BODICE, or Choli, is worn everywhere in the south of India. It is cut in square pieces, which meet in front, and are tied by the ends in a strong '..tot under the breasts; and the sleeve, which in some instances reaches below the elbow, and in others above it, is put into the opening left unsealn in the upper part of the square body piece. The construction of this article of dress is very simple. and most women make their own. In the south of India, bodices are not worn by the women of some races. It is only, they say, courtesans who are ashamed of them who hide their bosoms. A form of bodice, named angle, is entirely closed in front, and is shaped out to fit the bosom. This garment is worn alike by Mahomedan and by many Hindu women. The dress of Mahornetlan women further consists of petticoats, generally very wide indeed, and falling in heavy folds. Some wear an under petticoat of fine calico as a protection to the costly stuff of which the outer garment is com posed, or to escape friction. The stuff—satin, silk, or cotton cloth—is gathered into a strong band of tape, which is tied over one 'hip, and the plaits or gathers are carefully made, so as to allow the cloth to fall in graceful folds. Over the choli or angle bodice is a light muslin shirt, which con tinues below the waist, called a koortni; and over all a scarf of white or coloured muslin of fine texture, do-patta, passed once roupd the waist, and thence across the bosom and over the left shoulder and head, like the sari, completes the costume. Where the lenge or petticoat is not worn, paijama or trousers take their place. These are sometimes worn loose, as in Oudh and Bengal, and elsewhere as tight as they can be made. The cutting out of these tight trousers is no easy matter, for they have several gores on the inside of the thigh, and are contrived so that they are flexible, however tight, and do not hinder the wearer from sitting cross -legged. With the trousers, which are tied at the waist, are worn the angia or choli bodice, the koortni or shirt, and the do-patta or scarf. In full dress, a Mahomedan lady wears the peshwaz or Persian robe, in which dancing-women usually perform. It has long tight sleeves, a tight body crossed in front, and a very voluminous muslin skirt, the most fashionable amplitude being about forty or even sixty yards in circumference. This garment is often trimmed
in a costly manner with gold or silver lace, and is only worn as a bridal dress or at domestic festivals. Any additions to the above consist only in variations of the component parts ; cloth for bodices is made like saris, with coloured borders. In the cutting out of the bodice, it is contrived that each sleeve ends with the border, and that it runs round the bottom of the garment, if not entirely, at least to some extent. Bodices are also made of English white muslin, jaconet, or fine calico, and of chintz, provided the colour is fast. Many are of silk and cotton mixed, others of silk or cotton only.
The silk sari, and also the pitambar, or men's silk waist-cloths, are worn by Hindus at enter tainments and festivals, as also in religious worship. Saris are nearly universal for Hindu wear ; and soussi, made into petticoats and trousers, is as universal for Mahomedan women and men also, and it has this advantage over saris, that the colours and patterns differ very little anywhere within the confines of India ; whereas the saris, dhotis, and loongis must be made to suit par ticular localities, and the patterns of one locality would inevitably be rejected in another. A kind of soussi is produced in France, blue striped, closer in texture than the Indian, perhaps, but belonging to the same class or category ; and another, called grivas, in particular, near Vichy, both excellent and fast-coloured fabrics, and both used for trousers and blouses. The Indian soussi are always striped or checked, woven in narrow patterns, with coloured yarns, blue and white, black and blue, red and blue, yellow, white, and blue, green and chocolate, as detailed in Dr. Watson's list; and they are worn, fine and coarse, literally by millions of the people of the middle and lower classes. In Sind, under the shift, but of cloth called kanjari, the choli or gaj conceals the bosom. When it passes round the side like a bodice and is fastened behind, its name is puth. This article of dress is very often omitted in Sind, a fact which mhy in some measure account for the pendent shape,which the bosom assumes even in young women'after a first or second child.— Watson; Burton's'Seinde, p. 301.