CLOTHING. The tnaterials used for clothing, and the forms of dress of the peoples of the south and east of Asia, differ according to the climate, the pursuits, and the customs of the races. Through a thousand years, seemingly, the south-eastern races continue t,o wear clothing similar to what their forefathers put on ; but Andamanese live wholly without apparel, and Chinese dress in a very elaborate manner. Hindu men and women, until the middle of the 19th century, wore only cloths without seams ; and even yet their women's bodice (choli) and the men's jacket (angrika) alone are sewed, the lower garment of„ both sexes being cloths which are wrapped round the limbs, and often as neatly so as sewn trousers. In this form Hindu clothing is not called clothes, but cloths. Most Hindus wear trousers when on horseback; but the prevailing Hindu custom illustrates Mark x. 50, where mention is made of the blind man throwing off his upper garment, which was doubt less a piece of cloth. It is not considered at all indelicate among the Hindu people for a man to appear naked from the head to the waist, and servants thus attired serve at the tables of poor Europeans. In Arabia, a coarse cloak of camel or goat's hair is generally worn, often as the sole attire. It is called an aba, and its material is cameline. Amongst men of the very humblest classes of Southern India, at work, the simple loin-cloth is the sole body clothing ; but almost all have a sheet, or a cumbli, or coarse blanket of wool or hair, as a covering for warmth. The Nair women raove about with the body un covered down to the waist, as an indication of the correctness of their conduct, The wornen of the Patuah or Juanga, in the Denkenil district of Orissa, also called Patra-Sauri or Leaf-Sauri, till 1871 wore a covering of a bunch of leaves, banging from the waist, both in front and behind. ,Forest races in Travancore also wear leaves as covering. Hindu children, both boys and girls, up to three or four years of age, have no clothing ; the Abor young women have a string of shell-shaped em bossed bell-metal plates, and Miri women wear a small loin kilt made of cane. Throughout British India, however, almost every Hindu and Mahe
.medan woman, however humble in circumstances, is.wholly covered, from the neck to the ankles, with choli and gown or trousers, or cloths of kinds. This seems to have been the practice from remote antiquity. In Vedic times the women seem to have dressed much like the present Raj putni. They had a gogra or petticoat, a kan chali or corset, and a do-patta or scarf. In the Rig Veda there is an allusion to Indrani's head dress as.being of all forms, and several passages are indicative of considerable attention having been paid to personal decoration (Calcutta Review, No. 109, p. 30). Weaving is frequently alluded to in the Vedas. The Yajur Veda mentions gold cloth or brocade as in ' use for a counterpane. In the Ramayana are mentioned the wedding pre sents to Sita as consisting of woollen stuffs, fine silken vestments of different colours, princely ornaments, and sumptuous carriages. The Maha bharata mentions furs from the Hindu Kush woollen shawls of the Ablfira of Gujerat, cloth.; of the wool of sheep and goats, etc.; and weaving and dyeing are repeatedly mentioned in the Insti tutes of Menu.
The hest representations of ancient costumes in India are the celebrated fresco paintings in the caves of Ajunta, some of which are still very perfect, and in the Buddhist caves of Ellora some paintings in a similar style had been executed. It is difficult to decide the date of these paint ings, which represent scenes in Buddhist history ; and the series may. extend from the 1st or 2d century before Christ, to the 4th and 6th century of this era. In either case they are upwards af a thousand years old, and as such are of much interest.
One very large picture, covered with figures, represents the coronation of Sinhala, a Buddhist king. He is seated on a stool or chair, crowned with a tiara of the usual conventional form. Corn, as an emblem of plenty and fertility, is being poured over his shoulder by girls. He is naked from the throat to the waist. All the womeu are naked to -the waist ; some. of them have the end of the cloth or sari thrown across the bosom, and passing over the left shoulder. Spearmen on foot and ou horseback have short waist-cloths only.