the person cast was someone important. Later in the Vedic age, the Upanishads describe how garments called uttariya were worn on the upper body, while antariya were used to cover the lower half. Emphasising how clothing transforms with the meeting of cultures, the chapter walks readers through various periods, highlighting attire of the Satavahanas, Kushanas and Mughals. It talks of how khilat (clothes of honour), a monarch’s garments presented as gifts, were ways of forging political relations and of asserting power.

Chapter 2 explores the economic and political aspects of the clothing trade in India during the British rule. From silk to muslin, fabrics in India were traded far and wide in Europe as well as Western and Central Asia. However, with the Industrial Revolution, Britain turned India into a raw material production centre supplying cotton to its mechanised mills back home. The cheaper, machine-made cloth was then sold in India, adversely affecting the business of homegrown weavers still producing by hand. After the British division of Bengal in 1905, the promotion of swadeshi items emerged as a form of protest, with Mahatma Gandhi advocating for khadi garments as an act of resistance.

Chapter 3 explains how clothing has historically been utilised as a tool to control women, with patriarchal and societal norms dictating their attire based on caste, class and religion. It illustrates this using the episode of Draupadi’s disrobement in the Mahabharata, and the British-era struggle of Nadar women for the right to cover their upper bodies. It also highlights how contrasting opinions can exist simultaneously as with the case of the hijab – it was banned in Karnataka but mandated in Iran. The book observes that society has repeatedly opposed women’s right to wear what they want.

The additional section ‘Complicated Words and Concepts’ defines certain key terms from the book and explores the rising trend of cheap, fashionable garments. Putting particular focus on mass production of clothing, it explains how the industry exploits poor labourers in developing countries and causes environmental harm.

Focus and Factoids by Alisha Khan.