The People

Dress and Ornaments

The dress of the people is generally simple. It consists of a dhoti, shirt, turban and a pair of shoes. A blanket or chaddar serves as wrapper. The turban has a different style for a Jat, an Ahir, a Rajput, a Bania or a Brahman. There  is also difference in the dress of various communities particularly among women. A Jat woman's full dress, thel, consist of ghaggri, shirt and a printed orhni (a length of cloth draped over the front and shoulders) the ghaggri seldom falling below the calves. The Ahir woman can always be recognized by  her lehenga or peticoat, angia (a tight blouse) and orhni. Her orhni is broader than that of a Jat women. She employs it also to cover her abdomen. It is usually red or yellow, decorated with bosses and fringes, with a fall. The Rajput woman's dress is similar to that of an Ahir woman. Their orhni may be plain white with silver fringe but without a fall. The dhotis and saris are the favourite items of dress among Brahmans and Aggarwal women.

A women would need at least three different sets of clothes, one for working at the grindstone, another for the field, another for drawing water from the well. Clothes indicate family status.

Coloured clothes are worn by the Hindus at weddings. The marriage party colour their duppatas only and the bridegroom his turban. A duppata or overcloth, kamiz or skirt, pajamas, salwar or ghagra with differences in make and colour is generally the female dress. Among the educated classes in the villages women are taking to saris of different colours. The dresses worn by women display more variety than male attires. The dress also proclaims the caste or community of the woman. A Gujjar woman can be known at once from the blue clothes and a Chamar from her red clothes. Round bits of glass are adorned by the clothes of a Gujjar women. Unmarried girls abstain from gaudy dress to avoid undue attention.

In Haryana people of all communities were fond of ornaments. The common ornaments were small ear rings of gold or silver, necklaces called Kathla by Jats, and mala by Banias, bracelets and gold chains of several strings were worn on special occasions like marriages and only richer people could afford them.

The ornaments are usually made of gold and silver. The main items include haar (necklace), hansli (heavy bangles) made of silver, jhalra (long hanging string of gold mohars or silver rupees) Karanphul and bujni of gold and dandle of silver for the ears. The finger-rings plain and ornamented have different names. The large nose-ring is called nath. Other ornaments are Kari (anklet), Chhailkara neori and pati all worn on the legs by Ahir and Jat women but not by the Rajput women. Some new types of ornaments are tops (balian) for the ears, churis for the wrists and pandels for the neck.

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